Sun and laughter in savanna - presentation of the book IQBALL HOTEL

Thursday, February 5 2009 at 7 PM, MMC Kibla - the presentation of the book Iqball hotel and a talk with the author Boris Kolar.

The talk was moderated by Sonja Porle and spiced up by music and visuals by the video artist Ana Pečar.

About the book:
The story of Iqbal hotel is set in the time just after the World War I. A leisurely and serene Vito has his dream come true when he builds a hotel in the middle of savanna, even though "the hotel" is basically just a cla hut. The Masai Harushas are the only guests, bringing laughter and lots of not always sensitive fun to the hotel. Against this genuine fun and good ambiance in the midst of the wilderness stands Brandon O'Donell, a missionary teacher, impersonating the colonialism of that time, full of prejudice against everything that's African, even more so when it is both feminine and African.
The next protagonist we meet in the story is an ex German soldier Hans Putka moja, a storyteller and a griot, a reminder of all the terrors of war that have so profoundly stirred the 20th century. Hans Putka is the character that connects the time and space of other characters in the story to the invisible background, ruled by the African magic and her omnipresent servant, the wind. Those who do an extraordinary deed or create something exceptional in Subsaharian Africa are praised by their kinsmen by getting a new name o earning a special title. That tradition is a source of many brilliant names of the west African football teams, such as Super Eagles, Untamable Lions, Black Stars, National Elephants or - maybe the best of all - The Benini Chipmunks. In that spirit, as well as in the spirit of chipmunks and maybugs Boris Kolar deserves a title Kekec of Slovene novel, as he with his new book brings us a sun in one hand and a golden laughter in the other.