Wow! What a fabulous gathering! The Gaslight cafe (Surfers Corner, Muizenberg) was PACKED; we had to stand on chairs to see the belly dancers. Julia Nowicki of Dance Alive studio led the belly in electric green satin. The good red wine lent visceral intensity to the drumming and the rolling and the lashing of hips. There is something about belly that reminds me of cantering war horses, adorned with bright tassles. My publisher, my editor and I all spoke from the heart. When I think about it now, the speeches revealed a quality of activism that seems to be building around this book. It is a first book for all of us; for Colleen Higgs of Modjaji books, for my agent, Ron Irwin, and for me. It was tuned away by the mainstream press, sometimes with regret. It was deemed too risky. The book, I think, is vulnerable to the very same prejudices that a sex worker might encounter in the public eye. Colleen and Ron swept past the prejudice and aligned themselves with the book’s fighting spirit.
I want to thank all the people who came last week to celebrate ‘Tess’s’ debut into middle class society, and all the people who have called or emailed, saying that they have been crying or laughing in sympathy with Tess.
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