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| Sarah Palin's Going Rogue – uncut | TA Frank Exclusive - the raw, unexpurgated first draft of Sarah Palin's biography Going Rogue, complete with author's notes[Sarah, this looks great. But we've noted a few questions and comments in this draft that we'd like to get your answers on ASAP, if you don't mind. Thanks! – eds. YOU BETCHA – SP] Going Rogue, by Sarah Palin: Chapter OneI was born on a farm in Virginia. [Is this right? – eds. WHATEVER. YOU GUYS ARE IN CHARGE OF SPELLING. :) – SP] And I remember my dad gave me a small axe when I was six, and I was super excited and took a hatchet to whatever I could find. So one day I saw this secular liberal cherry tree of my dad's, and I went rogue. Four chops and the thing went down. Later my dad asked me what had happened, and I told him I had no involvement. But, since it was just the two of us, he had additional questions. So I told him: "Father, I cannot tell a lie. As I've already told you, I cut the tree." [Sarah, this seems somewhat similar to a story about George Washington. – eds. THAT'S VERY COOL. – SP] That sort of plain speaking is what's gotten me in trouble a lot of the time. But it's also what's helped me achieve my dreams. I suppose I got my straight-talking streak from being born in Alaska. [Sarah, this claim creates a problem with the chapter's opening sentence. – eds. GUYS, I'M NO EDITOR. I'M SURE YOU BIG BRAINS CAN FIX IT! – SP] We've always had to fight for our fair share there, right back to when we were trying to get statehood. I remember holding the signs, making my voice heard, speaking up to the powerful types in Washington and saying: "We deserve to be a state in the United States of America!" [Sarah, we're running into a chronology problem here, specifically vis-a-vis Alaskan statehood and your birth year. – eds. THAT'S A LOT OF THREE-DOLLAR WORDS, GANG. IF YOU WANNA DO THINGS DIFFERENT, JUST TELL IT TO ME ALREADY! – SP] One thing I learned from that is you never give up, you never quit. And that's how I've lived my life. [Sarah, does this require a caveat about your decision to resign from office? – eds. THAT'S KIND OF GETTING 40 YEARS AHEAD OF THE STORY, FOLKS. I NEED REAL QUESTIONS, OK? – SP] Anyways, so going back to my childhood, I was a big-time sports fan and reader, and I loved CS Lewis, who is very deep and interesting. So I played basketball and they called me Sarah Barracuda because of my amazing mid-court shot, which got me scholarships to the top colleges in the nation. [Sarah, this passage is great stuff, very affecting. But while we agree that Matanuska-Susitna College and Hawaii Pacific and all the others are superb schools, should we maybe cut out "top colleges" for the sake of modesty? – eds. NO WAY, HOSAY. LIBERAL ELITES LOOK DOWN ON ME BUT THEY ONLY WENT TO ONE COLLEGE AND I WENT TO FOUR. – SP] I put myself through college while working full time and raising a family. [Already? What about the basketball scholarship? – eds. YUP, THAT TOO. TOP COLLEGES IN THE COUNTRY. – SP] From that experience I always knew I wanted to serve the people of Alaska. I decided to run to be mayor of Wasilla, a town in great need of strong, Christian leadership. [Sarah, aren't we skipping a lot of time in between? – eds. YOU GUYS ARE TOO MUCH. FIRST I'M NOT FAR ENOUGH AHEAD AND THEN I'M TOO FAR. – SP ] And I won in a landslide. That's when I knew that I had so much more to offer this great nation. When I decided to pick John McCain as my running mate in my 2008 vice-presidential run, it was in recognition of his maverick qualities. [Sarah, this may be technically correct, but isn't the formulation a little misleading? – eds. OH, WHAT'S THE BIG DARN DEAL? WHOSE LIFE IS THIS ANYWAY, YOURS OR MINE? – SP] It was a great honour to have a such a wise old man and heroic stepping stone in my quest to serve the people. [Awkd – eds. UPYRS – SP]Sarah PalinRepublicansJohn McCainUnited StatesTA Frankguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Bookseller's debut novel wins John Llewellyn Rhys prize Evie Wyld's After the Fire, a Still Small Voice beats Aravind Adiga and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to £5,000 prizeEvie Wyld, a bookseller from south London, has won the 2009 John Llewellyn Rhys prize with a debut novel set in Vietnam and Australia, After the Fire, a Still Small Voice.In a year in which the shortlist included the winner of the 2008 Booker prize, Aravind Adiga, and the 2007 Orange winner, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the 29-year-old Wyld expressed surprise and delight at having taken the £5,000 prize. "It hasn't really sunk it yet," she said.The chair of the judges, novelist Louise Doughty, saluted the strength of the shortlist, and the awareness of young Commonwealth writers whose work is eligible for the award. "Writers under 35 