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Interview with Shamrock News, Australia

I interview the author of Seeing Better Now Michael Roc Thomas on his family’s heartfelt journey which lead to the book’s creation

By Ian Browne Shamrock News

In October last year, Michael Roc Thomas’ book – ‘Seeing Better Now’ – won the award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in the Literary Arts’ at the BRISLA Awards at Lords CG in London.

But this wonderful book’s inspiration was born to sad times…

As a freelance photographer for over 25 years, English born Michael and his wife Alison’s life in their adopted home Sri Lanka – was turned upside down. In 2006, their daughter was born very premature. Little Steele was also diagnosed with ROP – a disease that can lead to blindness – as in the case of Stevie Wonder.

Michael slipped into a surreal reality, but ultimately decided to try and improve his daughter’s existence. He wanted to help stimulate Steele’s other senses by writing poems for her. Beautifully illustrated by two of Sri Lanka’s finest female artists, ‘Seeing Better Now’ was launched at the Galle Literary Festival in January. Ten years had passed since the time Michael began this book, and by this stage he had just turned 65 when it was made available for the world to ponder. As Michael puts it, “Proof surely that it’s never too late to try something new.”

I interviewed Michael about his family’s journey through these sad times, while delving into what this creative book has to offer. And in Michael’s words: “With Steele’s condition in mind, I am donating part of the proceeds to a charity that cares for disabled children in Sri Lanka.”

But first, let’s take-a-look at some of the reviews this vibrant set of poemshave netted in Britain:

 SUNDAY TIMES April ’18 – “Verses that make an unseen world jump out of the page, an amazing book.” DAILY MIRROR April ’18 – “The magic in ‘Seeing Better Now’ brushes your heart in the gentlest of ways.” SUNDAY ISLAND January ’18 – “A Tour de Force of Magical Verse. Poetry? No, much more fun!” SUNDAY TIMES October ’18 – “With the tang of Edward Lear, Rudyard Kipling or Lewis Carroll, ‘Seeing Better Now’ brings a world of joy to the reader.”

As the light slowly dimmed…

“I am just happy it has made some people smile.”

Why were you & your wife living Sri Lanka, and how long did you stay? 

I first visited Sri Lanka in January 2000 after spending the ‘Millennium’ staying with friends in Bangkok. My wife Alison had however been many times before, firstly as a child with her parents and sister, (her father was a trader in Malaysia/Singapore) then later when living and working in advertising in Singapore.

I had travelled extensively in Asia but never made it to Sri Lanka, and when we discussed leaving London in the late 90’s looking for the sun, my preference had been a move to Vietnam. The first poem in the book explains how she ‘won the argument.’ We ended up staying over ten years and still return 2-3 times a year.

 Calling The Shots

 When my wife and I moved to Sri Lanka

As opposed to the sunshine of Spain

She was being my rock and my anchor

But was calling the shots once again.

For I thought I’d prefer Indochina

Though I quickly conceded defeat

As she claimed Ceylon’s culture was finer

And that Vietnam’s couldn’t compete.

She would point out the joys of South Asia     

Where the scent of spice hangs in the air

And though raised as a child in Malaysia

She convinced me it didn’t compare.

She’d say each day’s a new revelation

With a rhythm that’s hard to resist

And to flesh out each fresh inspiration

She proceeded to draw up a list.

“Every region is proud of its history

Every town has a sense of its worth

Every legend is shrouded in mystery

Every faith tips its’ hat at rebirth.

The array of wild life is astounding

The processions are something to see

Though the locals are often confounding

When they bring their whole family to tea.

While the food is a major attraction

That will tempt you wherever you go

There’s so much that provides satisfaction

Although room service tends to be slow.”

So we made our new home in Sri Lanka

Where our exploits were frequently mad

But I’ve one further reason to thank her

For it’s there that she made me a dad.

  In Sri Lanka, and being away from family and close friends back in England, what kind of challenges did you face when first learning of your daughter’s life-changing events?

