Travel Writing Mentoring

Facilitator

Fred  de Vries  is a Dutch writer/journalist, who moved to South Africa in 2003 to do research for a biography of Johannesburg Beat poet Sinclair Beiles. 

His books include Respect! (with Toine Heijmans), about hip-hop in Europe, Club Risiko, a look at 80s underground music in six cities, Afrikaners, volk op drift about the post-1994 fate of the Afrikaners which was translated into Afrikaans as  Rigtingbedonnerd and  Gehavende Stad with Erik Brus, an overview of 50 years of literature and music in Rotterdam. 

He wrote about his travels for The Sunday Times  and  Sunday Independent, and taught travel writing as a guest lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand.  He had an interview column for The Weekender, which were collected in  The  Fred  de Vries Interviews; From Abdullah to Zille. 

Afrikaners, volk op drift  was nominated for Best Journalism Book and Best Travel Book in 2013.

De Vries was nominated for Correspondent of the Year in 2014 and 2015. His seventh book, Wiegelied voor de witte man: ras en muziek in het Amerikaanse Diepe Zuiden en Zuid-Afrika was published in October 2019. 

How it will work – one-off mentoring: 

• Send in your travel piece (between 1500 and 3500 words) with a list of any specific concerns and questions that you have.  
• Fred works through it and responds with detailed written feedback and high level guidance on how to approach your next draft. 
• We’ll follow this up with a Skype/Zoom meeting in which you can discuss any points that were raised and brainstorm solutions to any problems that have come up. 

How it will work – block of twelve hours of mentoring :

• Send in your first piece (we suggest somewhere between 1500 and  3500 words) with a synopsis if it’s part of a book, or some information on what your aim for the piece is, and  a list of any specific concerns and questions that you have.  
• Fred will work through it and respond with detailed written feedback and high level guidance on how to approach your next draft. 
• We’ll follow this up with a Skype/Zoom meeting in which you can discuss any points that were raised and brainstorm solutions to any problems that have come up. 
• And we repeat the process until the hours are used up. We’ll keep a tally and let you know where you are after each submission. 

 Testimonials:

I am fortunate enough to have been mentored by Fred de Vries on two occasions, the first a Wits University writing programme, the second an All About Writing course in Venice.  His feedback was well thought out and to the point. It helped me focus on what I was trying to say, the picture I was trying to paint, the atmosphere I was hoping to evoke. It helped me delve below the surface of my writing  and bring to life what I was hearing, seeing, touching and smelling. With the ‘no frills’ input from Fred, I had an article published after working with him. – Jane Evans

I was one of the lucky ones who had  Fred as mentor during the 2017 Venice retreat. What I loved is that it was so practical. We went “traveling” first to the little town of Padova, where we were et lose to roam the streets, and do what ever we wanted. I found this so refreshing. The writing part of it only started the next day, and we were guided through our writing by submitting, re-writing, (with great comments) and then handing it in again. All the pieces were really diverse in the end. I loved that we were guided, but not boxed into one idea. Fred is a Highly Recommended Mentor!  – Merle Grace