Author • Educator • Presenter
Janet has decades of published writing experience both as a book author and a freelance journalist. She is the author of four published works. For twenty nine years (1986-2014) she taught in the English department at Milton Academy in Massachusetts. She leads workshops and presents programs internationally on the psychology of personality using the E-model. An anti-apartheid activist, she is an expert on South Africa and South African politics. The founder and leader of several successful non-profit organizations, in South Africa and the United States, Janet remains a committed activist for human rights.
Commitment to human rights
Janet has a life long commitment to human rights. She is a teacher—in the broadest sense of the word—in all she undertakes. She enjoyed her time in the classroom with her students, and continues her work supporting activist causes. The third part of her life’s passion is writing. Currently she is contemplating two new book projects. She loves writing her blog and connecting with hundreds (most days over a thousand) people whom comment on the blog.
Books by Janet Levine
Know Your Parenting Personality
Parenting Book
How To Use the Enneagram To Become The Best Parent You Can Be. Filled with practical advice taken from interviews with scores of parents and uses the e-model as a tool to improve family dynamics.
The Enneagram Intelligences: Understanding Personality for Effective Teaching and Learning
Educational Book
This book has helped thousands of educators to understand their motivations for how they teach and how their students learn. In 2000 it was nominated for the 2001 Grawemeyer Education Award. Translated into several languages it is now regarded as a “classic” work in Enneagram studies. Both these books are available in e-book formats
Inside Apartheid
Political Memoir
Bears witness to the horrors of living within the apartheid system from the perspective of a white activist. Levine, a crusading freelance journalist, was an elected public official, and she held office in many anti-apartheid organizations. She shares her love for the country as she fights against the tyranny of racism that tears at the lives of all South Africans. Inside Apartheid was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review, The New York Review of Books, Kirkus Review, et al.
Kirkus review: “A grim account by a white liberal South African expatriate of life “”in the belly of the beast”” that is apartheid. . . A compelling, chastening work.”
Leela’s Gift
Fiction
Janet’s latest book, a novel, “Leela’s Gift” (2009) is available at www.amazon.com and other online and brick bookstores. It describes a luminous inner journey that uncovers archetypal and highly relevant spiritual teachings including some of the secret teachings of Buddhism and the Enneagram. Among these are meditation and yoga practices, practical paths to freedom from the often dispiriting quality of our contemporary lives. “Leela’s Gift” intertwines modern philosophy and primal wisdom in telling a story as old as the human heart. You can read more about the novel and Janet’s work at www.leelasgift.com.
Updates & Writer’s Blog
Janet Levine Blog: NYJB REVIEW: The Resurrection of Joan Ashby
In Wolas’ pages, Joan’s fully embodied motherhood, despite her ambiguous doubts about her role, are brilliantly accurate. Every mother who has sacrificed her ambition and talents for motherhood will find she is reading about herself. Every husband and wife whose marriage is torn apart will gain new perspectives from reading this novel. Every adult child who wonders about their parents’ relationship to one another and to themselves and their siblings will find a mirror shard here.
read moreJANET LEVINE BLOG: NYJB REVIEW: In the Midst of Winter
In the Midst of Winter: A Novel Reviewed by: Janet Levine Well known and adored by millions of readers worldwide, Chilean-American author, Isabel Allende with her 21st novel In the Midst of Winter will please multitudes of her fans and also leave them uneasy. Uneasy...
read moreJANET LEVINE BLOG: NYJB REVIEW: Sacrificed
In Sacrificed the arcs of many storylines merge and part and ultimately leave several threads hanging. This in itself is satisfying and realistic, an intelligent way to conclude the book. Intimate family trajectories, as well as those of grandiose political schemas cannot be neatly packaged simply because they have become more transparent to the characters and the reader. Ultimately, we are left with some answers but also more questions.
read moreJANET LEVINE BLOG: NYJB REVIEW: Stolen Girls
Over that decade, thousands of other women, men, and boys have been abducted by Boko Haram and taken to hideouts in swampy rain forests in western Nigeria called Sambisa. Inevitably the world’s attention left Nigeria and the abducted girls. However, German journalist Wolfgang Bauer and his brilliant photographer, Andy Spira, with this book fill the gap.
read moreJANET LEVINE BLOG: NYJB REVIEW: Long Black Veil: A Novel
The strongest parts of the book occur when Boylan writes from the point of view of the trans character who finds marginal redemption. This is not surprising as Boylan herself is trans and her character’s experience rings powerfully true.
read more
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Janet's work with the Enneagram:
What is Janet currently writing?
Non-fiction: A Cultural Conundrum: The crossroads where culture and literature intersect-and sometimes collide
(Work in Progress) Historical Fiction: Veld Fire–100 Years in Africa
What is Janet currently reading?
Summer
Spring
“The First Human” by science writer Anne Gibbons is an excellent overview of Pliocene hominid discoveries that push our human ancestry back to 7 million years ago. A definite read for all you amateur paleontologists and archeologists–like me–out there. Highly recommend.
A Long Way From Home by Peter Carey
Another intriguing book from a brilliant Australian writer.
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Speaking Engagement Bookings
Janet Levine is a popular speaker in the areas of her expertise, namely the Enneagram personality model, and the politics of past and present day South Africa that shape that country’s future. She presents talks on writing and the writing process while sharing her experiences. In her presentations she uses her books, videos and additional material where necessary. Janet has presented this material internationally at conferences and workshops across North America and beyond. She can shape her presentation to fit your needs. For an extensive listing of past speaking references CLICK HERE.
Copyright © Janet Levine, All Rights Reserved, 2018