Working with George is always a thrill for us here at NUNUM, so when the chance came to feature his work on the cover of the Spring 2021 issue some people around here checked the calendar to see if they'd somehow forgotten it was their birthday.

Despite the craziness in the world these days, we were able to get a little bit of George's free time, on top of his wonderful photography, and by now you know how we got it going.

George, what was the first book you remember picking up and reading all by yourself?  

Jacqueline Doyle slipped a little magic into NUNUM's Spring 2021 issue with her piece 'Super Stanley' and left all of us here feeling just a little bit better about how we see the world.

Luckily we were able to get a touch of Jacqueline's time for a chat and by now you know how we got that going. 

Jacqueline, what was the first book you remember picking and reading by yourself?

Maurice thank you for this, and for the images. It doesn't happen often but it happened when I saw your work - it was instant - yes NUNUM has to have that on our pages. 

So let's jump right into it, what song uplifts you when you're feeling down?

"Love On Top" Beyonce.

​Alright, first book you remember picking and reading by yourself?

I need to start with your story Shinjini, can you talk a little about the festival described in Bhailo?

​I refer here to both Tihar and Diwali. While Diwali is a mainstream Hindu festival, Tihar is celebrated in Nepal or among the Nepali community in India; 'Bhailo', the song, is sung by unmarried women as part of the ritual(s). The two festivals are celebrated around the same time, but the mythologies and the perspective vary. It is this difference that I write about in the story, where the narrator celebrates the hegemonic festival of light and power, Diwali. 

We paired Ronald's work up with Kindergarten by Thomas Kearnes in our Winter 2020 issue and it made us feel good, oh so good. Usually, we're happy about how our pieces turn out but really with this one the images and the words just came together so perfectly that despite all the COVID nonsense raging all over the world this combination let us hide our collective heads for a few wonderful moments. And who doesn't need that right now?