Creative Writing Workshop in Kota Kinabalu (Round Two)

Robert Raymer making a point

On Saturday, 13 August, we had our second creative writing workshop in KK, “Turning your Personal Experience into a First Draft of a First Person Narrative.” At the earlier Universiti Malaysia Sabah workshop we had an extra two hours but at the first SPArks workshop in April 2011 we didn’t have enough time to do the subject justice, so it was good they invited me back.

About half of the participants from the first workshop had returned including Tina Kisil whose book Footprints in the Paddy Field was nominated for 2011 Popular-The Star Reader’s Choice Award for nonfiction, Farida Shukoor, who initially contacted me in 2009 about coming to KK (I taught her son at USM), Jude Day who made the arrangements for both of our workshops, and Lo Sin Yee who again flew up from Miri and even brought one of his works for me to edit (as originally planned before we added a third workshop). There was also Mark Storey who had arranged the UMS workshop back in April.   Several others, however, missed because of either exams or Ramadan, something we failed to consider when we chose the date. Fortunately others filled the vacancies so we nearly reached our target of 24.

Making full use of the four-hour allotted time, we devoted three hours to the narrative that they chose to write, after generating 15 topics for them to choose from. For those who seemed to have forgotten that they had lived a full life of significant experiences, I read them something that I wrote for my creative writing students at two universities (and expanded it by a paragraph): 

Typical experiences

If you’re a typical student at a typical university, you’ve already accumulated hundreds of experiences that have made an impact on your life. You’ve made and lost friends; done things you’re either proud of, ashamed of, or regretted; been punished for doing things you weren’t supposed to; felt guilty over things no one knows about; been blamed or wrongly accused by a sibling, a friend, or a parent; been scolded (and punished) by a teacher for being late, not doing your home­work or being part of a noisy class­room; fought with siblings, friends, or enemies; been bullied by older or bigger children (including relatives); survived a crash in a car or motorcycle or bicycle; moved with your family to another house or lived away from your parents; been proposi­tion­ed by someone from either the opposite or the same sex; con­sider­ed running away from home (even if you only made it next door or to a relative’s house); taken something that didn’t belong to you (which you had either kept, returned or threw away); felt like you wanted to die because you were embarrassed or angry or frustrated; and grieved over the death of a pet or a relative.

For those of you who have taken part in extra-curri­cular activities such as sports, or choir, or belonged to some association or club, or have won an award, or have been praised for making something creative or for having a talent like singing or dancing or drawing, or have had the oppor­tunity to travel around your country or overseas, then you’ll have plenty more experiences to write about.

If you’re older than your typical student you’ve probably had jobs, been engaged or jilted, been married or separated or divorced, had babies, raised children, bought and sold or crashed cars, and even bought a house. Not to mention the thousand other life experiences you’ve had in your thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, and do I hear seventies?

* * *

I then asked them to choose one topic that they’ll be working with for the pre-writing process. I kept stressing that they choose their topic carefully. A good topic often chooses you. Maybe there’s an unresolved issue from your past that needs addressing. Some topics, I told them, especially if they had a traumatic experience like a death of someone they were close to, or were molested as a child (which is, unfortunately, increasingly common), will not be easy for them to write, but in doing so, it would be therapeutic for them. Later, if they wish to share it or publish it, others can benefit from it, as I blogged about regarding a short story that I wrote based on one of my relatives.

During the pre-writing process, I gave them plenty of prompts to explore and flush out, not only the details but also people’s motivation and their emotional state. This forced them to think about, not just themselves and what they did or what happened to them, but also to consider why they did those things and why others acted the way they did. This was a real eye opener for them, to consider what all was going on in other people’s lives and their own, thus establishing a cause and effect relationship.

