Tips for Writers

War talk is much in the air these days. We talk of “the war” in the way that our parents and grandparents must have referred, in their day, to “the war”. We’ve learned or relearned the vocabulary [...]

Today we’re celebrating the reprinting of  My Brother’s Book (Picador Africa) which has just gone into a new print run, fifteen years after it first appeared in 2008. My Brother’s Book  is [...]

St Neots, a small town straddling the River Great Ouse a few locks down from Bedford, holds a market every Thursday in the town square. It was the site, in July 1648, of a pitched battle between [...]

Jane Evans is the former CEO of Ntataise Network Support Programme, which provides extensive early childhood development across South Africa. She has been part of our community for many years, [...]

I was paging idly through an old notebook this morning and came across a passage in my handwriting that will serve as the hinge of today’s piece. Yes, I frequently write in longhand – especially [...]

Here’s part three of our takeaways and tips from the Kingsmead Book Fair. The theme this year was courage, and the writers who took part in the panel discussions certainly demonstrated a [...]

I found myself embroiled in a conversation the other day about that most intractable of writers’ problems: getting published. It’s a fraught subject. Behind the question of publication, though, [...]

I had the honour of attending the launch of the Achmat Dangor Literary Prize last Tuesday, a new award aimed at supporting Black South African writers. The Prize is, of course, named for renowned [...]

Here’s part two of our takeaways and tips from the Kingsmead Book Fair. The theme this year was courage, and the writers who took part in the panel discussions certainly demonstrated a [...]

We’ve all become aware – or at least, we should have – that we move around the world shedding our DNA wherever we go, like plane leaves in autumn. Most of the DNA-trail we leave behind us, as a [...]

Lynn Joffe received a marvellous ‘shout’ for her debut novel, The Gospel According to Wanda B Lazarus (Modjaji Books), from Stephen Fry: Lynn Joffe’s writing is so alive, and wicked and made, and [...]

On Saturday the 27th of May, I joined the crowd of writers, aspiring writers and literature enthusiasts who had gathered for the eleventh annual Kingsmead Book Fair. The theme of this year was [...]