Monday 11 July 2011

Christina Koh: Frenemy to Malaysian ghosts

Getting back on the horse, I arranged to meet up with Christina Koh, aka Chris Kouju. Having spent years as a journalist she now has a juicy Creative Writing qualification and is putting the finishing touches to her first novel.

Christina


Although graduated, Christina definitely counts towards my set of Napier 'top trumps'. I've heard her read bits of her work a few times and always wanted more of these strange ghost stories. We met up in Princes Street Gardens where I was hoping to get a long exposure making passersby look ethereal and unreal. This was foiled by Christina's incredible energy and inability to stay still for a second. In the end, this seemed to capture her joie de vivre rather wonderfully.

UPDATE Christina sent me this nugget she composed in honour of our meeting:

Scott murmured, "Say cheese." The girl grinned, tossed her head and stayed for the camera. Sunlight shot gold into her hair, highlighting the freckles of her arms as the breeze stirred her garden dress that summer's day. Perfect. Scott took the picture, and when he lowered the lens, the girl was gone. Only he heard the wail, rising, realisation dawning. He stroked his camera, fingers soothing: There, there, my love. Don't you see? You'll live forever.

Sunday 3 July 2011

It's on!

After a couple of months either being frantic or catching up on sorely missed sleep it's about time to get back off this wagon.

Watch this space!