- AUTHOR & EDUCATOR -
Mark Whitworth
EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK
When I last updated this website I said that publication was only a matter of time. HANG THE TEACHER OUT TO DRY is now on sale, through Amazon, in both paperback and ebook versions. It remains to be seen when the CHINESE WHISPERS series will launch, although it is likely the two books comprising THE PIGEON FANCIER will come first. Following this, the prequel (BEGINNINGS) and sequel (THE PHILOSOPHERS) of that book are competing for me to get my teeth into re-writing them.
HANG THE TEACHER OUT TO DRY
No more marking, no more planning lessons, no more writing curriculum and no more alarm calls at 5.30am. However, I do miss the students, who have kept me going over the thirty years of my teaching career, including the good, the bad and the...misguided.
HANG THE TEACHER OUT TO DRY charts both my final year of teaching, including some fiery relationships with school management and the thirty years of mostly positive relationships with students, parents and teachers in six different countries around the world.
There are stories deriving from each that broaden your smile, make you laugh out loud or cringe in desperation behind the sofa. From school trips through school plays, the best action is rarely in the classroom, even though that has been my main stage over three decades. This book is dedicated to the students who filled those classrooms and the cleaners who cleaned them.
"...a very engaging style of writing, and a sense of the absurd - very necessary in many situations!" Carol Spalton
"For me, the more personal the book became, the more I enjoyed it; so many of the personal anecdotes were excellent and many quite moving and illuminating." Peter Gray
CHINESE WHISPERS: BEGINNINGS
Five thousand years ago China was not China and the Chinese were not Chinese. However, there were "Beginnings" and some possibilities are explored in this account of the migration and settlement of ancient peoples.
Examining the cultural changes, both external and internal, the account charts the changes in the role of woman in proto-Chinese society.
The story commences on the shores of Lake Baikal and ends on the banks of the Yangtze, from catching giant lake fish to worshipping the Yangtze dragons. A journey of epic proportions for a society that was forced southwards by climatic changes and the certainty of freezing death. A culture that would merge with the primitive farmers of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, but would eventually divide, each half holding dear extremes of social norms from nascent communism to the extremes of cruel dictatorship.
A fight for life, a fight for freedom and a fight for peace. The Ying and the Yang encircling each other yet also pulling apart; the "Beginnings" of modern China.
CHINESE WHISPERS: THE PIGEON FANCIER
Moving forward nearly an entire millennium, the cultures of China have begun to form and differences between them give rise to the fledgling city states that would dominate the next three thousand years. Male warrior kings dominate as the country sees the establishments of the earliest dynasty, the Xia. Women are subjugated and relegated to wielding any power they have through holding on to some leverage behind the thrones.
Environmental destruction is snowballing across the land and key players make attempts to harness the changes for their own benefit, whilst the guardians of the forests attempt to ameliorate the decline.
A fallen courtier, still wielding power, hides a terrible secret. From her loess cave, where she ekes out an existence by fortune telling and whoring, she attempts to remain true to the Sisterhood and their grand plans.
THE PIGEON FANCIER IS A TWO PART BOOK. PART ONE WILL HOPEFULLY BE LAUNCHED EARLY IN THE NEW YEAR.
CHINESE WHISPERS: THE PHILOSPHERS
Without writing there would be no Kong Qiu. Without Confucius the Spring and Autumn period may not have ended and the time of the Warring States may not have commenced. There are explanations for some of the grand dichotomies in the master's philosophies and there is little doubt that some were placed there deliberately.
The story follows Confucius as he sets about trying to establish himself on what could be regarded as a world stage. Possible contemporaries, such as Lao Zi, Sun Tzu and further afield Siddhārtha Gautama vie with each other to bend the ears of the men with the power. The "Philosophers" voices boom from courtyard to courtyard whilst those of women are nearly silenced by the cultural shift. A brave few females keep the flame burning and push back against subjugation and moves to regard them as mere belongings.
The first major cities spew pollutants across China, just as they spew warfare with their standing armies, is it anarchy on the horizon or organisation?