A writer, like father, like son

from w,
It's good to read in the Fiji Times that Josua Tuwere had written a book and is available now - fiction -not like his dad Dr Sevati Tuwere who has written excellent studies on the Fijian vanua and the lotu.

Tuwere releases e-book
Frederica Elbourne
Friday, February 03, 2012

Josua Tuwere at his home in Tacirua East, Suva. icture: JONACANI LALAKOBAU
A FORMER Fiji Times journalist has released his first book which, poetic in nature, contains characters that every day people can identify with.

Based on the Pacific concepts of journey and identity among Fijians, Tongans and the English, the book- Selo ! Selo ! Selo ! A Pacific Odyssey by Josua Tuwere is about a Fijian warrior and the history of his clan.

Mr Tuwere says the characters in his book have traits of those found in biblical literature, Greek and Oceanic mythology.

He says Saunivanua, the main character, is a heroic but deeply flawed warrior with daily life experiences similar to what we are faced with today.

Available on the website amazon.com, the e-book is an epic poem which traces the history of Saunivanua and his existence through tales of conflict, displacement and love.

He said the book was drawn from Pacific and Christian epistemological frameworks and was a poetic infusion of Fijian, Tongan and English concepts of journey and identity.

"Saunivanua represents the Pacific islander trying to find his place and identity in this world.

"He is entirely fictional but hopefully a lot of people will be able to engage and identify with him and also with the other characters, especially Natoba ù who was betrothed to him ù a woman, who is strong and resolute and has a mind of her own," Mr Tuwere said.

He started his book last September after he locked himself away at Deuba where he wrote 11,000 words in a week. "I already had worked on a collection of poetry that I wanted to edit in a week but on the first day in front of the laptop I had an inspiration of sorts to try something new. I didn't know what form it would take and originally thought a collection of short stories would be the result."

Mr Tuwere, a former communications officer with the Regional Delegation in the Pacific for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), worked for two years as a reporter for The Fiji Times during 1999 and 2000.