PRESS BRIEFING ON FIRST UN NOVEL, 'MARIE -- IN THE SHADOW OF THE LION'

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON FIRST UN NOVEL, 'MARIE -- IN THE SHADOW OF THE LION'

The first-ever United Nations novel, Marie -- In the Shadow of the Lion, a humanitarian children's book by Jerry Piasecki, was launched at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

Correspondents were briefed on the novel by Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and Carolyn McAskie, Emergency Relief Coordinator, a.i. Also present at the briefing were Mr. Piasecki and Shashi Tharoor, Director of Communications for the Secretary-General.

Mr. Otunnu, congratulating the author and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for publishing the book, said the novel underscored three preoccupations of the United Nations. One was the fact that children were among the categories of persons that were worst-affected by war, and the novel underscored that fact. Second was the importance of reaching out and informing young people in countries not affected by war so that they could be part of the movement to protect their counterparts who were affected by conflict.

Continuing, he said that the novel also underscored the importance of some of the children-related United Nations projects and how to involve young people in them. That included the Children's Network, whose basic idea was to link up young people from countries that were not affected by war with children in countries that were. Within the war-torn countries, there were also efforts aimed at getting young people to communicate with each other along channels of reconciliation, he added.

Ms. McAskie said that, while OCHA currently tended to focus more on the coordination part of its mandate when it was set up two years ago, the main part of its mandate had been advocacy. That meant getting the story out, which was exactly what the novel did.

"What we are very aware of is that when we talk about great notions of international peace and security, we are really talking about what impacts on the lives of individuals", she said. One of the things OCHA was very conscious of was the need to reach out to young people in donor countries to try to give them an understanding of what it was really like on the ground for people of their age.

Ms. McAskie said what the Office had tried to do was put together a novel and see whether it would interest high school and junior high school students in the English-speaking countries of the West. Translation rights were also available, she added. It was a tough story. She did not think there was any thirteen-year-old in a Western country who could ever imagine going through what Marie did as the heroine of the novel. At the end of the novel, there were some practical suggestions as to what young people in schools could do to raise awareness of the issues, and to try and help solve the problem. The novel was part of reaching the next generation, and bringing children into adulthood with a greater awareness of what was happening around them.

A correspondent wanted to know which age range the novel was aimed at, and if there was a school that did want the book, how it would get hold of it.

Ms. McAskie said the book was aimed at eleven- to fifteen-year-olds. Responding to how it would get out to schools, Mr. Piasecki said some educators in the United States had been very responsive to the novel and wanted to use it as part of their humanitarian efforts. Probably the best way to find out about the book would be to contact him or Phyllis Lee in OCHA's Advocacy section.

Responding to a question on the main character of the book, Mr. Piasecki said that Marie did not actually exist. But all of the stories and incidents in the novel had actually happened to a child in an African country. Those incidents had all been brought together in an effort to reach young people on an emotional level and perhaps prompt them into some sort of humanitarian commitment.

Another correspondent wanted to know what plans there were to promote the book. Mr. Piasecki said the novel would be promoted in the United States and in other English-speaking countries, primarily because it was currently printed in English. There were, however, discussions under way to have the book published in other languages. Promotion-wise, the novel was on sale at the United Nations bookstore and would also be on www.amazon.com. Outside publishers would also be approached to make sure that there was broader distribution as well.

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