June 2008

Another Write Co graduate shines in NB Publishers’ romance novel competition

    Marida Fitspatrick

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Are you over 50 and fabulous ~ or not so fabulous?

Jackie Kelly and Jill Marais want humourous/amusing pieces on grand children, divorces, weddings, funerals, life.

Anything really, as long as it 500-1000 words and funny and written by an “over-50”.

Pieces can be submitted to Jackie: jackie.kelly@icon.co.za; or to Jill: jill.marais@gmail.com

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Cape Town's Calling ~ The Cape Town Book Fair opens its doors on the 14th June

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The Caption Competition

Write a caption for the photograph of the month! 

Winners – for May

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2. Guest Speaker June 2008!

Lauren Liebenberg, author of The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter & Jam, shortlisted for the Orange Debut Award

Join us for an exclusive, decadent chocolate tasting soiree and a talk by the author of this mouth-watering book. Only 20 places available.   

Date: 25 June 2008

Time: 18:00 for 18:30

Venue: Chocodore, Level 4, Hyde Park Shopping Centre

Cost: R250, 00 per person, includes Champagne, Canapes, Chocolate, Hot Chocolate, Talk, Q & A's

RSVP: info@thewriteco.co.za

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3. Coming up in Writing

Creative Writing Courses & Workshops - Call Wiida 079 875-3719 for queries

Writers Write (4 weeks):

Saturday Mornings: 08.30 – 12.30 

Tuesday & Thursday Mornings: 09:00 – 11:00 

Tuesday & Thursday Evening: 17:30 – 20:00  

Writers Write 2 (4 weeks)

Tuesday & Thursday Mornings: 09:00

Write a screenplay (5 weeks)

Sunday mornings: 09:00 – 12:00

Creative Writing One-day Workshops

How to write for Mills & Boon: Romancing the Dollar

Plot LUCK: Learn how to plot a novel on Saturday

How to write lyrics: Music & Lyrics on Saturday

Business Writing One-day Courses 

Strategic Press Release Call Wiida 079 875-3719 for queries

How to Write Reports Call Wiida 079 875-3719 for queries

Two Hour Sessions – It’s worth subscribing! Call Wiida 079 875-3719 for queries

Tuesday evenings with Morne Malan

Friday mornings with Anthony Ehlers

Friday poetry morning with Amanda Patterson

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4. How to Become a Subscriber

Please click here: subscription form

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5. Reviews

Our reviewers rate books from 1 – 5

1 - For use as a doorstop only

2 - Keep for publishers' & booksellers' strikes

3 - A great holiday read

4 - You'll remember this with enthusiasm a month later

5 – Unforgettable

The End of America by Naomi Wolf (Scribe) R160 ISBN: 978-1-921215-84-1

Is America becoming a classic fascist state. Wolf shows how the US government violates the holy American Bill of Rights.

Wolf has been targeted by the government and is subjected to special searches at airports. This violates the Fourth Amendment, but America just accepts it.

Wolf compares the US tactics and methods to those of the fascist states of Italy, Germany, Latin America and the Soviet Union. She then describes the ten steps used by these governments as they came to power. These steps are being taken in the USA. The book examines the jargon, the methods and the political labels. It is frightening that all of these regimes simply use different words for the same thing.

This trend is obvious to every non-American around the world. It is frightening to read in black and white and one hopes that someone stands up and takes notice. America is dysfunctional at the best of times. It feeds its citizens with a well-packaged lie of freedom and a caring government. Anyone who reads Graydon Carter’s Vanity Fair editorial will understand what I’m talking about.

A fascist American government is disturbing. I suspect that Americans will be too apathetic to stop it. Citizens are well-fed with sugary doughnuts, processed foods and brain-washed with coma-inducing television. A revolution is out of the question if you really think about it.

God bless them. God help the world.

Amanda Patterson

4/5

The Secret Life of Husbands by Kirsty Crawford (Orion) R116.00 ISBN: 9780752882703

You meet the perfect man. You fall madly in love. Within a few months, you’re ready to get married. But how well do you know your new husband?

This is what happens to Ruth, a nurse at a GP’s office in Oxford, when she marries Ned, a sensitive, handsome rugby-playing engineer. Ruth’s family is quirky but pretty normal – so it comes as a shock when she inherits Jackie, the mother-in-law from hell. Picture Glenn Close in a beige cardigan with an English accent. To make matters worse, Ned’s clique of varsity pals are a complex bunch with a secretive history. Ruth realises there are more than two people in her marriage.

Kirsty Crawford, author of Other Women, studied at Oxford and she deftly renders that fabled, picturesque town like a water colour. This is Chick Lit with a bit more depth and wisdom than we’ve come to expect from the genre. She keeps you in suspense as you expect something sinister to unfold. She also drives home the importance of communication in a relationship. A compulsive page turner.

Reviewer: Nichola Kilian

4/5

The Elephanta Suite by Paul Theroux  (Hamish Hamilton)

The intrigue and mystery of India fail to deliver well developed characters to drive the narrative. Each has an expectation of escape whether it be from relationships, business pressures or just sameness. What they do find is that the allure of the Elephanta suite, the cultural nuances of India and the sexual freedom only leads them back to the people they really are. It’s a loosely woven plot that didn’t command my full attention.

Iza Goldwasser

2.5/5

Finding Your Feet – How the Sole Reflects the Soul by Ann Gadd (Findhorn Press) ISBN: 101844090817

What starts out as an interesting and long-awaited book about the spiritual significance of the feet and how understanding the chakras can help one heal oneself ends in an anticlimax.