are really tackling the big subjects across the board," she said. "There isn't a sense that they are hiding in a hole."With fiction, non-fiction and a collection of poetry all present on the shortlist, Doughty said that the panel had focused on the "quality of the writing". "At the shortlist meeting we all came out thinking there was no obvious choice, but after re-reading there was one clear winner." She praised Wyld's command of language and her deft description in what she called a "very bold book"."It didn't feel like it was a first-time author sticking to safe, autobiographical material," she added. Set mostly on the coast of Queensland, After the Fire, a Still Small Voice explores failures of communication across three generations of Australian men. The shadows of domestic violence, the Korean war and Vietnam loom large in a taut story which Doughty described as "fantastically mature ... never showy, a slow burn that drags the reader in".Brought up in London, the half-Australian Wyld traces much of the inspiration for the book back to time she has spent with family in Australia, which she has visited frequently, even living there for a year after finishing her BA in creative writing at Bath Spa University, though she only began working on the novel when she was back in London."I find it easier to write when I'm not in the country I'm writing about," she said. "I find it difficult writing about stuff I'm too close to. You have to turn it into something else in your head."Wyld began working on the novel after completing an MA in creative writing at Goldsmiths, on the suggestion of an agent who had seen one of her stories in the Goldsmiths anthology, Goldfish. "My agent asked me to write a novel," said Wyld, "so I just sat down and wrote one." It took her three years to complete.The male perspective came "quite by chance", she continued. "It never occurred to me that it was a story about masculinity." But the male voice wasn't particularly challenging, she added. "I have a brother and a father, so I know some men.""The next book I'm writing is a female voice," she added, "and I'm finding it difficult, as there's a voice over your shoulder saying 'You can't write that, people will think it's you'."Previous winners of the award include David Mitchell, Margaret Drabble and VS Naipaul. No poet has won the award since Andrew Motion in 1984, but Doughty defended the decision to continue allowing publishers to submit poetry and drama. "Poetry will have its day," she said.John Llewellyn Rhys prizeFictionAwards and prizesRichard Leaguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
The Entertainer's Gary Grant: the Christian toyshop entrepreneur The retailer on praying for his troubled rivals, banning Harry Potter and expanding his business in the teeth of a recessionMost businessmen pray for their rivals to come a cropper – not hold a prayer meeting when they do. But when Woolworths went bust last year, there was little celebration at the headquarters of toy retailer The Entertainer, which stood to cash in on its demise. Instead, owner Gary Grant called in the local vicar."Last year I prayed more about my business than I have ever done and in October, for the first time, I felt God say to me 'you need to call the staff together,'" he says. "I said 'God, you're mad, I'm not doing that' – because you can have a personal conversation with God – I got to work on Monday morning and I heard God ask me again, 'are you going to call the staff together?'"So he did. The born-again Christian – or "charismatic Christian" as he prefers – emailed workers inviting them to a "time of reflection". "Ye of little faith," he jokes. "I thought six or so would come along and sit with me and pray for Woolworths and the 28,000 people potentially losing their jobs. I got six chairs out and went to get more and when I came back there were 30 people in the room. It was very moving."By last autumn the crisis had swung a wrecking ball through the high street, hitting chains such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer, let alone a small family-run enterprise like The Entertainer with 50 stores. "I thought the whole world was caving in," says Grant. "Woolworths was closing down and the daily figures were coming in and we were experiencing a drop in turnover. People's partners were being made redundant and staff knew I was under pressure."But with seven shopping days until Christmas – six if you are The Entertainer, as Grant's faith means he doesn't open on Sundays – when we meet at the Westfield shopping centre in west London, the entrepreneur is struggling with matters physical rather than spiritual. The atmosphere is already tense – a two-year-old has just thrown a plastic wheelbarrow across the store – and Grant is trying not to lose his temper as he surveys empty shelves and the implication – lost sales. "It