Grenfell Tower

Ruth HartleyJustice, Poetry, Truth2 Comments

Grenfell Tower on fire Smoke rushing skywards screaming swirling burning blackening poisoning roaring roiling sprinkling light spreading debris sparkling fire-wrapping the homes flaming flaming the living core fire-wrapping fire-wrapping the furnace of families flaming flaming choking the children fire-wrapping fire-wrapping blinding the babies flaming flaming closer to the crying fire-wrapping fire-wrapping the people who perish flaming flaming suffocating the souls […]

Do writers and artists think about the colour of their skin or what is inside and outside it?

Ruth HartleyArt Process, Racism, Southern Africa, Visual Arts2 Comments

Right and wrong writing and art My last post had some very interesting comments made about it. I also had follow-up by email and I was sent this NBC News article from the USA which contains a quote that seemed very important for me personally. Thank you to those who sent and forwarded this article. Here’s the quote but the […]

Is White Writing Black, Right Writing or Wrong Writing?

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Politics, Race, Southern Africa, The Tin Heart Gold Mine8 Comments

Writing black and white people, men and women, good and bad. This is a rewrite of post on Marginal Scribbling that contains some complicated ideas that need thrashing out with other writers and readers. I intended to repost this anyway but it seemed more relevant after the launch of my novel The Tin Heart Gold Mine because I was asked […]

Photo Children

Ruth HartleyFamily, Journey, Photography2 Comments

I don’t change but the photos of my children grow younger all the time. My children are ageless too but their recorded images alter every year The photo children become thin or fat They wear braces or smiles, spectacles or scowls. Their hair is straight or curled, but in their present flesh they are constant. My heart holds them so, […]

Storytellers, readers, writers and reviews

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, The Shaping of Water, The Tin Heart Gold Mine2 Comments

We are all storytellers. We are all readers. Some of us are writers. Not all readers write reviews but all writers need reviews and even bad ones mean that we have been noticed and read. In this post, I am going to tell you in a 4 short paragraphs, about 4 books that have given me great pleasure and that […]