Tiah Beautement's Blog, page 77
May 13, 2014
On meeting me at the Franschhoek Literary Festival
This Friday: 16th of May @ 16:00 I will be at the Council Chamber in Franschhoek - event no 36. If you are around, please do say hello. Be lovely to see you there. Zukiswa Wanner and fellow activists Tiah Beautement and Yewande Omotoso highlight Writivism’s creative writing workshops for emerging writers, and Short Story Day Africa. You can see the whole FLF programme here.
May 5, 2014
On Twenty in 20
Alert! Books LIVE, in conjunction with the Department of Arts and Culture and Short Story Day Africa, is delighted to announce the Twenty in 20 Project, a Twenty Years of Freedom initiative whose aim is to identify the best South African short stories published in English during the past two decades of democracy. - Read full article HERE
May 4, 2014
On London - Cape Town - Joburg
Click for publisher details - So she is an arty type. I've always assumed that lot are all flower children with vacuous looks in their eyes from too much marijuana; straggly bad hair because they are too busy pondering on 'art' to shampoo, condition, and go to the salon; and wearing tie-dye outfits made of natural fibre because anything else is 'cruel to animals.' I guess I was wrong. - - 'Incidentally, anything you don't eat?' 'No,' she answers. 'You an throw me in with the dog and cat eaters and I won't starve. You can also throw me in...
May 3, 2014
On being a publisher
Running and keeping a small publishing company afloat, and living off the proceeds of it, is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And I don’t have time for writing. Of course that is not strictly true. I do have time, I’ve been known to waste time playing Candy Crush or hanging out on Facebook or watching a rented TV series. But to clear my head and desk enough to write, hmmm, now that’s even harder. - Colleen Higgs, Mother, Publisher and Not Really a Writer
April 30, 2014
On Pandemonium: The Rite of Spring
Free from Goodreads, Click Pic - We have learned to be knock-kneed, awkward, angular. Discordant, to match the music. - Rose Biggin, 'The Russian Revolution' - To the don, I said only – ‘Of that we cannot speak, we must pass over in silence.’ - William Curno, 'The Invisible Rhinoceros' - I find it beyond the bounds of plausibility that a women of noble blood should not only disrobe in public but do so in a highly suggestive manner in front of a baying pack of peasants. That alone would make it unfit for public consumption but what follows is...
Story Story Day Africa on Nina Steyn
Help Make Short Story Day Africa 2014 a Success! Please Click HERE To Donate! As Short Story Day Africa was getting ready to launch our YA and Kids competitions for 2014 (now live!) we noticed something interesting about Nina Steyn. In 2012 she was a winner in the SSDA children’s category for ‘The Murderous Scarf’ and in 2013 she was a winner in the SSDA 10-13 year old category for ‘The Truthful Answer’, which was a retelling of ‘The Riddle of the Sphinx’. We simply had to find out more about this young talented writer. So we sent Tiah Beautement...
April 28, 2014
On Dark Windows
Click for Umuzi Link - The rainbow colours, the royalty-free images of (exotic) flowers and sunlight through leaves, the ultrabold Helvetica font are all well worn, unimaginative. Why waste money on a creative campaign when you know everyone's going to vote for you? - - Lang understands how unsettling this shift has been. He feels it himself. These protesters were once children who slept safely knowing their daddy owned a gun. They want their talismans back; they need the comforting confinement of battle lines. - - She preferred him to drive when they went out together; otherwise, she said, she'd...
On heart and hands
The heart is the toughest part of the body. Tenderness is in the hands. - Carolyn Forché
April 27, 2014
On The Blue Blazes
Chuck, Wendig, The Blue Blazes - And so it is with the Underworld: you may enter its depths and walk into the dark, but something is always taken from you. - - I said, don't dress like a thug tomorrow. I need you to dress like a professional. But on a fuckin' shirt. Something with buttons. Definitely nothing with bloodstains on it. - - The poison ran its course, scraped him out like a knife. Every movement feels slow. Like he's walking underwater. - - Worse, he either has to sit down or fall down. the pain forces him to...
April 25, 2014
On Lauri Kubuitsile’s Ten Random Tips for Running a Writing Workshop
Lauri Kubuitsile’s Ten Random Tips for Running a Writing Workshop 1. You can’t do everything, so don’t even try. Pick something. Examples of things to focus on might be show don’t tell, significant detail, characterisation, dialogue, tension, or plotting. 2. First read some examples of what you want to focus on – both good and bad examples if you can find them. Let the participants hear how good and bad writing sounds. Allow them to discuss the passages. Guide them to see what you want to show them with the passages. 3. Writing and sharing writing can be difficult for...