Both my parents were British movie stars in the 40’s & 50’s, so moving wasn’t a big deal for me. I had already spent 11 years in Southern Africa and 3 more based in Madrid, as well as shorter periods like a year in the US, Brasil and elsewhere – during my twenty-five years as a fashion and advertising photographer. My wife’s family were by then based in the UK however but came out to SL fairly frequently.

Steele was born in hospital in Colombo, then (before the highway was built) about a five hour drive from our home in the south. Alison had got a bad case of food poisoning (probably a prawn) but had been wrongly diagnosed and prescribed incorrect treatment and had become very seriously ill indeed.

So, two weeks after the emergency Caesar (the baby had to come out at 27 weeks to save its mother’s life, though there were naturally no guarantees as to her survival) a routine examination revealed that Steele had ROP or Retinopathy of Prematurity: the same disease as Stevie Wonder. Google it. This was extremely shocking news and precipitated our decision to temporarily drop everything (we had a small hotel and other business interests) and return to the UK to see what might be done. This we did when Steele was about six weeks old and deemed strong enough to fly in an incubator.  

 Facing the challenges, finding strength and never relenting!

“ ‘Tense’ doesn’t begin to describe the situation!”

Steele, who was miniscule, had laser treatment on her eyes in Colombo. We then spent six months in England being discouraged by the medical establishment from doing anything much and just accepting fate. (Forget it not our style). What procedures they tried had all failed, so they simply refused to entertain the idea that anything more could be done. The one exception was her principal consultant in Oxford, but whatever he attempted also failed to reverse the disease. Finally, he gave us the name of his own teacher, so we flew to Toronto for two months where she underwent first an eleven-hour operation on her left eye, then two weeks later a much shorter failed op on her worse right eye. ‘Tense’ doesn’t begin to describe the situation, as even though he’d been happy with the technical result of the first op, he could not guarantee her eye-brain-connection would ever allow her to ever see anything.

As Steele grew, how did she adapt to her circumstances?

We first realised there was a glimmer of hope while watching a fireworks display when she was maybe two and a half and she suddenly started calling out colours. Pretty amazing no! Since then she has come to accept her disability, and even though she only has limited vision in her left eye and none in her right, she manages remarkably well and is a great achiever in all she attempts. For instance, when she goes to a new house, she somehow maps out her environment in her head and has it down pat within minutes. Those who don’t know her used to watch her gallivanting around with other kids and never thought she had an issue. Remarkable.

THE JOURNEY: How has your book ‘Seeing Better Now’; talking with the media, and your public speaking, helped you both gain a better understanding of your daughter’s illness? What strengths have you gained from this?

Hope shines eternal. The Press and the public’s reaction to the book has been fantastic, although it is still unknown by most people, but has sold in small numbers across a large swathe of the English-speaking world and beyond. Poetry (or verse) is hard to translate. Steele has been very tolerant of her annoying dad but is secretly very proud, I hope. As for me it has been a lot of fun. I really enjoy giving the talks, book signings etc, but I talk about a lot more than just Steele but about our lives in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. We were present during the Asian Tsunami and have had a number of other close scrapes, but overall the content is quite funny and gets a very good reception. Acting in the blood may help.

Why is it so important for you to share your family’s journey?  

 I wrote the book for Steele. However, my principal illustrator is a wonderful Sri Lankan lady also runs an island wide charity for children with mental and other disabilities, so a percentage of the proceeds are going there. Payback time, but my initial, though not constant inspiration, was Steele and her early childhood. I have subsequently diversified considerably but the 56 tales in the book are the ‘cream of the crop’ I wrote during a purple patch of about ten years. Overall, I must have written 450 or so, and certainly have enough for a volume 2. In this period, I also started writing song lyrics, one of which won a Lyrics competition, and ended up being recorded in Nashville, spending several weeks at No 1 in an online music station chart.

