International Albinism Awareness Day

Ruth HartleyChildren's Stories, Family, Human rights, Identity, Southern Africa, The Colourless Child, ZambiaLeave a Comment

I’m writing a new story titled The Colourless Child. It’s taking me on a new journey and I’m making new discoveries. This Sunday 13th June is the United Nations International Albinism Awareness Day and the theme is Strength Beyond all Odds When I lived in Zambia I taught art at the International School and this wonderful photo by Ian Murphy […]

The Booklaunch of When We Were Wicked

Ruth HartleyBook Launch, Memoir, Politics, Southern Africa, When I Was Bad, When We Were Wicked6 Comments

When We Were Wicked My new short story and short memoir collection, When We Were Wicked has been published this January 2021 during the pandemic lockdown. How on earth could I organise a book launch for it? This is what happened: Celebration online, in print, and in person! Here is the first answer – Booklaunch magazine! I discovered Booklaunch through […]

Blame it on the man in the brandy barrel – Admiral Nelson

Ruth HartleyApartheid, Colonialism, Family, Hamera and Hartley, Identity, Migration, Politics, Power, Racism, South Africa, The Shaping of Water, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, When I Was Bad, When We Were Wicked11 Comments

Art and storytelling 200 years later by a distant descendant. Born into the British Empire during the Second World War in a colonial country that no longer exists, I’ve been flung around in a turbulent vortex of political and personal change. My art and my writing are the ways I hang on to the world spinning around me. I have […]

The purpose and power of poetry

Ruth HartleyBook Launch, Book Publishing, Poetry, Politics, Songs, The Spiral-Bound Notebooks, Zambia4 Comments

At school, we learnt to declaim poetry. It was mostly heroic stuff designed to inspire patriotism and action like Felicia Dorothea Heman’s Casabianca about filial duty and Thomas Macaulay’s incredibly lengthy poem Horatius at the Bridge about courage. We weren’t taught to make poetry, and poetry was never going to be about us and our lives. Even though this kind […]

How to be a published writer in Zambia – or anywhere in the world

Ruth HartleyBook Publishing, Education, Festival, The Shaping of Water, Writing Process, Zambia17 Comments

Writers Circle I want to thank Daniel Sikazwe very much or inviting me to take part with Mubanga Kalimamukwento, the author of The Mourning Bird. in this Writers Circle online forum.  Mubanga and I have published our books in different ways and I’m here to tell you about the decisions I made and why I decided to self-publish. First of […]