looks like we are closing down," he says, eyes darting from the ransacked Lego display to the depopulated Sylvanian Families selection.Lego shortageAfter marching round the shop with the manager and a trip to the stock room, over a coffee Grant is contrite: "I think I have let him [the manager] down – he doesn't have enough staff." Keeping shelves full is nigh-on impossible at this time of year as shoppers swoop for last-minute presents. Bestsellers such as Go Go Hamsters are long gone and there is an industry-wide shortage of Lego, which Grant says is an "outstanding" success this year as parents call on old favourites in hard times. His company makes a quarter of its £70m annual sales in the four weeks before Christmas with the Westfield branch selling, literally, a lorry load of toys a day.While he did not revel in Woolworths' demise, it presented a significant opportunity. Next year, The Entertainer will open 12 stores – its biggest growth spurt since Grant started with the first shop in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, in 1981. "I was the company's only employee and my wife Cath would pop in at lunchtime so I could have a sandwich and go to the loo."The couple spent their evenings replenishing the shelves. If they could not fit all the boxes in the stock room, they took them home and stowed them in the garage. "My wife still reminds me about our first Christmas as she was seven months pregnant and standing behind the till."Nearly 30 years later, Grant's sons Duncan and Stuart are senior managers and this Christmas close to 800 people are working for them in the business, which is still 100% family-owned.Grant has plans to double in size over the next four years. To expand a retailer – and a toy one at that – in the teeth of a recession is a brave move as, Woolworths aside, Grant estimates 150 independent toy shops have closed in the past decade as trade shifts online and supermarkets target the category. He says the retail climate remains tough, with trade more subdued than he expected this Christmas.Grant has drafted in a former Early Learning Centre executive, Sue Dorkin, to modernise the supply chain and will outsource its warehousing next year. He has also hired Woolworths' former retail operations director, Nick Hargreaves. Grant, who is dyslexic, says he learned how to be a retailer on the job and, at 51, has done everything from window dressing to lorry driving. But now he is being forced to step back. "That's been the hardest thing for me as all these years I've been telling people how to do their job, now I have got people who know how to do things better than me."Like other small businesses, The Entertainer has been at the sharp end of the recession as both consumers and the battered financial sector pulled in their horns. The Entertainer's suppliers briefly lost their credit insurance cover last year and its banking costs have more than doubled, despite having no debt. "To expand, we are having to rely more on our own cash and banking facilities," says Grant. "The banks are not looking to increase lending even when they can see a business is growing in size and profitability."In his capacity as chairman of the Toy Retailers Association (TRA), Grant has been lobbying insurers on the industry's behalf amid concerns that meagre credit lines threaten to stifle growth. "There is still a problem," he says. "A good number of our members are still without cover today."The banking crisis has provoked furious debate about the City's ethics and Grant says his Damascene conversion to Christianity in 1991 was a turning point in how he ran his firm. His business dealings are more honest and transparent, he says, with 10% of the company profits – and more of his own income – going to charity.Harry Potter banBut his belief in God has not always been good for business. Grant refuses to sell Harry Potter merchandise as he does not want to encourage children to play with what he terms "darkness". Plastic trolls were also vetoed due to their billing as creatures with "mystical, magical powers of good luck"."The company brought them in and lined them up on my desk and I felt a real uncertainty … they made me uneasy in my spirit." Halloween, one of the biggest sales events of the year for other toy retailers, is also a no-go area.Grant muses that God seems to have a sense of humour as not only were both toy franchises bestsellers, but as presenter of the TRA awards, the year Harry Potter won, he had to spend the whole evening standing next to and being photographed beside a giant Lego figure of the teenage wizard.Retail industryToysWoolworthsHarry PotterCredit crunchZoe Woodguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