Later, I asked them, “Had you written off the top of your heads, would you have considered any of this? Therefore your narrative would have been far different, not as fully developed, nor as interesting for those who read it.” Before I finally let them write that first draft, when I had them raring to go, I asked them to outline the main points, which helps them to think through the narrative from beginning to end, thus improving its organization. This is often the stage that my students would back away from their topic, realizing that they chose one that really wasn’t all that significant. It’s always better they find this out before they invest several hours writing and rewriting. Even better, if they chose the right topic from the beginning! Sure enough one of the participants asked if he could switch topics!

After spending a full hour writing out a first draft (or taking it as far as they could), we took a break, then we dabbled with some fiction via the topic “They Found Me”, which is the crux of many short stories and best-selling novels, easily adapted into children stories, thrillers, sci-fi, and mysteries. Two of my recent blog posts, on The Shack and the short story “Mr. Penumbra” are essentially “they found me” stories. In The Shack (which I recently read and Sin Yee brought a copy with him from Miri) in more ways than one -- in the beginning and also at the end, a series of them!

Usually, when time is permitted, we’ll read samples, as we did for my two-day workshop with the Malaysian Nurses Association  But this time around we’re saving them for a third workshop in October/November. Two weeks prior to the workshop, the attending participants will be sending me a typed version of either their narrative, their “they found me” story, or someone they may have started and finished from the first workshop, then I’ll go over the first two pages as I did for the MPH-Alliance Short Story Awards workshops in Kuching and Miri when I was one of their judges (which I blogged about in the first workshop—this way I'll make sure I get only one from each!).

Later, if any of the participants are interested, I’ll be editing their revised post-workshop versions  at a special rate, something I highly recommend, something I did when I first came to Malaysia and wrote the short stories that later became Lovers and Strangers Revisited, now being translated into French. And did it again when I first revisited the stories, even after they had already been published, many several times in several countries. As a writer, we do have our blind spots to our own stories, even when those stories are close to our hearts—the narratives of our lives—like those that we explored in this second creative writing workshop in Kota Kinabalu.

                        --BorneoExpatWriter

*If you know of other organizations or associations in Sabah/Sarawak/West Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei that would be interested in having me for workshop, please contact me.   Thank you!

** Here is a link for a blog post about this second workshop from one of the participants. 
***Here's another link from another participant. 
**** Here's the link to the third kk workshop. 22 October 2011! 

*Announcement latest workshops:  Writing Your Life Stories Workshop—Kuching! 23 June 2012 (with links to other workshops and writing tips!) and also a workshop in KK on 17 June 2012! 

The Month of August and my 500th Publication!

“Capturing the Spirit of Malaysia” published in the July-August issue of Senses of Malaysia, which I posted yesterday, is my 500^th publication, and it falls on August, too.  I love August, my birthday month, which over the years has often been a good month for me as a writer.  August is a big month this year for Malaysians, too.  Not only is it the fasting month of Ramadan, but also its Hari Raya and then Merdeka! (Malaysian’s Independence Day).

Last August Cha: An Asian Literary Journal accepted my 100^th short story sale, “On Fridays” and even linked it with the blog, The Story Behind the Story.  Most of those short story sales have come from Lovers and Strangers Revisited (the French translation is due out very soon, originally slated for August, though it’s looking more like September), including my last short story sale “Home for Hari Raya”.  Just in time for this year’s Hari Raya.

In August 2009, I had a short story, “The Merdeka Miracle” (written with Lydia Teh and Tunku Halim) published in the August issue of Going Places, an article “Becoming Malaysianized” in Pop Club (Popular Books), and then I won the 2009 Popular The Star Reader’s Choice awards for Lovers and Strangers Revisited—a rather nice belated birthday present.

Of course for reporters and those who write weekly newspaper or online columns, 500 isn’t such a big deal.  They’ll reach that in 10 years, assuming they write nothing else.  My friend Mary Schneider, who I just met with in Penang and who writes for The Star (and has a birthday in August) has already passed her 700^th column!  (Not easy to come up with all those ideas, she tells me.)  So I have a long way to catch up to her and I began publishing years before she did.  Hmm, perhaps I should look into writing a column of my own. . . . My 500 total, by the way, doesn’t include the 224 blog posts.  Many in fact are actual articles that have gone onto being published elsewhere.

