I've had my fair share of experiences lately which have shaken my faith in human kind, most recently the shock discovery that someone I trusted and liked has been ripping off other people's work and entering it in contests under his own name. Almost worse than this is the failure by the contest organisers to disqualify him when evidence is produced by the victims of his plagiarism. The writers whose work has been stolen have effectively been victimised twice: once by the plagiarist and then again by the contest organisers who have treated their complaints with indifference at best, contempt at worst. It leaves a terrible taste in my mouth. These contest venues have been struck off my list for subbing in the future, which is a shame because one of them had commended my work in the past, but how else are we to show these people that we have standards and expectations as writers?Moving on to some pleasant news, I was invited to produce a guest blog for Strictly Writing, a lively and thriving site with contributions from editors, agents and writers. I'll post a link when my guest blog is up there. This assignment inspired me to do a little more research into my family history, which led me to the Changi quilts, an astounding piece of evidence to restore my faith in humanity. Click on the image above for an enlarged version in which you can see details.
These quilts were worked by women interned in Changi jail in Singapore at the time of the Japanese invasion. Each woman worked a separate square, embroidering a picture or words. This did more than alleviate the boredom of internment. It provided evidence that the women (and their children) were alive; the finished quilts were sent to the military hospital at Changi Barracks, where many husbands and fathers were held. Apart from being a vital means of communication, the quilts are works of art, beautiful and poignant. Examples can be seen at the Imperial War Museum in London, and at the Australian War Memorial Museum, Canberra.
0 Yorumlar