How does it make you feel when knowing that your words have touched others, while helping them to come to terms with their own grievances?

Humbled but delighted.

Why do you think your book has been so successful?

How do you assess success? It came out when I was sixty-five and I’ve done most of the promotional spadework on my own. It’s hard graft and very time consuming. Certainly, it might have been very different had I been properly represented, but the world of modern publishing is a very different beast to that of the past. Deep within however I harbour the feeling that one day it will be recognised on a much greater level. Quite possibly long after I have departed. If I’m honest I’m naturally quite a lazy person, so perhaps someone else would have made a better job of its marketing? I am just happy it has made some people smile.

 What is the best thing about Seeing Better Now?

 I believe it has a very wide generational appeal from kids to grand parents. Beside the words the illustrations are spectacular and together they combine perfectly. Sally May my illustrator always just ‘got it’. I’d email a poem and get her illustration back with a few days. Brilliant every time!

…for the past couple of years Steele has started writing                               her own fictional stories!”

How is your daughter coping? What skills has Steele gained/mastered since adapting to the drastic changes to her life and environment?

 She goes to a regular not ‘special’ school where she uses whatever tech offers her the best access to learning and where she is an outstanding student who literally achieves 90’s across all her 12 subjects. Three years ago, she won a scholarship to a renowned Saturday morning music school and excels at singing, piano and guitar. She rides ponies, does ballet, swims and more, all to a high standard, and was admitted to Mensa UK aged 11. She is currently 13 and for the past couple of years has started writing her own fictional stories. I am sure she will make a great success of her life. The sky’s the limit.

 …Thanks Michael. The ‘title poem’ can close the curtains here today: 

Seeing Better Now 

 I’m walking and talking and seeing better now

Though I don’t know quite why and I can’t tell you how

But while walking came late and sweet-talking came first

It’s my seeing much better we all hope will last.

Soon after my birth came a nasty surprise

When the doctors discovered deep flaws in my eyes

For although I was born several months premature

It was tough to be told there might not be a cure.

So they started with laser in sunny Ceylon

Though its chance of success wasn’t deemed to be strong

And when that went awry we resolved to fly west

Where we hoped my prognosis could be reassessed.

Through the summer in England with breaks in between

The procedures I went through were far from routine

But when they also failed and this close to despair

We placed one final bet on two wings and a prayer.

For my mother had vowed that her baby should see 

So we raced to the land of the sweet Maple Tree

Where at ‘Sick Kids’ Toronto they promised to try

And with love and devotion they saved my left eye.

After two weeks of rest we returned for the right

But the window had closed and extinguished the light

So while most of you take it for granted each day

I’m just thrilled to be able to look back and say.

I’m walking and talking and seeing better now

Though I don’t know quite why and I can’t tell you how

But while walking came late and sweet-talking came first

It’s my seeing much better we all hope will last.

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Good to be asked back! Review of my talk to FOSLA in November

Surviving & Thriving in Paradise

An evening with Michael Roc Thomas
21st November 2018 in Kensington, London

by Chamali Fernando, Events Secretary Friends of Sri Lanka Association

Michael Roc Thomas warmed our hearts on a chilly November evening with his tales and adventures of 10 interesting and transformative years of living in a little known part of Sri Lanka. In 2000, his girlfriend Alison persuaded him to move to Sri Lanka. Whilst there, they were married and aged 54, he finally became a father and he discovered a new meaning to life which he described as “a bit like having a new highway appear on my life’s Satnav.”

Michael has had an entertaining life in many respects. He is the son of British film stars Patricia Roc and Anthony Steel whose careers blossomed during the Golden Age of British Film in the 1940’s and 50’s and who made one film together in 1952 called Something Money Can’t Buy. Michael was born in France and moved to England just before starting school. His talk was as much about Sri Lanka as discovering his own identity.