“Capturing the Spirit of Malaysia” will also be repeated in the August issue of The Expat (still awaiting my copy).  I have another article or two that should be coming out this month (not confirmed), plus this weekend I do have a creative writing workshop in Kota Kinabalu (if you haven’t signed up, or know someone who may be interested in KK, please contact the organizers).  Already this August is shaping into a pretty good month (we even spent my birthday in Penang) and there’s still 21 days to go! Of course my birthday wish this August is an agent and a book contract for one of my novels (two did rather well in the recent Faulkner-Wisdom novel contest). That would make this particular August absolutely divine…

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

Capturing the Spirit of Malaysia-Senses of Malaysia July-August 2011

*Here's a link to Table of Contents and sample pages with more great photos (taken by others!)

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

Mr. Penumbra--Another Writer Creates His Own Publishing Break

I love it when writers—instead of complaining about the state of flux the book publishing industry is and worried about where it’s going—create their own breaks.  Recently I blogged about the amazingly swift ride of The Shack from a homeless, self-published book to 15 million sales.  Then today, following a lead on a publisher that still accepts unagented novels (hey, I got two agents reading two of them right now but it could takes months before they decide!), I came across Robin Sloan’s short story "Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store".  I dare you to read it right now and see if you’re not impressed and richly rewarded—it’s a fun read (you're pulled in fast), topical, mysterious (sorry no sex but it does lead to chance encounter that does lead to an actual date—we can imagine the rest), with plenty of clever wordplay by someone incredibly talented and confident and can pull it off.  If you like books and bookstores this is for you.  If you like what they do at Google (or have no idea—it’s scary), that’s in the story too . . . . Even Sherlock Holmes buffs will get a kick out of this – check out the buttons on the coat!

Robin Sloan not only got the short story selling on Kindle, he put it on Kickstarter (if you don't know what that is, check it out; a great concept like a start-up company with a guaranteed market-in-progress), and that led to an agent and a novel deal with Farrar Straus Giroux.  I’m thinking, how he do all that so fast?  This is like finding your way around one of those brick walls designed to stop people, as in Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture.   If you’re over 30 like me (inside joke from the story), it’s about time we learn from those under 30 who are doing some amazing things on the internet and are getting their books published (and not just online).  If we can’t beat them (we’d look pretty silly trying), then join them.  It’s about time . . . before we get even older and start to all look alike (again from the story).  This is also a way for us to achieve a type of immortality—yes, from the story.  What can I say, been thinking about this story all day long and it’s been a really busy day because tomorrow I’m going on vacation for a week! 

So have fun, read it, read some of the comments, too (plenty of encouragement and helpful critiques), and start thinking about all the possibilities in your own writing.  It all begins with a good character and a good story; and yes, just maybe the internet will help you achieve your dreams.  But first, you got to do the hard work and write and then market what you write.  (If no one is reading it or even knows it exists…) Learn from Robin.  That’s what I’m planning to do right now, starting with this blog post.  (See I'm helping him out all the way from Borneo-- that's the internet!)  He did get a book deal, right?  And it’s only the beginning for this story-cum-novel.  It can be turned into a series, even something interactive. . . .There’s only one way to find out what you can do with a good idea… let your imagination run with the possibilities for this story and your own.  Let's see where you end up.  Just maybe you can join their club and have your own published novel...

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

The Shack, from Self-Published to 15 Million Copies Sold!

While browsing through the list of best-selling books of all time I came across a title that has sold 15 million copies since 2007, a title and author that I was unfamiliar with.  Then I read that 26 publishers had turned it down, mostly for religious concerns I believe, so the author and two friends formed a publishing company, Windblown Media to sell this one book.  That makes it a self-published book, whereby they invested a mere $200-300 to promote it via a website, and then, after a predicable slow start, the book took off by word of mouth, got picked up by a major publisher/distributer, and became the best-selling book of 2008 and one of the biggest best-selling books ever, and it’s just getting started.  (Give it another ten, twenty years and it’s going to double, maybe triple that amount).

