WRITERS ABROAD MAGAZINE: THE THIRD SPACE
Author Interview: Bev Jackson
By Angela Williams
Bev, welcome to the fourth edition of Writers Abroad
magazine! You too are a writer abroad. Why and when did
you decide to leave the UK and settle in the Netherlands?
Thank you! I left the UK when I was 19. I had never felt entirely at
home in the UK, and when I discovered how open people were
here in Amsterdam, I decided to stay.
You're a translator, aren't you. Did moving abroad influence
your career choice?
I’ve always loved languages. I taught English for a while, but
translation was easier to combine with raising my children.
We met at the York Festival of Writing in 2015 and this year
you published your book. Did attending the festival inspire you? If so, how?
I loved meeting other authors, with whom I have kept in contact.
Your new non-fiction book, 'A Month with Starfish' is based on your experiences
working as a volunteer with refugees on Lesbos. Why did you go to Greece and what
made you decide to write about your experiences?
Greece is my “third country” in a way. I speak Greek and love the country. I am disgusted
by the EU’s treatment of Greece. Greece was encouraged to join the EU for geopolitical
reasons, to serve as a buffer zone. Its messed-up finances were well known but studiously
ignored. After the financial crisis, the EU finance ministers suddenly “discovered” that
Greece’s finances urgently needed reform. I was furious at the hypocrisy. And then, when
refugees started arriving on the Greek islands, European ministers blamed Greece for
allowing people in, even though 90% are refugees from war zones. I am outraged at the
callousness and racism around Europe. It was this anger that made me decide to go and
help. I felt I had to do something. I knew it was an important moment in time, and that I
needed to bear witness.
It sounds like it might be a very sad and distressing book to read and to write, was
it?
Not at all. I had a wonderful time, and the book is quite light-hearted, funny in places. The
other volunteers were inspiring, and the experience made me realise how materialistic my
life had become. It was refreshing to get away from that. And my encounters with the
refugees also gave me hope for the future: their warmth and gratitude. When our eyes met,
it was a meeting of worlds. Still, I was very lucky that I did not see any people drown. If I
had held a dead child in my arms, as some volunteers have sadly experienced, I don’t know
if I could have written the book.
How did you decide on things such as; the length of chapters, sequence of events,
who/what to include, the structure of the book as a whole?
14 | May 2016