Gypsy

Product Information

The Library collection is made up of over 1000 books and pamphlets, a sizable number of periodical titles and a good selection of published audio-visual materials. An award-winning picture book about a family living in a narrowboat on the Chester canal, with Snowy the boat horse. As for a cultural frame of reference, the authors’ cultural universes are as distinct as the countries to which they belong. But reject these other criteria and you can be left only with ethnicity, which risks sounding like discrimination, albeit a positive version, and miserably reduces the author to his work. A digital archive of the GRTHM celebrations in Scotland in 2020 - lots of resources available as film, audio and written material. This is a disturbing book. The author offers a very uncomplimentary view into the life of Gypsy families. Constant violence, beating of spouses and children. Daily drunkenness of males, with beating up each other outside the home too. Hopefully just as an exception, the author was being regularly raped by one of his uncles. Children are indoctrinated regularly to hate 'Gorgias' (non-Gypsies), and sent to school only for a few years (or not at all) to avoid tainting them(?). Males earn their income by extorting (elderly) homeowners, while the only outside the house "work" women are allowed to participate in is shoplifting. Strangely, they are earning quite well, driving late model cars and women clean their mobile homes in Gucci dresses and Jimmy Choo shoes. With all their unlove of outsiders, Gypsies seem all too happy to take good advantage of free medical care offered in Britain for child birth and advanced surgeries. Certainly the whole setup doesn't sound like a wonderful place for any child (or even for an adult), and not in particular for somebody who is homosexual (read different ...).

If what the ex-boyfriend is writing is true - and, again, I am inclined to believe it is, because he has everything to lose if he is sued, and nothing to gain financially because you can't say you've been defamed when the book changes your name and personal details - then I feel Walsh has done a horrible disservice to Romany people. Everybody knows the stereotype of the "Gypsy" as out to deceive people. TV shows like "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" make it worse. Well, Walsh has just assured that stereotype will be cemented in many people's minds. More gullible non-Gypsies lapping it up in the form of a misery memoir. Even worse, if he has not actually suffered such horrific physical and sexual abuse (and again, maybe he did, maybe he didn't, I don't know), then it's all the more likely that somebody who actually HAS gone through such things will not be believed in the future. Now every Gypsy's account of life in this community will be met with doubt. A useful film describing the purpose and significance of International Roma Language Day, celebrated worldwide on 5th November. A detailed illustrated timeline by artist and historian Shamus McPhee from before the 1100s to the modern day. But there were also some serious flaws. I think the worst of these is that Walsh simply tries to do too much. There's too much story here for this length of a book. As a result, much of the narrative seems rushed (especially the last two chapters) and most of the characters--even Walsh's closest family members--are fairly two-dimensional. A second flaw is that some of what he says simply seems too incredible to be true. Now, it's possible that the entire story is absolutely accurate, or at least as accurate as someone's childhood memories can be. But I did find one small factual error (he refers to the Cambridge Fair as happening in July, when in fact it happens in June; it's a Midsummer Fair) and I wonder if there are more. And finally, Walsh several times repeats his negative views about the Irish Travellers. I think it's fine to discuss the antipathy between the Romani and the Irish Travellers, but blaming Gypsies' bad rap solely on the Irish seemed unneccessary and far-fetched.There's no doubt that all children need to be able to find themselves in books. They also need to learn about those whose lives and experiences might be different from their own. I’ve long been fascinated with the Roma (or Gypsies, as Walsh more commonly refers to them), and was extremely excited to read this book --the only other Roma book I’ve read is Isabel Fonseca’s Bury Me Standing: the Gypsies and Their Journey, which focused largely on the Roma in Eastern Europe. Walsh, by contrast, grew up in England – and, unlike the grinding poverty throughout Fonseca’s book, Wash insists that Gypsies are not generally poor. This Roma Support Group project shares experiences and stories of Roma people from Eastern and Central Europe who live in London.

As if suffering from daily beatings from his father, and run of the mill bullies wasn't enough to make young Mikey's life pure misery his uncle Joseph began his own torturous campaign against him. For years Mikey was left with no choice but to suffer in silence. This abuse however wasn't his only secret. They tell GRT children that their stories and histories are of genuine interest and they can be proud of them. They validate these children and their experiences - but they also enrich the experiences of all children. I enjoyed reading this book......once I ignored the publisher's blurb and the "non-fiction" tag. It may well be based on a true story but it's had a Hollywood style treatment so the emphasis is really now on "story" rather than "true"! Even allowing for the tinted spectacles of any autobiography, this is just a bit too imaginative to be convincing.

Robert Dawson’s own writings and his publications are included (he started a publishing business after his retirement as Headteacher). The periodical collection is representative of his wide involvement in various GRT associations both in the UK and abroad. His subscriptions ranged from well-established titles such as Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society and The Romany magazine , to lesser-known and short-lived magazines, including newsletters of local associations and charities. There are also single issues of mainstream periodicals featuring articles on GRT-related topics and materials aimed at teachers and school-age children. Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria, north England, is one of the renowned meeting places for gypsies and travellers each year. Jim Monk, CC BY-SA Defining Romani writing

A gothic, feminist and romantic young adult debut about Lil and her twin sister Kizzy, who are captured and enslaved far away from their beloved traveller community. Walsh, Mikey (26 March 2015). "Born Gay". Gay Times Magazine. No.443. Millivres Prowler LTD. p.16. 'To know adversity, to fight it, and win. that makes you the strongest people in the world'.

Materials from The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust on the genocide of Roma and Sinti people during World War 2.

Oksana Marafioti— (1974) Oksana Marafioti is an American writer, classically trained pianist, and cinematographer born in the USSR of Greek, Armenian, and Russian Romani descent. Her fiction and non-fiction has appeared in The Perpetual Engine of Hope, an anthology featuring stories written by seven Las Vegas writers, Fairy Tale Review, Slate, NPR, and other publications. Her critically acclaimed memoir, American Gypsy, follows her experiences in the former Soviet Union and her emigration to the United States as a fifteen-year-old just before the breakup of the USSR. Raine Geoghegan presents a selection of timeless and culturally rich songs and monologues based upon her Romani Roots.

What kind of writings?

It's a shame, really. Like James Frey, the writer is clearly very talented, and I would have had no problem with this book if only it had been labelled FICTION rather than memoir. But that wouldn't sell. Jess Smith comes from a long line of Travelling people and writes about her early years on the road in Scotland with her family. This collection consists of 41 postcards and 2 photographs supplied R B Law, showing gypsies and their caravans, 1962-1990. There currently is not a list of these images, but many of them are featured as a sub-section of the main Robert Dawson Collection. You can view a record for this collection online. Maxie Lane Collection (MS 1403)