His mother and the future 40th President of the United States (Ronald Regan) were briefly an item in Hollywood. We saw some wonderful slides of Michael, his wedding, the landscapes of Sri Lanka and where the tsunami hit the island and claimed lives.

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Patricia Roc and Ronald Reagan in the USA

Michael was a photographer in the fashion industry and spent 20 years of his life travelling around the world. He first visited Sri Lanka in the year 2000 for some rest and recuperation after spending the Millenium with friends in Thailand. Alison and Michael fell in love with the area and decided to invest if they could find the right spot. When his daughter Steel was born prematurely with retinopathy, a condition that leads to blindness, Michael took to writing poems with a view to awakening Steel’s other senses. We were treated to several witty and charming verse tales that related to his talk for example there was one about a Flamingo Called Liz who conquered the world of showbiz, which Michael jokingly said is “loosely based on his mother” and creatures such as the “ugaduwe” – the Ceylon polecat.

We heard about the murder of Michael’s nextdoor neighbour in Sri Lanka, a 70 year old Swiss gentleman, who had been stabbed to death in the middle of the night and what Boxing Day 2004 was like for him and his family, their neighbours and friends – the day the tsunami devastated the lives of many families living around the Indian Ocean. The hotel Michael and Alison were building remained close, while it became the local HQ for a newly launched charity Adopt Sri Lanka. Michael read another of his poems that reflected events that quite possibly took place in Yala National Park.

In addition to the unexpected drama, Michael reminisced about the happy times he had in Sri Lanka. His talk was extremely interesting and very moving. We hope he will speak to our association again, perhaps in the daytime so that those of you who live outside of London will get the chance to hear about his fascinating adventures.

The verse tales in Michael’s book are not all about Sri Lanka but many are influenced by his experiences in many countries, with different people, the wildlife and events around the world. The book was launched at the Galle Literary Festival this year and is called Seeing Better Now. It comprises 56 tropical and topical tales told in verse. Each is beautifully illustrated by two of Sri Lanka’s finest female artists (Sally Hulugalle and Ruwangi Amarasinghe). The book has received fantastic press reviews this year and has already won an Outstanding Achievement in the Arts award! Signed copies of Michael’s book were available on the night for purchase. With Steele’s condition in mind, Michael is donating part of book sale proceeds to NEST, an island wide registered charity that supports children with severe disabilities across Sri Lanka, where public funding is minimal or non- existent. Michael describes Nest as “a wonderful cause managed by magnificent volunteers.” This stunningly illustrated book overflowing with wit and charm makes the ideal and amusing Christmas gift. The book can be ordered directly from Michael’s website www.michaelrocthomas.com or from Waterstoneswww.waterstones.com/ipc but the charity does far better when books are ordered through Michael’s website.

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Surviving and Thriving in Paradise – Talk on Wednesday November 21

Wednesday 21st November 2018 from 7pm – 9.30pm 

 

Surviving & Thriving in Paradise

An evening with Michael Roc Thomas

 

£18 Members/£21 Non-Members

Tickets include Refreshments, Wine and Sri Lankan Canapés

St Mary Abbotts Centre, Vicarage Gate, Kensington, London W8 4HN

 

Michael Roc Thomas is the only son of British movie stars, Patricia Roc and Anthony Steel whose careers blossomed during the Golden Era of British Film in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

 

After many years living and working around the world as a photographer, in 2000 Michael and his girlfriend, Alison, visited Sri Lanka for ‘his’ first time with a view to possibly opening a hotel, and later moved from London to the Deep South where they spent the next ten years.  This part of the country was then little visited, let alone lived in by non-Sri Lankans as the war, though not directly affecting the area, was in full flow elsewhere.

 

In 2002, Alison and Michael married in the small Anglican Church in Tangalle, and over the following years, whilst living the tropical dream, they survived the Tsunami, the murder of a close neighbour, a destructive raid on their home by twelve armed military deserters, and the very premature birth of their only daughter Steele.

