Scala Radio Book Club: Freight Dogs by Giles Foden
From the writer of The Last King of Scotland comes an unforgettable story of survival
Last updated 16th Dec 2021
Mark Forrest’s guest in the Scala Book Club this week (16th September) was the English author Giles Foden, with his brand-new novel Freight Dogs.
From the writer of The Last King of Scotland comes an unforgettable story of survival – about how to live and love after trauma, set against a backdrop of world-shaking conflict.
1996: in a Ugandan dive bar, the ‘freight dogs’ gather. An anarchic group of mercenary pilots from Texas, Russia, Kenya, and Belgium who transport weapons between warring African nations, without allegiance. And tonight they have a new recruit – Manu, a 19-year-old cowherd fleeing Congo’s bloody war.
Taken in by this band of unlikely brothers, he’s soon seeing his vast country from above and falling in love with flying. But no matter how fast he flies, trouble follows closely behind. And when the past erupts back into this new life, Manu is forced to leave behind African skies for the chilly embrace of northern Europe. Will Manu be able to reinvent himself yet again? And is Belgian volcanologist Anke Desseaux the answer to his problems – or simply another one of them?
Mark was interested to know exactly who the ‘freight dogs’ are who they worked for.
Giles replied, ‘Freight dogs, is an American term for cargo pilots - a slightly self-mocking one. These freight dogs are a bunch of colourful characters from different countries. There's Cogan, who is from Texas who becomes Manu’s Saviour and to a degree, protector. There's a Russian pilot, there's a Kenyan pilot, and there's an old former priest called Papa Peters, who Manu will then encounter later in his journey, across that part of Africa, but also in Europe.’
‘It’s a fascinating time in history, only 25 years ago,’ said Mark. ‘But still, the history of these wars in Africa is immensely complicated. I wonder for you as the writer, how difficult it was to balance the historical framework that you need to explain, with the essential drama of Manu’s personal story?’
‘Well, it was quite challenging. As an author, I found it difficult to navigate these complexities and that's why it took me a long time to write this book. Classically, in this kind of novel, you'd begin probably a little further on in the story, after Manu had suffered these traumas of his family being killed. But to do that, as it were in flashback, was too difficult because these things had to be explained for a global readership. And part of the reason for writing the book was a sense that this grand conflict that involved around eight nations and many different groups, was very little understood outside of the region, and even within the region.’
Mark moved the conversation on to Giles Foden’s first novel The Last King of Scotland which was adapted into a film. ‘What did you think of the film version? Famously, it was turned into a movie starring Forest Whitaker.’
‘I was very lucky that it happened and with such a brilliant team. James McAvoy, the director Kevin MacDonald, and the wonderful producers were able to make it happen and film it in Uganda, which at that stage was quite an unusual thing. But of course, a movie is a different artistic entity. And in its own terms, separate from it being an adaptation. I think they did a fantastic job.’
Mark ended the interview focusing on Giles’ other interests. ‘You mentioned editing book pages in a national newspaper, and you teach as a professor of creative writing at UEA. I wonder how the ambitions of your students have changed over the years that you have been watching them.’
‘I think they're still pretty much the same. They come to do a creative writing course hoping to see how other people have done it in the past, it's much more descriptive, rather than proscriptive. I think there's a lot more interest in fantasy and dystopian literature now than there was when I first started, but there’s also a much wider breadth of international students. I also work a lot with African writers with a charity called the Miles Morland Foundation who run workshops and scholarships for African writing. And that too, has been tremendously rewarding.’