David Bowles's Blog: Meme Floe, page 2

A Bhajan by Mira Bai

Mira Bai was a Hindu mystic and saint in the 16th century. Though born a Rajput princess, she was drawn to the god Krishna since childhood. Mira Bai rejected traditional roles for women after the death of her husband, choosing instead to spend her life worshipping that incarnation of Vishnu as her divine lover. She is best known as a poet who composed bhajans, lyrical songs of devotion. Here is one of the most famous of these pieces.

Yes! I have found the gracious wealth of his holy name.
I have received the priceless jewel from my one true teacher.
The reward of many lifetimes, after losing the rest of the world.
No man can spend or steal it. Day by day it grows and grows.
On the boat of truth he rows me across the sea of being—
Mira’s regal Lord Krishna, whom I joyfully, joyfully praise!

—Translated by David Bowles, December 15, 2022

____________________________________________
Original Braj Bhasha (a Western Hindi Language)

Pāyo jī, maine nāma raṭana dhana pāyo
bastu amolaka dī mere satguru, kirpā kari apanāyo
janma janma kī puñjī pāī, jaga meń sabai khovāyo
kharcai nahiń koī, cora na levai, dina dina baḍhata savāyo
sat kī nāva khevaṭiyā satguru, bhavasāgara tara āyo
Mīrā ke prabhu Giridhara nāgara, harakha harakha jasa gāyo!

Cover for Secret of the Moon Conch!

Today We Need Diverse Books revealed the cover for Secret of the Moon Conch by Guadalupe García McCall and me! The cover was designed by Jeanette Levy from an image created by illustrator Luis Pinto. The book drops on May 16, 2023 from Bloomsbury. Preorder it here.

Description: Award-winning authors David Bowles and Guadalupe García McCall join forces to craft a sweeping fantasy romance about falling in love despite all odds.

In modern-day Mexico, Sitlali has no family left and has caught the attention of a dangerous gang leader. She has no choice but to make the perilous trip across the US border to track down her long-absent father. The night before her journey, she finds a beautiful conch shell detailed with ancient markings.

In 1521, Calizto is an Aztec young warrior in Tenochtitlan, fighting desperately to save his city from Spanish imperialists. With his family dead and the horrors of war surrounding him, Calizto asks a sacred moon conch for guidance.

Connected by the same magical conch in different times, Sitlali and Calizto can communicate across centuries, finding comfort in each other as they fight to survive. With each conversation, they fall deeper in love, but will they be able to find a way to each other?

A WORD FROM THE AUTHORS:

In 2017, Guadalupe García McCall came up with the idea of a YA supernatural romance along the lines of the films The Lake House and Your Name, with two characters communicating and falling in love across time. One would be a teenage Mexican girl in the present; the other, an Aztec boy in the past. Daunted by the research that would be required to depict the Aztec Empire in 1521, Guadalupe reached out to her friend and fellow writer David Bowles, asking if he’d be interested in co-authoring. Excited at the prospect, David brought to bear his knowledge of the period and of Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs (and millions in modern Mexico as well).

After two years of planning bits and pieces of the novel between our own projects, we hammered out an outline and got to writing! The looming 500th anniversary of the fall of the Aztec Empire gave more urgency to our work. We were delighted when the great folks at Bloomsbury expressed a desire to publish the novel, which we think will resonate with everyone fascinated by history, the modern struggle of immigrants, deep ancestral magic, and love that transcends space and time to bring two fated hearts together. — David Bowles & Guadalupe García McCall

Interview on Weekend Edition

On September 3, 2022, Scott Simon interviewed me for NPR’s Weekend Edition about my book They Call Her Fregona to tie in to my presentation at the National Book Festival in Washington DC.

“A Chunk of Charcoal” by Ahn Do-hyun

Episode 12 of the K-drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo features a powerful poem about putting others first, from author Ahn Do-hyun’s 2004 collection Lonely High Solitary (외롭고 높고 쓸쓸한). I couldn’t get the powerful imagery off my mind: in Korea even today, people fight off the winter cold with charcoal briquettes. Charcoal dust and ash is sprinkled on ice (like salt) to make walking less treacherous. The poet takes this simple reality and uses it as a metaphor for the selflessness that can be so hard for us to attain.

A Chunk of Charcoal

There are many ways to say it,
but the meaning of life
is to become a chunk of charcoal,
willingly, for someone else.

From the day floors must be heated until spring arrives,
the most beautiful sight on the glorious streets of Korea
is a truck, loaded with charcoal,
struggling up a hill.

As if it knows its purpose,
charcoal burns on and on
once its body catches fire.
I refused to grasp the lesson
though I ate hot soup and rice each day,
for I was afraid that after loving
with all of my being, I’d be left alone—
just a lump of ash.

So far, I’ve never become charcoal for anyone.

Yet when I think about it,
life is about being broken
into chunks.

I never thought to spread myself upon the ice
so others might walk more safely
when the world is slippery
with early morning snow.

—Translated by David Bowles
August 5, 2022

Original Korean

연탄 한 장

또 다른 말도 많고 많지만
삶이란
나 아닌 그 누구에게
기꺼이 연탄 한 장 되는 것.

방구들 선득선득해지는 날부터 봄까지
조선 팔도 거리에서 제일 아름다운 것은
연탄차가 부릉부릉
힘쓰며 언덕길 오르는 거라네.
해야 할 일이 무엇인가를 알고 있다는 듯이
연탄은, 일단 제 몸에 불이 옮겨 붙었다 하면
하염없이 뜨거워지는 것
매일 따스한 밥과 국물 퍼먹으면서도 몰랐네.
온몸으로 사랑하고 나면
한 덩이 재로 쓸쓸하게 남는 게 두려워

여태껏 나는 그 누구에게 연탄 한 장도 되지 못하였네.

