Through a dragonfly eye , livre ebook

268

pages

English

Ebooks

2024

Écrit par
Jenny Hobbs

Publié par
Hands-On Books

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Je m'inscris

268

pages

English

Ebook

2024

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

Hands-On Books

Date de parution

19 juillet 2024

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9781991240408

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

3 Mo

Jenny’s compelling South African memoir chronicles her journey from childhood during World War Two to a busy freelance career as a journalist and novelist. With humour, tenderness and love for her family and country, she reflects on the many facets of her life as an author, giving fascinating insights into the writing process. Among Jenny’s lasting legacies are her decades-long drive to promote reading as the essential skill for a good education, and her role as one of the co-founders of the Franschhoek Literary Festival, of which she was Director for four years.

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Publié par

Hands-On Books

Date de parution

19 juillet 2024

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9781991240408

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

3 Mo

through a dragonf ly eye

also by jenny hobbs

Darling Blossom

First Aid for the Family

Thoughts in a Makeshift Mortuary

The SweetSmelling Jasmine

Video Dreams

The Telling of Angus Quain Paper Prophets Pees & Queues Kitchen Boy The Miracle of Crocodile Flats Napoleon Bones True Blue Superglue

A Quotionary (ebook)

Seven years into my ninth decade as the Corona virus simmers down and the climate heats up, this is the journey of a freelance writing life.

South Africa is a society living on a fault line and the stakes are high. It forged me as an artist. It is who I am. Yaël Farber,Sunday Times,8March2015

I refuse to retreat into anybody’s historical laager. Solly Moeng,Cape Times,22March2011

We all reinvent our pasts, but writers are in a class of their own. Even when they know the truth, it’s never enough for them. John le Carré

The soul of the land is its many mothers. Title of a painting by Nhlanhla Nhlapo

isbn978-1-991240-32-3(Print) isbn978-1-991240-40-8(eBook)

Edited by JaneAnne Hobbs Cover artwork by Jesse BreytenbachDragonﬂy illustration by Ellie RaynerBook design by Monique Cleghorn

Set in Sabon

For my daughters Madeleine, JaneAnne, Karen and Sophie and grandchildren Luke, Tristan, Matthew, Zoë, Ellie, Callum, Kate, Kirsty and Harris, with so much love

F O R E WO R D

The idea for a memoir was ﬁrst sparked by Professor Njabulo Ndebele’s

reported comment at the Dialogue on Suspect Reconciliation, a panel

discussion in Cape Town in July2010: “What South Africa needs is

the entering of personal intimacies into the public space.”

Njabulo and I had been cojudges for a literary prize and I value his insights. On his website, this distinguished academic and man of letters writes: “… will a new political environment emerge that will take South Africans and their country beyond2024with a visionary, wise, practical and decisive idealism informed by lessons from the past, a sense of urgency towards the present, while being invigorated by what the future holds?”, which encapsulates the best possible outcome for our country. The impetus to write about my life – initially for family and friends – faded in the busyness of a decade in Franschhoek. Then a few years ago, a publisher asked me to consider writing a memoir, and the journey began. Revisiting things past has been a bumpy ride. The manuscript mutated as I shufﬂed through memories, discovering how much harder it is to write about yourself than create makebelieve people. Since this ﬁnal version is about writing as well as a blatantly nostal gic visit to the past, I have added brief inserts from my novels and short stories to suggest how lived experiences were transmuted to ﬁction, and some thoughts about writing.

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