The Good-Hearted Gardeners by Suniti Namjoshi, Spinifex Press 2023, was launched on-line by Susan Hawthorne on 6 December 2023
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We also acknowledge the many women throughout history who have fought for women's freedom and the freedom of lesbians, often at the cost of their lives.
Suniti Namjoshi was born in Mumbai, India. She has worked as an Officer in the Indian Administrative Service and in academic posts in India and Canada. From 1972 to 1988, she taught in the Department of English at the University of Toronto and now lives and writes in Devon, England.
She has published numerous poems, fables and reviews: in anthologies, collections and literary and Women's Studies journals, in India, Canada, the US and Britain. She has published numerous poetry collections including The Authentic Lie (1982) and From the Book of Nightmares (1984). Feminist Fables (1981) was reissued by Spinifex Press (1993) and Virago (1994). Her other books include The Conversations of Cow and The Mothers of Maya Diip. Spinifex has published St Suniti and the Dragon (1993), Building Babel (1996), Goja (2000), The Fabulous Feminist (2012), Blue and Other Stories (2012), Suki (2014), and Aesop the Fox (2018). In 2023 she was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
I am thrilled that Suniti asked us to launch her book The Good-Hearted Gardeners. I have been reading Suniti's work for more than 40 years. I discovered this when I found my copy of the first edition of Feminist Fables which was dated October 1981. Since 1993, Spinifex has been regularly publishing her books (this is the ninth) and I'm going to tell you a little about all of them.
Feminist Fables, a classic text that should be read by all feminists, among them are tales of young girls with wings, amazons and princesses who get the better of kings and princes. Let me read 'Bird Woman' from Feminist Fables. p. 16.
Once there was a child who sprouted wings. They sprang from her shoulder blades, and at first they were vestigial. But they grew rapidly, and in no time at all she had a sizable wing span. The neighbours were horrified. 'You must have them cut,' they said to her parents. 'Why?' said her parents. 'Well,' it's obvious,' said the neighbours. 'No,' said the parents, and this seemed so final that the neighbours left. But a few weeks later the neighbours were back. 'If you won't have them cut, at least have them clipped.' 'Why?' said the parents. Well, at least it shows that's you're doing something. 'No,' said the parents, and the neighbours left. Then for the third time the neighbours appeared. 'On at least two occasions you have sent us away,' they informed the parents, 'but think of the child. What are you doing to the poor little thing?' 'We are teaching her to fly,' said the parents quietly.
In St Suniti and the Dragon, the narrator asks questions about good and evil. She wonders how saintliness is achieved. As it turns out, it's not easy.
Building Babel, the first book to consider the social impact of the internet, we made an interactive site so readers could contribute their ideas. It is also about the way in which as feminists we create culture – the challenges and successes.
Goja, Suniti writes about the two most important relationships of her childhood, her grandmother, the Ranisaheb of Maharashtra and with Goja, the servant woman who slept next to her bed. When Suniti travels to the US and Canada she becomes just another brown-skinned immigrant.
The Fabulous Feminist is a collection of poems, fables and excerpts from novels by Suniti, co-published with Zubaan feminist press in India.
Blue and Other Stories, a collection of stories for children with gorgeous paintings by Nilima Sheikh. Co-published with Tulika in Chennai.
Suki, a beautiful tribute to Suniti's cat, Suki, and in the second half an answered question by anyone who has done a Vipassana retreat, 'How do you get through so many days without speaking?' This and the next were co-published with Zubaan.
Aesop the Fox picks up on the fables of Aesop. Sprite wants to change the world and asks what are stories for? Are they just for fun or can they change the world? This is a theme that reappears in Suniti's writing.
Now to The Good-Hearted Gardeners. If you pick this up, you won't want to put it down until you have finished reading it. That's what happened to me when Suniti sent it as a manuscript. The first sentence in chapter 1 is: 'I've fallen in love with the woman next door.'
Isn't that how many of life's adventures start. Suniti is so cheeky that soon after the woman next door, Sybil, spots her and Demo (the narrator) says, 'She's either very tall or standing on a ladder.' Sybil is onto Demo who is rather shy about her feelings and Sybil invites Demo over.
They discover they both have a love for poetry. But Sybil is involved in something more secretive. It turns out that her gardening group is called The Society for Well-Meaning Efforts for the Betterment of Language and the Salvation of the Planet. For secrecy's sake they call themselves The Good-Hearted Gardeners. They are funded by the UK spy agency MI5. Demo is non-plussed by this news and is not sure she wants to be friends with any of them and even questions if she should keep sharing a bed with Sybil, though that side of things is going rather well.
The Good-Hearted Gardeners group is made up of a motley bunch who seem to have almost nothing in common with one another or indeed any practical skills. The story goes off in a completely different direction when after a meeting they discover that one among them has been listening to the birds and has found out that the birds understand English. One asks, how do you communicate with birds? 'You listen,' says Juniper. And so, they set about listening to the birds and they discover that the birds know a great deal about the condition of the planet, and they have incredible communication networks around the world. Some, like Emma the owl, specialise in giving advice, others such as crows and gulls spread news very quickly and the migrating birds have global networks. Even the smallest of them, like robins, have great courage.
They turn to Emma for advice. Among the many things she says are:
—Make wilful pollution a capital crime
—Biodiversity is needful. Do not kill off other animals.
These two strike a chord with me as I have written at length about biodiversity as inspiration, as a way of creating a future that is sustainable, that won't tear down the planet.
The activism begins with the birds, but soon, horses, cows, mice and rats are joining in as each contributes in their own way to the demolition of destructive human activity.
It's unusual two have poets at the heroic centre of a story. Both Demo and Sybil are poets and some of the birds have a good grasp of what makes a poem. Only a poet could have written this book. It is full of wisdom; there is the light touch of a poet saying what needs to be said; there is surprise and humour. Even after reading this book three times, I am still laughing, and I am so impressed by how this motley bunch really achieves remarkable results through their activism.
Poets and activists should rejoice in this book.
- Susan Hawthorne
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Susan Hawthorne is a poet and publisher. She is the author of ten collections of poetry including Cow (2011) which was shortlisted for the 2012 Kenneth Slessor Poetry Prize in the NSW Literary Awards (2012) and a finalist in the 2012 Audre Lorde Lesbian Poetry Prize (USA). Earth's Breath (2009) was shortlisted for the 2010 Judith Wright Poetry Prize. She has had literature residencies in Chennai, Rome and Bursa. Her latest two poetry collections are Lupa and Lamb (2014) and The Sacking of the Muses (2019). https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/susanhawthorne
The Good-Hearted Gardeners by Suniti Namjoshi is available from: https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/shop/p/9781922964007.
You can browse all of Suniti Namjoshi's work that is published by Spinifex here: https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/sunitinamjoshi
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