The Infinite Improbability of Satire – Tanvir Bush, author of CULL & guest blogger

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Imagination5 Comments

A writer reflects on her love of satire, and of Douglas Adams’s ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ ‘There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that […]

My family and other writers

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Book Publishing, Books by Ruth Hartley, Creativity, Family, South Africa, The Love and Wisdom Crimes, Writing Process2 Comments

The unbearable lightness of writing I don’t like all Milan Kundera‘s novels but I did like his The Unbearable Lightness of Being.  I  joke about the lightness of writing, of course. Writing makes my spirit light even when it is an unbearably heavy task. Being part of a family is both heavy and light work. My daughter, Tanvir Bush, is […]

Let there be light

Ruth HartleyPoetry, Religion2 Comments

The God-trodden Mount Sinai John and I made a pilgrimage to the summit of Mount Sinai in 2005. We were in Egypt to scuba dive and  snorkel in the exquisite Red Sea when the opportunity came up. The year before we had visited New York and again, by chance, seen an exhibition about the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine at […]

About good writing – but also about good films

Ruth HartleyBooks by Ruth Hartley, Film, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, Writing ProcessLeave a Comment

Films need plots Good films depend on good stories according to Steven Spielberg. I watched the BBC’s The Little Drummer Girl with dread and delight. Would it be a pleasure? Could it live up to expectations? It was and it did! I sat down happily afterwards to reread John Le Carré‘s brilliant novel. Film and book had to be different but […]

The German surrender & the East Africa Campaign 1918

Ruth HartleyPolitics, Power, South Africa, Southern Africa, War, Zambia5 Comments

Mbala, Zambia 25.11.2018 WW1 Remembrance Service           On Sunday in this remote part of Zambia a remembrance service will be held for those who died in the 1914-1918 war during the East Africa campaign. Here is a link to an excellent and brief history of it by Indy Neidal. Its really worth watching. Many people will […]