What does the landscape and climate for creative writing and freedom of expression look like in five different African countries today? What are some of the issues that affect writers?
This year, PEN Afrikaans is participating in the Right to Write project together with four other PEN centers, at the invitation of writers' association PEN International.
The aim of this UN-funded project is to promote public dialogue on issues affecting writers in five African countries (Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe). As part of this project, PEN Afrikaans asked five Afrikaans writers to reflect on pertinent topics.
This is the fourth in a series of five articles. Here, Lynthia Julius reflects on writing in light of the difficulties of poverty and unemployment.
***
Translated by André Trantraal
"You're living the dream," someone informs me the other day. He was referring to the Jan Rabie and Marjorie Wallace Bursary which I was awarded. Which means that as a writer I can now devote my time to the writing of a novel without having to worry about the cat that is at present draped across the stove. Writing is a luxury. And how do you write when you are beset by poverty, anxious about the electricity running out, about the food that has to be put on the table...
