A few months ago my editor/publisher Gloria Vando Hickok asked what graphic I’d like on the cover of my new book. Inspired by the arresting image on Revolt of the Crash-Test Dummies by Pittsburgh poet Jim 
Daniels, I suggested a photograph of the giant girl puppet.
The spectacle known as The Sultan’s Elephant was created three years ago by the French street theatre company Royal de Luxe. The show commemorated the 100-year anniversary of the death of novelist Jules Verne. I love the big girl, but friends found the puppet pictures disquieting and advised against my using one.
I did not argue since I was even more taken with Richard Ehrlich’s photographs of a ghost town in Africa. In Ehrlich’s Namibia Sand House series, I especially liked #23, which appeared in Harper’s magazine, but for my book we ended up using #17.
There are pictures of the giant girl all over the Internet, but no still photo can do her justice. You’ve got to see her in action.
I saw these puppets in London – the elephant – brilliant.
yesbuts: I wonder what we’d have to do to get this to come to the States. The show has toured in Europe and even South America.
Hi Donna–
Congrats! on your book. I like #17: What’s the title? And what’s the title of your forthcoming book?
Lindsey Martin-Bowen
Hi Lindsey! Thank you. The title of the book is “What’s Right About What’s Wrong.”
The Namibia sand house photo that Helicon Nine and I selected for the cover can be seen if you click on the “new book” tab at the top of this page. I just got word that the book will arrive at the Writers Place on July 10.
Lindsey, I recall the excellent George Bush poem you read at the Writers Place a few years ago. I think you’d like “A Real Comedian: The True Genius of Bob Hope” by Jim Daniels (posted on this site).