The Road brings fictional ecological disasters into the here and now | Ed Gillespie WALL-E was endearing and Avatar epic, but The Road is an eco-film we can more humanly relate toThere's an iconic scene in The Road, the brilliant film of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer prize-winning novel that hits cinemas today, involving a can of Coke. Viggo Mortensen's character, referred to simply as "the man", prises the beverage from a dusty, wrecked vending machine for him and his son, "the boy", to share.They've been slogging their way across an equally dusty and wrecked landscape in the aftermath of an ambiguous environmental catastrophe. It's the first "food" they've had in days. As the boy takes his first ever sip of the fizzy drink, you can feel the audience tangibly empathising with him.It's poignant as it's maybe one of the few scenes viewers can directly relate to in a world of bleak despondency turned horribly upside down: perpetually grey skies, the rumble of earthquakes underfoot, distant fires roaring on the horizon and a total absence of organic life.The Road is the latest in a recent wave of films with a strong environmental theme. These range from the Simpsons Movie, in which Homer's characteristic ineptitude leads to a series of eco-disasters in Springfield; to Disney's cute but effective take on waste and over-consumption, WALL-E, to James Cameron's ruthless resource exploitation versus biodiversity and indigenous blue-skinned aliens 3D Hollywood blockbuster, Avatar.These films all represent very different approaches to our environmental challenges. The Simpsons, like forthcoming Brit-flick Beyond the Pole, about the first organic, carbon-neutral and vegetarian polar expedition, uses deft satirical humour to highlight eco-hypocrisy. WALL-E appeals unashamedly to the kids, but is still a provocative film for adults to watch too.However, it's Avatar that is probably the most populist and effective story about the complex messages of biological interdependence and corporate responsibility. Possibly the first "eco-epic", it takes environmentalism to a whole new audience through its its heroic protagonist, an ex-marine turned eco-warrior. No wonder rightwing commentators in the US absolutely hate it.While it's one thing to engage audiences on the ethics of mining activities on a hypothetical planet in the distant future, it's quite another to connect this back to the present. And this is where The Road has real visceral power. Scenes like the oneI mentioned are brutal reminders of the thin skin of society on which we skate.There is something deeply haunting about the unflinching portrayal of human nature in The Road that is either pessimistic or realistic, depending on your viewpoint. McCarthy's intended the book as a meditation on mortality (he is 76 and has a son of similar age to the boy in the story). His narrative is about personal demise and the subsequent fate of those we leave behind. But it also works at the macro level as a survival warning to our species if we don't take action the environmental challenges facing us.• Ed Gillespie is the co-founder of Futerra Sustainability CommunicationsClimate changeViggo MortensenCormac McCarthyEd Gillespieguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
What I see in the mirror: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie My greatest vanity is my skin. It is the colour of gingerbread and, thanks to my mother's genes, smooth and mostly blemish-freeThe problem with looking in the mirror is that you never know how you will feel about what you see. Sometimes, when my hormones are out of sync, I have no interest in the mirror, and if I do look I think everything is all wrong. Other times, I am quite pleased with what I see.I look young. I heard this said so often that it became irritating. I once worked as a babysitter for a woman who, the first time we met, said she didn't want somebody in high school. I was 22. Later, I realised that in certain places being female and looking "young" meant it was more difficult to be taken seriously, so I turned to make-up. I am now 32, and when I put on eyeliner, mascara and shadow, I see a woman who is 32. I like that. When I am older, I may want to look younger than my age, but I doubt it. When I am 60, I will want to look 60 – although, of course, the best 60 I can be.My greatest vanity is my skin. It is the colour of gingerbread and, thanks to my mother's genes, smooth and mostly blemish-free.I have my father's lopsided mouth. When I smile, my lips slope to one side. My doctor sister calls it my cerebral palsy mouth. I am very much a daddy's girl, and even though I would rather my smile wasn't crooked, there is something moving for me about having a mouth exactly like my father's.• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's latest book is a collection of short stories, The Thing Around Your Neck (Fourth Estate).Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieBeautyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |