Florence Onyango, who was awarded one of three All About Writing courses last year, recently completed her final module. She told us a bit about her experience.
All About Writing, run by veteran writers Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon, is a Short Story Day Africa Prize sponsor. Each year, All About Writing awards three online creative writing courses to entrants of the prize. In the past, the courses were awarded to emerging writers on the long list. This year, all entrants to the prize will be considered for the 20 Week Online Creative Writing Courses.
So who are the two Richards behind All About Writing? Jo-Anne Richards is well-published with her short fiction, novels and news pieces published both in Africa and abroad. She has written five novels and in particular, her 1st offering The Innocence of Roast Chicken (1996) is considered to be a modern South African classic.
Richard Beynon is an award-winning film and television scriptwriter, writing for and heading up the writing teams of many of country’s most popular soaps, dramas and comedies. These include S’gudi snaysi, Going Up, Soul City, Isidingo and Scandal to name a few. He has lectured on writing for film and television at Wits University.
With All About Writing the two of them put their heads and years of experience together towards helping writers. All About Writing has a range of affordable online courses, specialised workshops and international writers' retreats aimed at nurturing writers of all levels and styles.
Three of the writers from Water, our 2016 anthology, were given the opportunity to take the Online Creative Writing course.
Siyanda Mohutsiwa (@siyandawrites) many of you may know from the sensational hashtag she started in 2015, #IfAfricaWasABar, that had the social media sphere, laughing, reminiscing and chipping in about which barfly character each African country personified. She is currently at the prestigious Iowa's Writers' Workshop but her talent for words was already apparent in the wry realism and vibrancy of her Water story "And Then We Disappeared Into Some Guy’s Car."
“I think the girl from 209 wants to feel sorry for me. Nobody in this place drinks. They’re so boring. All church this, church that. But it’s all an act. They walk into parked BMWs like the rest of us. Some of their boyfriends have gold teeth. And at 2a.m., when I’m smoking outside near the laundry lines, they come to me and ask for cigarettes. Then they try to tell me about God. ”
Another selected writer was Dayo Ntwari who is becoming well known for his imaginative Afrofuturist sci-fi stories. His entry, "Mother's Love", was so different from the other Water submissions, we had to sit up and take notice....
“Intimate inter-species relationships between humans and Bultungin shapeshifters were punishable by death under the laws of the Evangelical Realm. Church doctrine dictated it was biologically impossible for a human and Bultungin union to procreate. Little Chris’s very existence was heresy manifest, and a negation of the infallibility of the Ultra Archbishop. ”
Florence Onyango, a scriptwriter and media maven took the Online Creative Writing course which she describes as "a moment when the stars aligned." She was a bit intimidated at the thought of sharing her work with other writers but felt put at ease by the course facilitators. "There was a lot of effort, expertise and harmony in putting the modules together that made the course feel seamless. What I valued the most were the feedback and personal exercises they gave us in every module, that eased me into the habit of writing," Florence comments.
“Their silhouettes, cast against the purple-red of the rising sun, were like the chiaroscuro illusion of a visual masterpiece; a painting telling the story of fishermen preparing to set out for the morning. Auma savoured the brevity of the sunrise. Warm whiffs of freshly-fried mandazi floated through the air. A low vibrating chatter nudged the world awake. ”
As the judges saw in "Nyar Nyam", her talent was clear but she adds the All About Writing course helped her "recognise her strengths and what she needed to work on."
Read more of these stories in your own copy of Water.
Many thanks to All About Writing for their continued support of Short Story Day Africa, these upcoming writers and for sponsoring the courses.
Visit their site for writing tips and secrets as well as ongoing courses to take your writing to the next level.