Our baby girl

I have been a bit quiet lately, and it’s not just that I have been busy writing my new book. We welcomed our second daughter into the world just over two weeks ago, and I am a very proud and busy mum at the moment. I plan to spend the next few months focusing primarily on our family, but Book 4 is well on the way, and I have a few other exciting projects in the pipeline, so keep checking back for writing news. Meanwhile, if you have read my previous books you can find plenty of extras at www.beneaththeshadows.com and www.shallowbreath.com. Happy reading!col-md-2

I hope you have all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. I’ve spent the last week enjoying some much-needed R&R with my family, and I’ve also loved having time to read. As a result, there will be more Book Loves coming up shortly!

I’m already busy planning everything that’s going to keep me busy over the next few months: there’s a new book that needs writing, events at UWA Extension, South Perth library and the Perth Writers Festival coming in February, and Come Back to Me and Shallow Breath should be available in new territories on Amazon Kindle in the coming weeks.

2012 finished on a high. Monique from Write Note Reviews listed Shallow Breath as one of her favourite reads of the year, and Susan from An Adventure in Reading gave it a wonderful review. On Saturday it was also Pick of the Week in the Sydney Morning Herald – fantastic!

I was really touched when Anna Lee Huber, an author in the US, tweeted that Beneath the Shadows had been one of her top reads of 2012. It means a lot to me when people take time out of their day to let me know they have enjoyed one of my books, and I’d like to thank everyone who has been in touch over the last year.

For 2013 I’ll be signing up to the Australian Women Writers Challenge. I nearly did last year, but I was into the intense writing process of Shallow Breath and couldn’t see where I’d get free time to read a book that wasn’t research! The AWW challenge began last year, the brainchild of Elizabeth Lhuede, and it has been fantastic watching everybody taking part and helping to promote all those brilliant books out there by Australian women. I’ve signed up for the ‘Miles’ challenge, to read 6 books, although I’m secretly hoping I’ll make it to ‘Franklin’ status. If you go on to the AWW website you’ll see there’s an absolute smorgasbord of choice, and I’m excited to be taking part this time. I’m also looking forward to seeing who takes out the inaugural Stella Prize – my money at the moment is on ML Stedman for her fabulous book The Light Between Oceans.

In 2013 I’m keen to keep spreading awareness of the conservation projects that form the backdrop to Shallow Breath – particularly the plight of orangutans in Indonesia, the dolphin atrocities in Taiji, and the elephant genocides in Africa. And I hope I have more opportunity to be involved in projects and fundraisers run by Room to Read, who are doing fantastic work helping children’s education in the developing world. All in all, it’s shaping up to be a busy year!

Wishing you all many hours of happy reading in 2013.

Sara xcol-md-2

It took me months to pluck up the courage to watch The Cove. During the time I hesitated I couldn’t help but hear of it – this place where each year hundreds of dolphins are rounded up, pushed into a small inlet and butchered with long poles, the sea turning crimson around them. This was a real horror movie, and I don’t even like the ones that are made up.

I’m not sure why I eventually sat down and switched it on. It may have been the urging from other conservationists to ‘be informed’. It may have been because I felt uncomfortable about looking away. Or that I shouldn’t speak out if I didn’t know what I was talking about. But when I did look it was just as terrible as I feared. I cried for much of the movie.

Since then, it is one of the issues I cannot turn away from. I want to write about it, and talk about it. At the end of last year I visited Taiji. I spent the morning watching the fishermen go out on their daily hunt, returning empty handed. Later I was taken to visit the ‘training pools’ – small roped-off squares where dolphins are trained to become captive performers. They are starved unless they do tricks. They swallow the detritus in the pool and have hands plunged into their stomachs to pull it out. Sometimes they go mad or waste away – those dolphins disappear overnight.  They have all witnessed the deaths of their pod members – who are their families, bonded from birth. Dolphins do not suffer silently, and their noises of distress and pain are much like our own.

These dolphins are all destined for the entertainment industry – to be ogled, and petted, and ‘loved’. Some go to other parts of Japan, and all over the world – if you have been to a dolphin show, you may have unknowingly seen dolphins who have been through the tragedy of the Cove.

There is a difference between witnessing distress and experiencing helplessness. I looked away at a time when I felt powerless to do anything – but now I don’t believe anyone is powerless, especially when they join forces and stand together as they do on Japan Dolphin Day. I want to use the anger and pain at what I witnessed to galvanise efforts to work for compassionate, lasting change – whether that’s through writing, supporting a cause, signing petitions, or making donations. I am learning to withstand my fears and take a closer look at things that trouble me. Already, life seems much more rewarding that way.

Over the next few days there are peaceful protests about Taiji in 93 different cities. The one in Perth is at 1pm outside the Consulate General of Japan, 111 Colin Street, please join us if you are able. You can view the events in other cities here: https://www.facebook.com/Savemistythedolphin/events

1st September is the first day of the dolphin hunting season, which runs through to March.col-md-2