생각하면
삶이란
나를 산산이 으깨는 일.

눈 내려 세상이 미끄러운 어느 이른 아침에
나 아닌 그 누가 마음 놓고 걸어갈
그 길을 만들 줄도 몰랐었네, 나는.

― 안도현

384

“Rainy Day” by Mah Chonggi

I’ve been watching the Korean drama 기상청 사람들: 사내연애 잔혹사 편, known in English as Forecasting Love and Weather. In episode six, there’s a lovely scene in which the two leads (who work for the Korea Meteorological Administration and therefore know a lot about the weather) are reading a lovely poem about clouds colliding as a metaphor for love. I immediately looked up the poem (titled “비오는 날” or “Rainy Day”) and found that it was written by a famous South Korean poet, 마종기 (Ma Jonggi, usually transliterated “Mah Chonggi”).

Rainy Day

As when cloud meets cloud
with a thunderous crash,
so too would I meet you
and cry out, unthinking.

As when cloud collides with cloud
and all the sky lights up at once,
I hope that when I collide with you,
I will see again the path I lost.

The rain’s song sweeps high, then low—
I cannot hope to sing along.
But you are dazzling bright
as you tell me what it means:

“The rain must meet the rain
for either to get wet.”

—translated by David Bowles
August 2, 2022

_________________________________________________________

Original Korean

비오는 날

구름이 구름을 만나면
큰 소리를 내듯이
아, 하고 나도 모르게 소리치면서
그렇게 만나고 싶다, 당신을

구름이 구름을 갑자기 만날 때
환한 불을 일시에 켜듯이
나도 당신을 만나서
잃어버린 내 길을 찾고 싶다

비가 부르는 노래의 높고 낮음을
나는 같이 따라 부를 수가 없지만
비는 비끼리 만나야 서로 젖는다고
당신은 눈부시게 내게 알려준다.

—마종기

FREGONA: Starred Review from Kirkus

Kirkus has given They Call Her Fregona a starred review!!!

Among the many praises they heap on my upcoming novel-in-verse are these snippets:

“Superb.”“A real delight.”“Rich in scope.”“Sublime.”

Thanks to Joanna Cárdenas at Kokila and my agent Taylor Martindale Kean for believing in this one!

PARLIAMENT an Eisner Nominee

I’m very excited that The Witch Owl Parliament is one of five Eisner Award nominees in the category Best Publication for Teens.

I must give a huge thanks to illustrator / co-creator Raúl the Third, colorist Stacey Robinson, letterer Damian Duffy, and editor Stacy Whitman at Tu Books!

“The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, considered the ‘Oscars’ of the comic book industry, are handed out each year in a gala ceremony at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Named for renowned cartoonist Will Eisner (creator of ‘The Spirit’ and pioneer of the graphic novels), the Awards are given out in more than two-dozen categories covering the best publications and creators of the previous year.”

Américas Award for M2BT

My Two Border Towns has won the Américas Award, alongside Gloria Amescua’s fabulous Child of the Flower-Song People!

From the CLASP website:

The Américas Award is given in recognition of U.S. works of fiction, poetry, folklore, or selected non- fiction (from picture books to works for young adults) published in the previous year in English or Spanish that authentically and engagingly portray Latin America, the Caribbean or the Latinx community in the United States. By combining both and linking the Americas, the award reaches beyond geographic borders, as well as multicultural boundaries, focusing instead upon cultural heritages within the hemisphere. The award is sponsored by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP), and coordinated by the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University and the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies at Vanderbilt University.

The Américas Award winners, honorable mention titles and commended titles are selected for their: 1)Distinctive literary quality, 2) Cultural contextualization, 3) Exceptional integration of text, illustration and design; and 4) Potential for classroom use.

The winning books are honored each fall in a celebration coinciding with Hispanic Heritage Month at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs, http://claspprograms.org/

Víspera de Orgullo

Available now! My translation of ‘Twas the Night Before Pride—written by Joanna McClintick and illustrated by Juana Medina—into [non-binary] Spanish: LA VÍSPERA DE ORGULLO. A lovely picture book that depicts a queer family preparing for an important holiday. A necessary text in these fraught and often hateful times.

Award for THE IMMORTAL BOY

My translation of The Immortal boy (by the incredible Colombian author Francisco Montaña Ibáñez) has been named the 2022 GLLI Translated YA Book Prize Honor Title.

The Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI) focuses on making world literature more visible for kids and adults. Here’s what they say about themselves:

“We intend to do so by facilitating close and direct collaboration between translators, librarians, publishers, editors, and educators, because we believe that these groups in collaboration are uniquely positioned to help libraries provide support and events to engage readers of all ages in a library framework that explores and celebrates literature from around the world.

“We want to increase the visibility of international works in English translation so that more readers can enjoy the amazing diversity in these books and the perspectives they present. And we would like to do this by increasing cooperation between literary translators, international literature advocates, and librarians, who are already experts at guiding readers to new titles. Whether you are a children’s librarian or a YA literature blogger, a rural library director or a teacher at a large urban school with a diverse student population, we would welcome your insights as we explore collaborative opportunities to encourage readers to explore beyond the boundaries of their own culture and language.”

Here’s the cover of The Immortal Boy: