Skin touches home, novelist releases new edition in Goa

Dec. 3, 2010 - PRLog -- Nine years after it was first published by Penguin India, the Margaret Mascarenhas widely-appreciated novel Skin came home to Goa.

A new edition, its fourth and the first to be brought out locally, was co-published by Broadway Publishing House and Goa,1556. Skin was first published in 2001, and then in 2002 (in French by Mercure de France) and 2006 (and in Portuguese by Editora Replicao).

The work -- which touches on an inter-generational story spanning the US, Goa, Africa and elsewhere -- was widely appreciated, as has been Mascarenhas' skill as a novelist.

American-born Margaret Mascarenhas is a freelance writer, columnist and editorial consultant of Goan origin who has lived, worked and taught in the U.S. and India during the course of her career. She currently resides in Goa.

Her second novel The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos was published by the prestigious label of the Hachette Book Group.

In 'Skin', she tells a story of Maria Miranda Flores (aka Pagan), who travels from her home in California to her grandmother's house in Goa in search of answers to ghosts and dreams that have long plagued her.

Her aging ayah Esperanca unravels a story that runs through several generations -- family fortune built on slave running, complex men and women, social inequities, and strange admixtures in genetic pools.

With fascinating imagery, Mascarenhas depicts a story which crosses the Portuguese conquest of Goa, a cross-continental slave trade, Angolan tribal lore and Hindu myths.

Mascarenhas said she had chosen publishers promoting Goa-based writing. "I would like to promote Goan and Goa-based artists and photographers," she said, pointing to the new cover of the book which involves the work of Dr Ravi Kerkar.

Mascarenhas is currently on a tour through India, promoting her new novel. Just back from New Delhi, the Venezuelan ambassador was present for the release of her book there.

The cover of this new edition of Skin has been done exclusively by Loutolim-based artist Cris Furtado. It is available at Broadway, Panjim at Rs 295.

Mascarenhas released the work at a well-attended function on Nov 21, 2010 at the Casa de Moeda (the Mint House) Festival 2010 on Sunday evening. In a lengthy and interesting Q&A session, she responded to many queries over her work, and her art of writing.

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A book publishing venture in Goa, India. We mostly focus on non-fiction books related to Goa. So far, Goa,1556 has published 18 books and aims to create space for writers -- in Goa and about Goa. Goa,1556 is named after the accidental arrival of the first Gutenberg-style printing press in Asia, in the mid-sixteenth century. It's motto is: "Publishing Goa, NOT by accident."