published in several languages around the world. It was awarded the Premio ITAS del Libro di Montagna and was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her new novel is The Sea Between Two Shores. She is also the author of the poetry collection Arguments with the Lake, and, in 2006, she was named the “Poet Laureate for Lake Ontario” by the environmental advocacy group Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. Born in Belgium, she grew up in Bermuda and in Kingston, Ontario, and now lives in Los Angeles.
Here Rideout shares some thoughts on what a film adaptation of The Sea Between Two Shores might look like:
The writing of The Sea Between Two Shores was inspired by a brief paragraph I read in a left-behind guidebook while sitting overlooking the Pacific on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu.Learn more about the book and author at Tanis Rideout's website.
The story stayed with me throughout the remainder of my trip and beyond and eventually after much reading and research developed into the first draft of a novel about two families, The Stewarts and The Tabés, who come together to reckon with their collective pasts.
I didn’t really dream cast the Stewart family while I was writing. They were much like people I knew, people I might run into at the supermarket or the library. I did however return to a film called Tanna a number of times while I was writing.
My husband and I saw the film while we were in Vanuatu. It is a tragic love story set on the island of Tanna and stars ni-Vanuatu actors, performing in Nauvhal, one of the many languages spoken on the islands.
The performances in the movie are luminous with Marie Wawa and Mangua Dain as star-crossed lovers and Marceline Rofit as Wawa’s younger sister Selin.
It was not so much that I imagined these specific actors playing roles in my novel, but rather the film worked to ground the characters for me, allowing me to hear the rhythm and tone of language and songs from Vanuatu, remember the landscape and the sounds of the islands.
The film, which went on to be nominated for an Oscar, showcases a sliver of the incredible talent in Vanuatu.
In my daydreams, when I do imagine the possibility of The Sea Between Two Shores as a film, it would be a collaboration, as Tanna was, with people – artists, actors and storytellers – from Vanuatu.
My Book, The Movie: Above All Things.
Writers Read: Tanis Rideout.
--Marshal Zeringue