by Admin | Aug 13, 2012 | apartheid, meditation, South Africa
Two weeks ago I arrived back in Boston from almost a month in Johannesburg and the Kruger National Park (the Park). To quote Charles Dickens “It was the best of times and the worst of times.” I left with what at the time was an undiagnosed abdominal issue and...
by Admin | Apr 28, 2012 | apartheid, creativity, fiction, historical fiction, human rights, Leela's Gift, literary agent, meditation, mind structure, reconciliation, Sharpeville massacre
Apologies to my loyal readers for my lack of blogging activity in past months. Something has to give. Several months ago I began working with an editor on my latest fiction manuscript “Love Affair in the Shadow of Apartheid.” I have worked with many...
by Admin | Jan 30, 2012 | apartheid, fiction, historical fiction, human rights, Leela's Gift, literary agent, reconciliation, Sharpeville massacre
July 1960[1] Plettenberg Bay On the way to Jan Smuts Airport for my flight to Port Elizabeth, we park the Jag at the entrance to the Rivonia Police Station. The parking lot is mostly unoccupied early on this chilly winter morning on the Highveld. My breath...
by Admin | Jan 9, 2011 | apartheid, Children, creativity, fiction, human rights, Sharpeville massacre
© amazon.com 2011 Agaat, Marlene van Niekerk’s latest novel is worthy of being lauded as one of the great ones of any time and any place. Tolstoyan in its magnitude and impact, it is as ambitious in its themes as it is precise in its minutest details. Agaat,...
by Admin | Aug 4, 2010 | apartheid, Children, human rights, meditation
If you have been reading this blog you know I am a teacher and a writer. From September to June I teach, and sometimes I write blogs about the lessons I learn in the classroom from my students and from the literature I teach. From June to September I think, reflect...
by Admin | Mar 11, 2010 | apartheid, Children, Conflagration, creativity, historical fiction, human rights, Sharpeville massacre, Uncategorized
On March 21 1960 the South African police shot and killed 69 people–men, women and children–at the police station in the dusty East Rand township of Sharpeville, South Africa. Almost two hundred more were injured. Almost all were shot in the back as they...
