The bat of gold / El murcielago de oro
Novel - 2015
About the book:
This 170-page book was written in memory of Carolina Guarnizo Miekel, a Colombian filmmaker and friend who resided in London and who died in the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Armero after filming her graduation piece in 1985. Carolina’s film was a reflection on the legend of the mohán in the Magdalena River and a key entry point for me into the world of the extinct pijao culture in Tolima, which gave rise to the creation of the pre-Columbian figure of the golden bat, after which the novel takes its name.
Synopsis
CLAY MORTON, an English expert in pre-Columbian culture, suffers from a deep depression which official medicine is incapable of curing. A casual encounter in Camden Market with an indigenous Colombian healer, HERMINIA, who is able to “read him like an open book”, takes him in an unexpected direction. Herminia guides him through a regression to events of the past by using a golden pre-Columbian pendant in the shape of a bat. Clay “returns” to Armero in 1985, days before the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano , in search of CHIA, a woman who was his great love and who is about to die in the explosion. Upon this meeting depends his recovery, his future, and the destiny of Herminia.
Review
“Written with profound observation on love, its loss and restoration, The Bat of Gold is an illuminating tale, exquisitely expressed, which submerges us into the pre-Columbian, shamanic world, and which – in this modern materialistic world – draws us closer to the all-pervading understanding from which intuition rises”.
Miriam Frank, My Innocent Absence, Tales From a Nomadic Life, Arcadia Books
Launched at the Colombian Consulate in London on 19th November 2015 and in Bogotá on 10th March 2016 at the Casa Campuzano del Banco de la República.
Currently available in Spanish, awaiting translation into English.
Mary English and the pursuit of Liberty
Historical novel - 2016
I am currently researching and writing a historical novel about Mary English (1789-1846), the propose narrative of which will develop around a case of what I will describe as “reverse migration”: Mary went to live in the country of my birth, while I have lived in Britain most of my adult life. Mary wrote in English from Colombia, providing a European perspective on her life there. Through the inverse, writing in Spanish while living in UK, I hope to provide elements of a Latin American perspective on Europe. I also want to explore my own (Colombian) culture through the eyes (and letters) of a migrant British woman living in Colombia in the 19th century.
Proposal for this project can be found in the following document:
Jeronimo and The Shadow
Screenplay – 2013
Adaptation for a feature film animation script based on the original story The Valley of the Fireflies by Olga Lucia Diaz. Commissioned by the Colombian Film Commission and the Ministry of Culture, 2013
Blood of the Earth
Screenplay – 2012
An environmental drama, inspired by the true story of a young Californian, Terry Freitas and a remote Colombian tribe in their struggle to keep their ancestral lands free from oil extraction.
“Blood of the Earth has an exciting premise made all the more compelling by its factual basis. Terry’s determination to protect the Uwa people and prevent oil mining in their region potentially makes for an inspirational and powerful drama”
BBC Writer’s Room report