EMS Writers Forum | Summer School

Hello Writers and Welcome to our 2024 Forum!

Summer School was live this year and it was such an exciting event! The Kramer Building was buzzing with wonderful energy: classes, workshops, lectures, coffee meetings, book shopping, friends and more – and I was thrilled to host my first live writing course with Summer School since Covid. How lovely to be together in person and to share the love of writing, words and creativity.

We are able to feature two magnificent stories from this writing course: Nkateko Masinga’s ‘The Birth of Fire’ and Nicole Loser’s ‘Where the Air is Clear’. Congratulations to these wonderful writers for their well-deserved publication on this Forum, and we look forward to hearing more stories from them. We are also delighted to share news that Nkateko Masinga’s debut novel, ‘The Daughter Wound’, is being published by Hazel Press in the UK and will be released in April 2024. Please do look out for it – it’s great to support our own writing community.

Many of you will know our dear friend Madi Grey who was a wonderfully kind, curious, intelligent and creative woman and it is with very deep sadness that I share with you that Madi passed away earlier this year. As you all know, my mantra is, ‘A Daily Habit of Writing’, and often, Madi would WhatsApp me by 7am from her little desk in Sweden to say, ‘Coffee and writing, done!’ In this way, we had a reassuring community of two early-morning writers, joining over thousands of miles, to share our writing sanctuaries. Let Madi inspire us to live a life worth turning into words and to start our days with Coffee & Writing – because wherever we are in the world, we are writing together.

Let’s Write A Memoir Essay!

Our next course starts on Saturday 13^th April, and I can’t wait to get back to memoir writing with you. There will be 5, consecutive Saturday morning workshops and they will be held via Zoom, so we can welcome you from anywhere in the world. Tickets and details are now available on Webtickets. Here is the link to secure your place: Book here

When a course ends, the consensus is always… What Next? How do we keep writing together? How do we retain this community we’ve built? We are open to your suggestions on this. One idea is to have an optional monthly Zoom meeting where we can come together and write under my guidance. Let us know if this is something you are interested in – or if you have any other ideas about how you would like this forum to help you on your writing journey. You can contact us on: ems@uct.ac.za

I look forward to seeing those of you who will be joining our upcoming course – and wherever you are – I wish you happy writing, and prolific pen on paper!

Warmly,

Sally

About Sally

About Sally

Sally is a writer, story coach and workshop facilitator with a special interest in life writing and memoir. She hosts writing workshops for UCT’s EMS department throughout the year and was both chair and panellist at Franschhoek Literary Festival last year. Her debut collection of short stories, Women out of Water, was published by Modjaji Books in 2021 and was shortlisted for the Nadine Gordimer Short Story Prize (South African Literary Awards) in 2022. Her novel will be released by Modjaji Books in 2024. Sally has written many features and columns for magazines, has an MA cum laude in Creative Writing from UCT, A BA in Creative and Media Writing from Middlesex University, London – and she used to be a singer, living in many countries around the world before settling in Cape Town.