The book is The Shack by William Paul Young.  To put this into perspective, the sales in four years are half of those for such behemoths as Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, published in 1936; Diary of Anne Frank, published in 1947; and one of my all time favorites Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which was published in 1960, over 50 years ago!  I wonder how The Shack will fair in fifty years?  At the rate that it’s going, and the controversy surrounding it—some are calling it heresay and already there are a couple of lawsuits between the author and its original publisher—it could even pull a Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, which has sold an incredible 80 million copies in less than 10 years. Having a big court case that involves a book about some thorny religious issues always helps…

Intrigued, I went to the website, read about the author, who had never really published anything before, though he always saw himself as a writer, and had written stuff on his own, including short stories.  In fact, he wrote The Shack not for publication but for his children (and a few close friends), at the urging of his wife (after the accidental shooting death of the counselor who turned the author’s life around).  He only made 15 copies.

Intrigued, I immediately read the forward from the website  and right away I knew that I was about to read something special.  It also posted the first chapter and I felt blown away by the writing, by its sense of being, sense of place; here I am in the tropics on the island of Borneo and I haven’t felt that bitter coldness since I left Madison, Wisconsin and it all came back in a flash.  It was that palpable, and reminded me once again why I moved here.

Although I found the print hard to read on my computer, the typeface so small and faint, I was too caught up in the story.  I was hooked.  My mind was immediately made up to buy this book this weekend; I was even tempted to order it on line, something I’ve never done before, or hop into my car and track it down today (I haven’t ruled this out).  I’m that eager to read the rest of the story.

For those who write, the publisher, Windblown Media, offers some advice to writers—this is from someone who walked their talk, took a self-published book to number one on the New York Times bestseller list.  So follow their advice; I am.  But do put all publishing agreements, even among friends, in writing.

I admit, while reading the opening to this book that I felt like I should throw in the towel as a writer.  I know I can’t touch this.  But then an hour later I got an email from my French publisher about the ongoing post-translation corrections, and I thought, well yes, I too am a writer.  Plus one of my own novels, The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady, just did pretty good in the Faulkner-Wisdom Novel contest, thus proving, once again, at least to myself, that I can write novels.  My novel also tackles some thorny religious issues, like the resurrection, though maybe not in the edgy, hard hitting fashion of The Shack.  Perhaps in the two follow up books, I should make them edgier and make them controversial, too.  There is still a lot I need to learn, one of the reasons I'm so keen to read The Shack.

I know, as a writer, I may never have a book that will break out on the scale of The Shack or have the impact of To Kill a Mockingbird, but then so few writers have—see the above list for yourself!  In fact, many of the best-selling books and best-selling series of books (see further down the list) are children’s book!  Not great literature by any means (especially books for pre-schoolers like Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat, which I love.  Yet there is no denying that these powerful so-called children stories will enchant and excite a child’s heart, generation after generation, and show them what’s possible in the world, and also show them that the real key to life is in their own hands, the gift of reading and the flight of imagination. 

We as mere mortals, whether we are writing for children, writing for adults, writing for our own family and friends, or just blogging, must continue to do so, or how will be ever know if we can impact the world with our very own words?  Who knows what will be in our future?  There’s no harm in trying, either.  For me, The Shack gives me hope as a writer, and hope is always a good thing to have.  

The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady Makes 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom Novel Contest short list!

While contemplating editing my novel The Lonely Affair of Jonathan Brady for the 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom Novel Contest, I got a flash of insight to change the title to The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady, and everything seemed to click.  The title change made me think of the novel in a whole new light, especially him dying at the beginning as well as the ending.  Besides giving the novel a new focus, the title doubled as a cool metaphor.

