Overview

Full Product Details

9781902806228

Table of Contents

Reviews

Alyosha... is told in a straight forward simple way. But without Gunilla Lundgren's great knowledge of the Romani culture and her ability to give voice to ordinary but unique individuals, in a way that feels totally natural, it would not have come alive. Readers get an insight in the life and culture of the Roma people. There is not doubt of the truth of this story and the many black and white photographs, not all by professionals, underline the documentary nature of the story told. Lans Tidning in Dag Hedberg Vestmanlands; This book about Aljosha is a piece of cultural history, written in a plain and sincere way that makes it remarkably strong and touching. I hope that every school will discover with joy the benefits to be gained from reading it! Birgitta Fransson, Opsis kalopsis; This is a wonderful book in which photographs, drawings and text combine to tell of an unusual life in Sweden during the nineteen hundreds. Alyosha is an outstanding person. He dared to follow his own road and in spite of the hard life he lived it has been full of the joy of love, music and dance. We must be thankful that with warmth and humour he wanted to share his story with us. Ulla Wentzel, Varmlands Folkblad 1998; In this book in which Gunilla Lundgren has written down the story told by Aljosha Taikon, we get to know a humorous, warm and tender man who describes seventy years of life as a Gypsy in Sweden. We find out about the boy who loves to dance, to decorate and clean the family van and is afraid of rats and darkness. With great love he tells about his family, his many brothers and the father, the chief. Marianne Moren Svenska Dagbladet

Author Information

Ayosha Taikon was born in a tent in Angermanland in the north of Sweden. ""My date of birth is made up, but my Aunt Olga's husband said I was born on Midsummer Eve. Anyhow, it's more than 70 years ago."" he says. Gunilla Lundgren explains ""Alyosha can't read and write. We met every week for a year and sat together by the table in his tidy kitchen. He told his life story and I wrote it down. As written in the introduction he cooked great food and we drank whiskey with the food. Alyosha wept many tears but laughed also."" Gunilla Lundgren was born on a smallholding near Bergslagen in Sweden in 1942. She wrote her first book Maritza en zigenarflicka (""Maritza, a Gypsy girl"") in 1972 together with three teenage Roma girls, Nina Taikon, Gina and Zenia Tan Mercowic. Since then she has continued to write and also made radio programs, films and exhibitions with children in Sweden. Many of her books are bi- or multilingual and written in collaboration with children and adults who were not born in Sweden. I denna vida varld (""In this wide world""), 1999, contains poems, songs and games in sixty four languages, including Romani. More recently she has worked extensively in South Africa and written a book together with Kersin Gidfors about Nelson Mandela, illustrated with documentary photographs and drawings by South African children from, the village of Qunu, where Nelson Mandela grew up (Nelson Mandela, the shepherd boy who became President, 1999). She has written more than thirty books and has been

Tab Content 6

Countries Available