What lessons are there from South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle for our own efforts to combat racism here in the United States today? This question arose during a talk I gave a few weeks ago in Sun City, Florida, and sparked a conversation that I have reflected...
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I try to live in gratitude. Sometimes I'm more successful than others. I know I'm succeeding when I find myself humming in a traffic jam, exulting in the particular greyness of a lowering sky, or enjoying the enforced moment to slow down while waiting and...
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I am very excited to announce that I now have a Wikipedia page. Getting on Wikipedia is a bit daunting and it is by no means a sure thing. From what I understand, Wikipedia has three requirements: the information must be neutral, it must be...
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In the last two years, I have spoken at all three Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes in Greater Boston–@Tufts University, @UMass Boston and @Brandeis University (BOLLI). At each talk, participants have asked me: “Given all of the challenges facing South Africa, what is the future of...
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Someone recently asked me why, as a South African and the writer of Bloodlines, which takes place primarily in South Africa, I suddenly began showing such an interest in Russia and the USSR. Sorry about that. I should have made the transition clearer. When I published...
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At last week’s meeting with a book group of early readers, there were several really interesting comments made about On The Sickle’s Edge. This particular group has been meeting for a long time–in fact our meeting marked their 30th anniversary. They’ve read and discussed hundreds...
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I find that in both writing and painting, being open to serendipitous events is really important, and can have a huge impact on the work. In On The Sickle’s Edge, I decided that it was important for one of my characters, a young girl, to be...
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“What’s your writing process?” People sometimes ask the question as if each writer has one answer. It’s like asking, “how do you build a house? Make a cake? Write a symphony?” In all these endeavors, you have to come up with a design, assemble the materials, create...
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One might suppose that the writer is aware of what he or she is doing, but that's not necessarily the case. One of the reasons I find the writing process so fascinating is that it is often a slowly unfolding enigma. I can't speak for...
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People often ask whether my painting informs my writing. As a writer, I used to think I could describe things well. Then I took up painting, and everything changed, because I learned that looking at something was very different from seeing it. How well or badly...
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