The launch party for my novel about the women surrealists, Swimming with Tigers, took place on 15th October 2024: 100 years to the day since Breton published the Surrealist Manifesto in Paris.
Our celebration was in Bangor (North Wales) at an independent café called Blue Sky.
On the night, despite extensive local publicity, I was convinced that only half a dozen people would turn up but, in the end, it was a full house of smiling people all keen to buy the book and join in whatever was planned.
This was just as well because, in addition to having the usual book launch activities like selling and signing the books and an interview followed by questions with the author, I had decided that this would be no ordinary event.
With four helpers, I had prepared an interactive extravaganza. I wanted the night to have more than just a surrealist theme, I wanted it to be creative, collaborative and most of all I wanted it to be fun.
So, everyone present was invited to join in with playing a surrealist game called Conditionals and my team then used the results on the spot to create a musical piece.
Surrealist Games: why and what?
The surrealists were big fans of playing collective games. The best known is The Exquisite Corpse which is like the game Consequences but done a single word at a time with players unable to see what word has gone before their own. The random aspect of word games like The Exquisite Corpse was precious to the surrealists who wanted to bring the unconscious and the principle of chance into art.
How to Play Conditionals
When people came in, I asked them to fill in two blank slips, one beginning with IF and one with THEN and to put the slips, folded, in the corresponding buckets.
Almost everyone joined in with the game.
The instructions were not complicated. All people had to do was write a description on one slip of something slightly strange happening that began with ‘IF…’ and then on another slip to write about a future event that could be caused by something else, beginning with ‘THEN….’.
Here are the instructions if you want to play this at home or at a party this Christmas, maybe.
Surrealism in Performance
When all the slips were completed and in the buckets, the two musicians who had bravely volunteered began their improvised accompanying electronic music. The slips were then drawn at random and pinned on a board in pairs: an IF and a THEN. As they appeared, my friend Liz read them out (or I should say she performed them: she sang, gestured, shouted and reacted to them) as they were pinned up by my son, Bryn.
Here’s an extract from the 20-minute piece.
Here are the IFs and THENs performed in the video:
‘IF I can get through the mountain path THEN the world would be at peace.’
‘IF jellyfish could scream THEN we could each bloom in our own way.’
‘IF my son’s girlfiend had not got very drunk that night THEN the world would be very confusing.’
The After-Party
I had suggested that people might like to dress up so there were tiger costumes to delight and terrify us.
And there was dancing to tiger-themed music as well!
What next?
There will be two more local events soon. On Friday October 25th at Storiel in Bangor, from 2 p.m., I will be giving an illustrated talk about the surrealist art that inspired the novel and you can find details on Storiel’s website, where you can also book (the event is free).
My second launch will be at a bookshop in Caernarfon. It’s on Saturday 2nd November at Palas Print and we’ll start at 3.30 p.m. Space is limited so please do arrive early.
Palas Print are stocking my book, as are Browsers Bookshop in Porthmadog and I hope to supply more soon. You can order the book at a bookshop or online (as a paperback or ebook) from Amazon or Blackwells. It’s also on Barnes and Noble if you live very far afield.
Annie Williams very kindly conducted the interview and said such nice things about me that I was totally thrown for a while! I will make the half-hour interview available soon.