As I wrote about it in an earlier blog about making decisions, I hadn’t worked on this novel in over a year in favor of two other novels that I rewrote for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.  But when the new title idea struck me in April, I knew it was time to act that very day. Although the novel was an almost-finalist for their 2008 contest, I wasn’t sure if I had enough time for a full rewrite, other than a quick line-edit.  I then got the news that the deadline, which had already been pushed back from 1 April to 1 May, just got pushed back to 15 May!  So I went for it and it turned out to be a good decision!

My Penang novel, The Girl in the Bathtub, was also a short list finalist in the Novel-in-Progress category this year, while another Penang-set novel, The Expatriate’s Choice, was a semi-finalist in the Novel category. Coincidently, I briefly met both judges, Will Murphy (Novel judge, Executive Editor at Random House) and the Jeff Kleinman (Novel-in-progress judge, the founding partner of Folio Literary Management) at the 2006 Maui Writers Conference.   It’s nice being able to put a face to a name; even nicer if one of my novels had made it to the finals for them to read.  (Earlier this year a fourth novel, The Boy Who Shot Santa, had advanced to Round Two of the Amazon contest and was short listed in the 2009 Faulkner-Wisdom contest.)  I know I’m close, though it’s about time I found a publisher.

* Here's an updated link to the revamped first five pages of The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady.

FINALISTS NOVEL William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition
All in a Name
Bad of Country
Continuities
Echoes of Love and War
F-Train
The Water Master

SHORT LIST
Aftermath, Laura Brlodie, Lexington, VA
All Jeweled Chokers, Helen Argers, Newark, NJ
Angels in the House, Marylee MacDonald,  Tempe, AZ
Black Pearl, Arthur Nevis, Steamboat Springs, CO
Cooper’s War, Tim Smith, Paris, France
Don’t Cry Little Monster, Helen Krieger, New Orleans, LA
Flambeau, T. J. Fisher, New Orleans, LA
Habit, Adam Hungerford, Fairfax, VA
How to Make Moonshine, Jana Sasser, Edisto Island, SC
In the Evening, In the Morning, A. J. Harman,  Arlington, VA
Jerusalem as a Second Language, Rochelle Distelheim, Highland Park, IL
Life Between Dreams, Tena Russ,  Riverwoods, IL
Lucy, William Coles,  Salt Lake City, UT
Memories of the Dust, Robert Wood,  Chicago, IL
No, Heather Aimee O'Neill, Brooklyn, NY
Oleanna, Julie K. Rose, San Jose, CA
Playground, Edward Rowley, Glen Ridge, NJ
Practice Dying, Rachel Stolzman Gulla,  Brooklyn, NY
Red Dirt, Joe Samuel Starnes, Philadelphia, PA
Rich, Martha L. Burns, La Luz, NM
Sea Level, Nancy Kilgore, Post Mills, VT
Stained Glass, Diane Manning, Houston, TX
The Edgartown Portraits, Richard Weber, Carouge, Switzerland
The Journal of Eva Hathaway, Maryanne D’Agincourt, Westwood, MA
The Patriot Joe Morton, Devault, Michael, Monroe, LA
The Principles of Mining, Sharon Thatcher & Wayland Stallard
The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady, Robert Raymer,  Sarawak, Malaysia
This is Squalorville, Brian Schneider,  St. Helen, MI
Various States of Undress, Roz Unruh,  Hockessin, DE
Victor’s Journals, Philip Erickson, St. Paul, MN
Warming Up, Mary Hutchins Reed,  Chicago, IL
Watershed, Laura Lane McNeal, New Orleans, LA
Westminster, Diane Manning, Houston, TX

                           —Robert Raymer, Borneo Expat Writer

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

Rainforest World Music Festival 2011—8-10 July

Robert and Jenny

For the past six years, since 2006, Jenny and I have been coming to the Rainforest World Music Festival, in Santubong, 31km from Kuching, Sarawak.  My friend Rob, who I briefly met at the 2006 MELTA conference in Kuching only the month before, invited us to join him, and he showed us the ropes.  First thing you do, you head to where the concert will be held that night and stake out your ground with a mat or canvas, then plan out which of the three workshops you want to visit for each of the three sessions, held in separate venues, and then you’re on your own. True to his word we never saw Rob again until that evening, but oh it was a relief to have a friend in that crowd of over 10,000 people meeting us exactly where he said he would be.  We’ve been staking our ground ever since.