 

Soon after her birth, Steele was diagnosed with retinopathy of prematurity, a disease that invariably leads to complete blindness.  In defiance of the odds, over the next nine months they flew from Sri Lanka to England to Canada in an attempt to save some of Steele’s sight, and it was this that almost serendipitously led Michael to begin to write: at first just simple stories and nursery rhymes in the hope of stimulating Steele’s other senses but this progressed until in January 2018, he launched his book Seeing Better Now at the Galle Literary FestivalSeeing Better Now comprises 56 tropical and topical tales told in verse.  Each is beautifully illustrated by two of Sri Lanka’s finest female artists (Sally Hulugalle and Ruwangi Amarasinghe).  The book has received fantastic press reviews this year and has already won an Outstanding Achievement in the Arts award!

 

“Verses that make an unseen world jump out of the page, an amazing book.” ~ Sunday Times

“The magic in Seeing Better Now, the book brushes your heart in the gentlest of ways.” ~ Daily Mirror

“A Tour de Force of Magical Verse. Poetry? No, much more fun!” ~ Sunday Island

 

Steele (now 12), has severely restricted sight yet is doing exceptionally well; excels at music and was even admitted to Mensa last year.  Join us on Wednesday 21st November to hear Michael talk about surviving and thriving in paradise.  Signed copies of Michael’s book will be available on the night for cash purchase.  With Steele’s condition in mind, Michael is donating part of book sale proceeds to NEST, an island wide registered charity that cares for children with severe disabilities across Sri Lanka, where public funding is minimal or non-existent.  Michael describes Nest as “a wonderful cause managed by magnificent volunteers.”  This stunningly illustrated book overflowing with wit and charm would make the ideal and amusing Christmas gift.

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ONLINE PAYMENTS must be accompanied by an email to Chamali.fosla@gmail.com. A/c Name: Friends of Sri Lanka Association, Payment Ref Code MRT2111, Sort Code 40 01 13, A/c No 82307022

or CHEQUES made payable to the Friends of Sri Lanka Association can be posted with this slip to Miss Chamali Fernando, Apt #1403, Jackson Tower, 1 Lincoln Plaza, (Off Millharbour), London E14 9BD.

 

I enclose a cheque in the sum of _____  (i.e. £18 per member/£21 per non member) for the following names:

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To receive confirmation of my booking made by cheque or made online:

 

My Name:  ____________________________________________________________

Email: ___________________________________________________________________________

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Sunday Times 21 October 2018

Sunday Times 2

Michael Roc wins the 2018 BRISLA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literary Arts

View(s): 35

 

Michael Roc Thomas receiving award from Mayor of Harrow Kareema Marikar

Michael Roc Thomas’s book of verses, ‘Seeing Better Now’, has been awarded the 2018 BRISLA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literary Arts. This is the fourth year of the British Sri Lankan Association awards, and the ceremony was held last Saturday at the historic Long Room at Lord’s Cricket Ground, an apt location that celebrates the common passion that binds the two islands. The award was presented by the Mayor of Harrow Kareema Marikar.

Michael’s delightful compendium of verses was launched early at this year’s Fairway Galle Literary Festival. Illustrated beautifully by Sally Hulugalle and Ruwangi Amarasinghe, the magical verse stories explore so many humorous, quirky situations, many of them capturing the paradisiacal spirit of Sri Lanka, while there are tales from Australia, the UK, Switzerland and Vietnam. There are also stories of nature, of animals and conservation. With the tang of Edward Lear, Rudyard Kipling, or Lewis Carroll, the book brings a world of exotic joy to the reader.

Since January the book has garnered so much attention, and Michael has been doing a round of talks, the final two for this year being in London this November. The talks are titled “Seeing Better Now: Surviving and Thriving in Paradise.” Michael, who will be in Sri Lanka for a short spell, will have an exclusive book signing on Friday, October 26 at Barefoot. (more…)

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