I started the Enga Writers Association in 1987 and, under its banner, I tried to publish an anthology of all the short stories and poems written by Engans but never succeeded in finding a publisher who was interested.

Of course I understood it costs money to publish books and, due to the high illiteracy rate in Papua New Guinea, no publishing house saw any profit in spending time and money on a book of short stories from Enga.

When the last rejection letter came, I filed it away together with another manuscript based on my travels and issues that concern people in this country. These manuscripts have been collecting dust for more than two decades.

But now, thanks to Keith Jackson and Phil Fitzpatrick, the short story collection will soon be published in book form.

I just wish hope that it comes out before PNG’s 40th independence anniversary celebrations in September. I believe it will be a perfect independence gift for the people of Enga, PNG and the authors who wrote the short stories.

The book presents insights into the lives of Engan people. Some of the narratives are true life accounts of how people in Enga lived before and immediately after independence.

The authors write of education, missionaries, famine, suicide, tribal warfare and kiaps and express their feelings of sorrow, revenge, love and anger about the problems they faced.

All the authors are now senior citizens of this country. Some have passed on. They wrote their stories when they were young. The stories are based on situations experienced by the authors themselves.

In those days alcohol consumption by women in community clubs and village taverns was an issue in Enga. Today its mobile phones, marijuana, pornography, homebrew, corruption, mafia gangs, cults, sorcery and other issues that people have to deal with daily. Fertile ground, I suppose, for aspiring writers.

You will enjoy Robert Kia’s story, ‘The Ugly Truth’, in this new book. It is about a girl who broke through a window to go to a dance at the village night club, became pregnant and tried to commit suicide after she hears her father sobbing in his room.

Her mother was long dead and there was nobody she could seek for consolation. So she made up her mind to kill herself but something disturbed her.

Another interesting story, also by Robert Kia, is entitled ‘Nedipilya the Orphan’. Here’s an extract -

My sister didn’t even attempt to comfort me nor fight her husband. Instead she supported her partner to scold me more.

“You are just a good eater. You are eating too much in this house. You must work hard to earn your food. We just can’t keep on feeding you.”

This was the final straw. How can one not cry when your own blood speaks to you like that? The bitter tears never ran dry that night.

After all these years, it will be great news for Robert Kia, Thomas Neah, Steven Thomas, Nancy Ambis Waim, Silas Mutarane, Br Joe Make and Thomas Pupun who wrote these stories.

I would like readers to contact me on my email address [email protected] or text me on 71105400. Unfortunately, Susan Balen passed on but I would like her two children to contact me and I encourage them to write like their late mother did.

I request my friends and other people to also start writing more stories and poems, starting now. English teachers in our high schools should also get their students to write. The number one priority of our Governor, Peter Ipatas, is education and we, as writers and teachers, can encourage quality education through writing.

When we launch our new book I hope we will re-establish the Enga Writers Association and encourage our people - especially our young generation - to express themselves through writing.

Michael Dom is a young man from Simbu Province. He is a member of the Simbu Writers Association and currently studying in Australia. Michael is a world class poet and has published several books.

He has written: “Literature is all about quality in thought and expression – exposing creativity in the use of language, and in writing which reflects and reveals the human experience. Supporting this literature cause, to me, is about meeting quality people.”

Michael is petitioning the government to buy PNG-authored books to be made available to 4,000 PNG schools throughout the country. We believe our students will relate much better to books by Papua New Guinean writers and understand the contents thoroughly.

So, my friends, Robert, Thomas, Steve, Ambis, Silas, Pupun and Br Joe, things are looking bright. Let’s take up those pens and start writing again.

We cannot hope to write like Joanne Kathleen Rowling and make millions of kina like her creation of Harry Potter. Let’s not have such thoughts in our mind. Nobody in PNG has made heaps through writing.

Let’s just continue to write and show the way forward for our young generation. They have the potential but need exposure and encouragement. Somebody like JK Rowling might stand out one day, who knows?

There is now hope we will get some of our writing published through the annual literary competition, The Crocodile Prize, with support and encouragement from people like Keith Jackson and Phil Fitzpatrick and the PNG Attitude blog.