Let’s Play Football

Ruth HartleyApartheid, Climate change, Colonialism, Conflict, Displacement, Home, Human rights, Justice, Migration, Politics, Power, Race, Refugee, War8 Comments

The wrong tweet? Gary Lineker made an error in the tweet that had him cancelled from hosting Match of the Day on the BBC. Delivering her policy statement in the House of Commons, Home Secretary Suella Braverman declared that Britain was being ‘invaded by a huge influx of refugees.’ – there are a hundred million who want to come to […]

Egypt’s COP27 and Zambia’s Kariba Dam

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Apartheid, Books by Ruth Hartley, Colonialism, Creativity, Displacement, Freedom Fighters, Identity, Politics, Power, Southern Africa, The Shaping of WaterLeave a Comment

Disembarking at Cairo, we were confronted with an enormous billboard welcoming delegates to the COP27 climate conference. 40 000 delegates were meeting to discuss, among other things, the painful question of financial responsibility for fixing the climate crisis caused largely by the activities of developed countries. Visiting Egypt was a long-held dream. It was wonderful for many reasons, not least […]

Simon Zukas

Ruth HartleyApartheid, Family, Freedom Fighters, History, Mpapa Gallery, Southern Africa, Zambia13 Comments

Simon Zukas, a kind and principled freedom fighter There are people in one’s life who are so important and yet so much woven into the fabric of that life that you take them for granted. This is true even of the people in our families, parents, siblings and also spouses. There comes a sudden moment when you realise that you […]

Food is Love and Love is Food and both are needed

Ruth HartleyApartheid, m’Other Art, Southern Africa, Visual Arts3 Comments

Lovely Men and the Politics of Food One thing leads to another. I have tomato blight in my potager so I gathered all the green tomatoes I could before they turned black and then went on a hunt for a green tomato chutney recipe. My modern South African cookbook makes use of tinned products and tame store-bought spices so I […]

All that Jazz

Ruth HartleyApartheid, Jazz, Memoir, Short Stories, Southern Africa, When We Were Wicked, ZimbabweLeave a Comment

Monday 26th July Marciac Jazz Festival At 10.30 am at La Chouette Qui Lit I will be signing my latest book When We Were Wicked.  Please come – I’d love to see you and I will have copies of all my other books with me as well. La Chouette Qui Lit is a lovely bookshop where you can also get […]