Reading by Rozena Maart
Author and social activist Rozena Maart will be in town to read from and discuss her new novel, The Writing Circle (TSAR, 2007). Rozena will discuss the themes in her novels, specifically the topics of women's rights and violence against women, with special focus on the violence and social injustices in South Africa. On Saturday, March 8 at 3:00 p.m. at Chapters - Square One, 189 Rathburn Road West, Mississauga. This event coincides with International Women's Day.
The Writing Circle
A Novel
In a Cape Town suburb, five women gather every Friday night to discuss their writing. Isabel, returning home, where the writing circle is to meet, is attacked in her car at gunpoint and raped. But she manages to turn the gun on her attacker and shoot him. In coping with the killing, the disposal of the body, and the breakdown and recovery of Isabel, we learn about the intersecting personal lives of the women—Isabel, Carmen, Jazz, Beauty, and Amina, all successful professionals in today’s South Africa. And when the body is discovered, and the identity of the attacker revealed, all their stereotypes fall away. The Writing Circle is a wholly engaging, highly suspenseful novel that also holds up a mirror to the violence in women’s lives.
“Maart writes with self-assuredness . . . [A] competent and trustworthy writer.” — Books in Canada
“The Writing Circle is a beautifully written, heartbreaking piece. If your book club is looking for a book to spark meaningful conversation and bring awareness to the group, no matter where you live, The Writing Circle will deliver that and more.”
—carp(e) libris
Rozena Maart was born and raised in District Six, Cape Town, South Africa. In 1987 she was nominated for South Africa’s “Woman of the Year” award for her work in the area of violence against women and for starting the first Black feminist organization, Women Against Repression. She moved to Canada in 1989. In 1992, Maart won the Journey Prize for Best Short Fiction in Canada. She has a PhD from the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies from the University of Birmingham and currently lives in Guelph, Ontario.
