'Keep writing'

Veteran author Michael Anthony is urging young writers not to be discouraged by setbacks or failures.

Anthony, 90, launched his 37th book, The Sound of Marching Feet, at the National Library and Information System Authority (Nalis) in Port of Spain, on Wednesday.

“Keep writing. Sometimes things happen but they happen slowly. Once the desire, not talent, is there you will do it, whatever happens.”

He recalled his days as a young writer who had gone to England to pursue his career, and setbacks such as having his stories denied and rubbished by publishers, and rejected by news programmes. He said he never allowed it to deter him.

“I think people get broken-hearted too easily (when writing). I don’t think they should.”

The Sound of Marching Feet is the story surrounding the life and times of a young man named Chippy, who came of age during World War II (1939-1945), when the Americans occupied parts of TT. In a question and answer session, Anthony said he was a little boy when the Americans occupied TT, and said their presence changed the country drastically.

“Quite suddenly everyone could be heard saying 'Hello Joe!' and things like that. The Americans always gave us sweet drinks like Coca Cola and apples and so on. And there were a lot of hungry little boys. These boys really loved being anywhere around the Americans.

“I always thought all along the years that someone should write a novel about this period in TT history. I always talked about writing The Sound of Marching Feet and this occupancy. Writers don’t usually pick and choose themes, the themes pick and choose them.”

In a review of the book, professor Ken Ramchand said Anthony used his skills as a researcher and novelist to represent the lives of TT people in an ever-changing world. He said Anthony illustrated the admiration TT citizens had, and the loyalty they developed, for the Americans, even as they were positioned as a British colony.

According to Ramchand, the novel also described the relationship between TT and the Americans, and illustrated the good and bad elements of the occupation through the experiences of the characters in the book.

“Michael Anthony used an intuitive processing between history and fiction to write this book. He combined his impulse to vent, and a researcher’s desire for fact to find information that journalists may overlook,” Ramchand said.

The Sound of Marching Feet is available in local bookstores and at Nalis.