François Hollande Official Visit to UNESCO

French President François Hollande with UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova at UNESCO. President Hollande arrived on June 5th to claim the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize awarded by UNESCO every year to honour those who contribute to peace and stability. He was awarded the prize for the French military intervention in Mali and was accompanied by several African heads of state, including Dioncounda Traore, then president of Mali.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/french_president_francois_hollande_awarded_unesco_peace_prize_for_action_in_africa/#.UgZKV5LWUaA

Photo by Diogo Amaro, used with permission

A Most Memorable 21st

Your 21st birthday can mean different things to different people. In the United States, it’s the day you can finally celebrate their guilt free sip of alcohol. in the rest of the world, you’d certainly be old enough to drive, vote, and work. In my case, it was a birthday to remember.

My parents and sisters both wished me a happy birthday. So did my brother and his family by phone. As I sat down to see what messages I received on my birthday, one particular email caught my eye:

Good morning, Skander.

Many thanks, once again, for submitting your short stories for consideration to the upcoming charity Horror Anthology, Fear. We have received a very high standard of submission over the last month, and I am delighted to offer you a contract for their publication in the Anthology, which I attach to this email. I would hope that the details are clear, but please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions related to it.

In brief, by signing the contract you provide us with the exclusive rights to publish your short stories in the Anthology for twelve months (from publication date). You agree that, after twelve months, we have indefinite non-exclusive rights to publish your short stories,  in that you are free to seek their publication with additional sources. As you will know, all net royalties, received by us from the distributors (Amazon, Smashwords, Createspace, and so on), will be paid to charity.

I blinked. It couldn’t be what I thought it was, could it?

I replied to the email, my words not even close to describing my disbelief.

Dear Laurence,

I’m not sure I understand correctly. Does this mean that you would like to publish one of my short stories in the magazine? Please let me know. Thank you very much.

This was his response:

Good evening, Skander.

 

Yes, that’s correct. We have attached two contracts to our previous email – one for each story.

 

Kind Regards,

Laurence

This wasn’t the first anthology I submitted my work to. Previously, one of my short stories was short-listed to appear in a similar book called Deviant Nightmares which was a horror anthology made up of stories and artwork by writers and artists of the online community deviantART. Even though the person responsible for compiling the stories personally liked my submission, there must have been others far more talented.

Two years later, a group I joined on deviantART called The Written Revolution advertised the opportunity to be published by Crooked Cat Publishing, an independent publisher based in the UK. It was calling for submissions from writers. Any opportunity was good enough for me at the time, so I submitted my stories “The Wild Huntsman” and “The Nightmare Queen”, both written around 2010 and having gone through very minimal editing at first.

I never once expected that anything would come of it.

The anthology, called FEAR, was published on October 3rd, 2012 and is still available on Amazon and Smashwords.

My 21st birthday was more than one more year in my life. It was a milestone. I had heard the same thing over and over again that persistence was the key for any aspiring author. And now, I know it’s true.

Hitting the Jackpot: My First internship

I secured my first work placement ever during my second year of University quite by accident. As a non-UK national studying in the UK, my campus in Farnham had an International Students Advisor specifically to deal with non-British students like myself. During our conversation that day, it emerged that her brother was working for euronews, the pan-European TV and online news channel that was based in Lyon, where my parents had settled during my first year of University. Faced with the prospect of unpaid work experience at a local radio or TV station reporting about a charity’s latest project, the opportunity was too good to miss. With his contact details at hand, she urged me to contact him. Within 10 days of sending my first email, I had a response.

In order to take a work placement in France, a document known as a convention de stage (work placement agreement) is required of all prospective interns. Finding out just what it was proved easy, with the help of my parents and some independent research. Obtaining the appropriate document was another story altogether. That took a bit more research into finding the appropriate representative for my University to sign the document. I found a sample convention de stage in both English and French from the University of Warwick’s website but my University had no similar copy.

It was therefore up to the Head of Student Administration to change the letterhead of the agreement and replace the University of Warwick with the University for the Creative Arts. The wait was agonising even without my parents continued pressure to get the task over and done with as quickly as possible saying that my time was running out. But at last, I found my documents completed and forwarded to the Human Resources Manager in Lyon.

The internship itself started later and ended sooner than I anticipated. Although I was told that my credentials were acceptable in April, it wasn’t until August that I began to work. The first day was pleasant enough at first, meeting the members of the English news team as well as members of other language teams. From there, I was shown how my news bulletin would be recorded in a small booth the size of a British telephone booth with a small screen and voice recorder. It was a nerve-wracking experience, trying to write a script for my news bulletin and thinking that somehow my frightened inexperienced voice would be heard by someone else in a sitting room far away.

To my surprise (and relief), I was given more of an explanation as to how the internship would work. For two weeks, I was to shadow the members of the team, taking note of how they proceeded and what sort of equipment was used. I could even take a shot at recording a news bulletin or two, but my voice would not be broadcast due to French laws protecting interns from unpaid work. I wouldn’t be the dogsbody, making photocopies or cups of tea for senior staff.  It was purely a learning experience. Even the articles I wrote for the website would not have a by-line. But I learned not to care, as long as I could add in my CV that I really had done practical work.

With time running low and so many things to explain to my peers at University, I fortunately had the presence of mind to put together a video diary of my experience. As far as filming goes, I admit that it is not the work of a professional but I hope that the thousand pictures that unfold before your eyes will tell you more than the thousand words I may write here.