Fear, anger and the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Creativity, Nuanced Thinking, Politics, Religion, Truth2 Comments

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie was banned in Zambia In Zambia, The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie was a lump hidden under a towel in my bedside cupboard. It wasn’t a very effective hiding place. I knew that. I was afraid and angry every time I opened the cupboard door. I was afraid one of my house staff would […]

We are on earth to grow bones

Ruth HartleyReligion, Truth2 Comments

Compost It’s a sunny winter’s day in my garden and I’m busy digging compost for my raised vegetable beds. I’m doing a job that gives me great pleasure. I’m outdoors, the weather is kind enough, the air is fresh and the sun is bright. My fork goes easily into the ground to loosen the earth and my woman-sized spade lifts […]

Truth and storytelling, minds, hearts and history

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, History, Human rights, Justice, Politics, Power, TruthLeave a Comment

There are those moments when something you read strikes you so forcibly that you know you must embrace it and consider it carefully. When this happens to me it’s usually for an important reason. It may throw a clear light on something that’s happening in my life or in life in general that I need to grasp intellectually. It may […]

Writing, art and the rewriting of history

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Apartheid, Art Process, Colonialism, South Africa, Southern Africa, The Shaping of Water, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, Truth, Visual Arts, War5 Comments

I’ve had to learn a different history I grew up during the British Empire when Cecil John Rhodes was the hero of school history but I had a great teacher. She was a cynical idealist who toed no party lines. At Cape Town University under the Rhodes Memorial, I followed up her questioning style and explored a more radical history […]

The River’s Story

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Colonialism, Illustration, Imagination, Power, Southern Africa, The Love and Wisdom Crimes, The Shaping of Water, Truth, Visual Arts, Zambia4 Comments

We all own the River. That’s what we believe. The world of nature is ours and we can do what we like with it. The River belongs to us. We can use it – we can waste it – we can worship it. Not one of these ways of looking at the River tells us what it means to be […]