Exit Sugartown
Published 2014 by Høst&Søn, publishers, part of Rosinante&Co.
Exit sugartown
The novel Exit Sugartown tells the story of 17-year-old Dawn’s dramatic fight for survival and a decent life, and it offers the reader a look inside some of the people from “the poor world” who enter our countries to get a better life. Or simply to save their lives.
Where is all this taking place? She won’t tell us. The story is “told” by “Dawn” (which isn’t her real name) and out of fear for authorities and others, all names of characters and places are anonymized. And could therefore be anyone, anywhere.
The young migrants of today who set off on life threatening journeys, who throw themselves in the arms of traffickers and get tempted to enter prostitution or crime, have the same dreams of a good life as European teenagers: Friendship, love, having fun, education, nice stuff to eat, a beer on Saturdays, a job they like, and the prospect of a good family life.
Migrants? You can meet them down at the corner ...
Exit Sugartown is based on research in Malta and London and on studying journalist accounts from the UK, France and Italy. Almost every week insanely overcrowded boats loaded with migrants arrive at the Italian island of Lampedusa near Tunisia. Every month some of these boats do not arrive …
The real “Dawns” and “Didis”, though, you won’t find solely far south, you can meet them right down the corner: The dishwasher girl in the Chinese Take-away, the guy who was allowed to join the football training, sent here as he was by his parents, without passport, the au pair on the playground with the kids of some wealthy family, and, if you happen to be early at school one morning: The woman who does the cleaning.
It’s important to study and discuss migration in the school of today.
Read the novel and discuss how it describes the conditions and dreams of the characters, seach about migration in your home country and the rest of Europe, read non-fiction and newspapers, debate the issue with each other and do dare walking through the back-door of your China-joint and have a chat with the Dishwasher there.
Teaching, meeting up, materials:
Watch this short video by Maria Feck from Hamburg –
– and learn what a group of African migrants, now in Hamburg, think and say.
Teaching, meeting up, materials:
After finishing “Exit Sugartown” I have been on Lampedusa myself to see and hear how the situation is regarded from there, and as a research for a possible follow-up-novel for “Exit Sugartown”.
I do visit for example schools in order to tell about and show photos about migration in Europa and how this novel was made. This might inspire to debating and discussing.
If you happen to find supplementary sources, texts or movies, you are very welcome to email me links and ideas in order to upload them here..
Links:
Teaching:
http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Teaching-resources/Lesson-plans/Migration
In the newspapers:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/immigration
Non-fiction:
3 very important books by journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai:
http://www.amazon.com/Hsiao-Hung-Pai/e/B0063IXXWU
Fiction:
My youth novel “Lille fisk” (Little Fish”)
on the Morecambe tragedy. (So far not translated).
Films:
“Like a man on earth”, trailer english subtitles:
“Like a man on earth”, full version: (Italian subtitles) Very impressive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icV7wzHwhNQ
“Behind this sea”, trailer, English subtitles.
https://shootingpeople.org/watch/99576/behind-this-sea
“Lampedusa in Hamburg” – a short video by Maria Feck.