Iban Longhouse, Cultural Village

For me the best part of the RWMF, other than the beautiful Cultural Village setting, a must see in itself, are the workshops, where the musicians from various acts introduce their instruments and their playing style and then jam together, especially in the intimate setting of the Iban Longhouse.  They’re up close and personal, especially if you arrive early. Here is a different angle (and a much better photo) from last year, if you follow this link about the RWMF and scroll down to the third photo (you’ll see Jenny and I sitting between the first two pillars—I’m wearing white)

Leweton Woman’s Water Music

Although spread over three days, this year we only came on Saturday, and left our two boys at home partly due to their recent operation (circumcision) For the first workshop we chose to see “flying fingers” at Dewan Lagenda (some hilarious miscommunication with the local Sape Masters), which was enjoyable.  Then “Blown Away” at Iban Longhouse (although it had its moments, the musicians failed to jell and we bailed out early) to get a good spot for an special extra session, a unique treat, the Leweton Woman’s Water Music, where six women from Vanuatu created some amazing sounds with their hands splashing waist high in the lake.  You would’ve sworn that they had drums in that water!  Then back to Dewan Lagenda for “the rhythm method”.  You can rarely go wrong with percussionists—they know how to get down and get all of us dancing with Max Singh of Kissmet and Raul Villa of Joaquin Diaz leading the way.

Haircuts at Rainforest World Music Festival

Earlier, prior to the workshops, to beat the crowd later, (instead of getting fancy haircuts)Jenny and I visited the Rainforest World Craft Bazaar, where Jenny bought a few necklaces, and I bought one as a house decoration.  We also met several friends including Lesley and Aidan, and Lynn.  This is one of the cool things about coming here, the friends you meet.  In fact, on the way home after our first visit, we met Martin from Editions Didier Millet who was also there.  We exchanged business cards, then hooked up again a couple of years later on Facebook, and then he contacted me in 2010 and asked me to write the text for Spirit of Malaysia which came out in February 2011.

Every year since then we have run into friends and former USM students from Penang (and from UNIMAS, too).  One year, my friend Earl was making an educational tour through the region on behalf of Brigham Young University-Hawaii.  I had met him at a conference in Penang in 2004, visited him in 2006 at his university in Hawaii prior to the Maui Writers Conference.  Now he was returning the favor with a visit to Kuching.  I told him about the RWMF, which he would just be missing by a few days and asked if he could rearrange his schedule, a major ordeal since he had all these meetings arranged in several countries, but he managed to pull it off.  The very next year, the first person we ran into at the RWMF was Earl.  He had enjoyed it so much; he came back on his own.  We’ve been sharing our mat with others nearly every year since then, following up on Rob’s hospitality our first visit.

Returning to our mat, we settled back to an enjoyable evening of music that rotated between two stages (hence our choice where to sit with some covering in case of rain).  First up was The Shin from the country Georgia—we were mesmerized not only by their music but by the dancing of one of its members.  Next up was the Pacific Curls from New Zealand, three ladies who played 13 instruments.  Ilgi from Latvia was next, followed by Paddy Keenan from Ireland, who interestingly did a beautiful rendition of “Midnight Train to Georgia”.  Next was Warsaw Village Band from Poland, Joaquin Diaz from Dominican Republic and Lisa Haley & Zydekats from USA. Quite a varied international line up, as you can see.  Unfortunately, we had to leave early since we had a long drive ahead of us.  But we’ll be back next year.  After that first taste in 2006, we vowed never to miss it again.