The book was written in an easy to grasp style all the way through, but it did not tie up the whole story at the end, and left one hanging. A summary or conclusion would have rounded off the book nicely.

That said, there is a wealth of fascinating information including how the shape of one’s feet have different meanings to what foot abnormalities such as webbed toes and bunions signify and it gives exercises how to heal oneself. This is a book that reflexologists, podiatrists and others who deal with feet on a daily basis would find useful.

Amanda Blankfield

3/5

The Daughter Game by Kate Long (Pan MacMillan) R155 ISBN no: 978-0-330-44859-8

Anna Lloyd cheats on her husband in the hope of consolation and a baby. She is angry with Jamie, the husband who stopped teaching so he could work from home as an unpaid writer. The husband who doesn’t want children. She loves to hate the in-laws, Russ and Ruth and their three children.

Anna, the teacher, is quite capable of hiding how she feels, because her classroom is her sanctuary. She is a mother figure to her learners. The headmaster of her school warns her against encouraging contact with children outside of class. Against her better judgment it happens. Kali Norman speaks to the mother Anna longs to be.

Then Jamie moves out. Russ is insistent and Kali comes to Anna’s rescue. Or so she thinks.

Wiida Hamman

4/5

Things to Make and Mend by Ruth Thomas (Faber and Faber) ISBN 978-0-571-23060-0

Sally Tuttle’s talent for embroidery emerged later in her life, much to her own dismay. Circumstances in her past have created her humble demeanor which unravels itself to the reader through honest and sometimes uneventful, yet plainly charming flashes of her past. Ruth Thomas takes us on an amalgamated journey of two friends, torn apart in their closest moments by teenage misunderstandings and life change. The colourful threads of love, life and friendship run throughout this story to make for a true to life and warming read.

Ruth Thomas enthralls readers with her description of these two friends and their severely middle class experiences. Its genuine, true to life nuances, are sure to tug a familiar string in any female heart and mind.

Angela Auld

Rating: 3/5

Having it All by Dr Linda Friedland (Tafelberg) R130, 00 ISBN: 9780624046103

This workbook is for ‘today’s woman’ who is apparently, ‘frantically juggling’ the ‘never-ending daily tasks’ that she faces.

Does this sound like torture? Don’t be put off by this dismal blurb.

This book is helpful if you are a woman wanting to balance all the challenges you face on a daily basis. There are lots of useful tips and exercises to help you cope. There are even the ubiquitous 7 Steps that Stephen Covey invented some time ago.

Dr Friedland is a medical doctor, the mother of five children, and the perfect role model for the book.

I would have given this a 3.5/5 but the poor packaging, typesetting and quality of the book made it difficult to read.

Amanda Patterson

2/5

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More reviews

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6. Interviews

Johan Marais and Elma Van Vliet give their 17 Answers to our 17 Questions

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7. The Star Struck Writer

Taurus

Amanda Patterson ©

Writing for all the other Star Signs

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8. The Write Co Competitions for Subscribers

Monthly ‘What’s on your mind?’ Competition

Write 400 words and win!

Prize: 2 Books from The Write Co and Publication on our web site, in our newsletter and in Off the Cuff.

Conditions: 1 Entry per Person, 400 words.

Closing date: 25th of every month

To enter: Send entries to info@thewriteco.co.za

Winner: March: Tanya van Eyck  & April: Jackie Kelly

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Monthly Poetry Competition

May’s theme is: Take me with you

Prize: A case of Leopard's Leap Wines

Conditions:

1. Only 1 poem per month per subscriber is allowed.

2. The poem must not be longer than 30 lines.

3. The poem must be about the given topic. 

4. If you are not a subscriber please pay an entrance fee of R50, 00 per entry.

Closing date: 30 May 2008

To enter: Send entries to amanda@thewriteco.co.za

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The winner for Lights Out: Pam King

2nd Place: Cathy Loupis

3rd Place: Kim Scott

The winner for Gentlemen & Players: Elena Di Cesare

2nd Place: Jill Marais

3rd Place: Barry Finegan 

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Please choose your winner for April: The eyes that don’t cry and send the poets name in the subject line to amanda@thewriteco.co.za

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Rick Thinks?

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9. Classified

Are you looking for something GOOD to read? 

Let Penguin Books keep you up-to-date with news on the latest releases, exclusive invites and information on upcoming author tours. 

Click here to subscribe to our e.newsletter 

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The Write Co boardrooms are available for hire when not in use.

R150, 00 per hour

R200, 00 per hour

R250, 00 per hour

Please contact Wiida - wiida@thewriteco.co.za for more information on rates.

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Tarot Course

Every Wednesday night from 18.30 – 20.30 at The South African National Museum of Military History, 22 Erlswold Way, Saxonwold.

Learn to trace your own personal journey on the Tarot Cards.
Astrology and Numerology on the cards.
The use and meaning of archetypes in our lives.
Learn to read the cards for others.

Phone Sandi on 083 531 4449 or email sandimak@mweb.co.za

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Need custom made bookshelves / shelves? 

Contact Rod 083 750-6854 or mail colleenrw@telkomsa.net

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Johannesburg: 

Tel: 079 875-3719 or 011 706-4021

Fax: 011 252-8890

1st Floor, Coral House, 20 Peter Place, Lyme Park, Bryanston, Sandton

Cape Town:

Tel: 021 462 7580

Fax: 086 617 3046

11C, Eleven on Buiten, 11 Buitensingel Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8018