Author • Educator • Presenter
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 of people whom comment on the blog.
Books by Janet Levine
News Books Forthcoming 2022
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: 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.
JANET LEVINE BLOG: NYJB REVIEW: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Trevor Noah’s autobiography of his childhood and adolescence in this perilous, shifting landscape cleverly avoids polemical statements and moral platitudes. The very facts of how he learns to navigate the political currents swirling around him provides vivid commentary on those challenging times for South Africa.
JANET LEVINE BLOG: NYJB BOOK REVIEW: After 9/11: One Girl’s Journey through Darkness to a New Beginning
Throughout history witness-bearers through their stories provide personal glimpses into historic events that can otherwise become dates and place names and statistics. Hovitz’s book opens a window on one person’s journey in the aftermath of September 11. She has rendered a valuable service in adding her voice to the memory of this momentous interstice in world history.
JANET LEVINE BLOG: Thoughts From Last Week: August 7-10
Are you reading this Donald? A wise person told me that when someone is pointing a finger of blame at another, three fingers point back at—them. Do you get it?
JANET LEVINE BLOG: URGENT MEMO: TO HILLARY’S TOP CAMPAIGN TEAM
So, for me it is her perceived lack of humility and grace under pressure that is bothering them at a visceral level. They are looking for an opening to support her whole-heartedly but these niggles remain.
Janet's work with the Enneagram:
What is Janet currently writing?
Non-fiction: READING MATTERS: How Literature Influences Life
By examining prominent texts, throughout history and from all parts of the world, readers will become more aware of how worldviews are created, developed, dissolved, and sometimes decimated…including their own.
(Work in Progress) Olivia's Ghosts
What is Janet currently reading?
Winter 2019
The Overstory by Richard Powers. I want to shout out loud from the roof tops , “Please read this novel.” Powerful! Compelling! Articulate! Engaging! Clearly, Richard Powers is firmly in the ranks of our foremost fiction writers in the English language—every book he’s written thus far is masterly. But, The Overstory is a masterpiece with the power to change one’s ideas forever on the current state of the world. This book is far more than about trees and forests and people; it is about the very essence of how we each conduct ourselves in the world. Five star recommendation. It has already won many Fiction Awards for 2018.
Summer 2019
Parisian Lives by Deidre Blair is a memoir by the best-selling author who won a National Book Award for her biography of playwright Samuel Beckett, among her many other biographies. The book chronicles ten years in Bair’s life when she moved from part time journalist and part time university lecturer to becoming one of America’s most able biographers and an Ivy League professor. The book has a distinct feminist flavor detailing Bair’s struggles in the patronizing and paternalistic worlds of publishing and academe. Extremely readable, you feel you know areas of Paris as well as she does and touching. See her description of Simone de Beauvoir’ funeral. Available in November 2019
Speaking Engagement Bookings
Janet Levine is a popular speaker in the areas of her expertise, among them, how reading great literature influences life, the Enneagram personality model, and the politics of past and present day South Africa that shape that country’s future. She also 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 these materials 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.
From Inspirational Faculty video, Milton Academy, 2018
Copyright © Janet Levine, All Rights Reserved, 2022