Thursday, January 26, 2017

A Poet and Artist in Paris

We went to Paris for 4 nights 21-25 January 2017. Athol was invited to share his poetry at a reading at Berkeley Books hosted by Poets Live - the longest running English poetry event in Paris.

It's quite a bit of travelling from Oxford to Paris. First we must catch a 10 minute bus ride to the Oxford City Centre, then a 10 min walk to the Railway Station. Then catch a 1 hour fast train to Paddington Station in London, then take the underground to St Pancras Station, then take the Eurostar to Gare Du Nord in Paris (2.5 hours), then catch a taxi to our self catering apartment near Champs Elysees.

It was freezing cold even saw some sleet. Most days the max temperature was 1 degree and the nights were as low as -5! We stayed at a little self catering apartment, luckily there was an M&S and grocery shop nearby.  Champs Elysees is a posh area in Paris with boutique stores and restaurants. The Arch de Triomph is right on top.


It is tricky getting around as most people speak French. The last time we were in Paris was for our honeymoon in September 2009. This time it seemed a little easier as more people could speak English and there was even some English on the menus!

On Sunday we took the bus to Trocadero which has a square which has the most spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower.





We walked to the Balzac Museum however they were closed.

On Monday we took the Metro (train) to Notre Dame Cathedral, a beautiful cathedral! Remember the Hunchback of Notre Dame???

Entrance is free to view the cathedral, so there's always a queue to enter. Worth the visit!







There is a nice little garden at the back with benches.



Just a short walk away there was Shakespeare and Co. and haven for book lovers.

On Wednesday night, Athol shared his poetry at Poets Live at Berkeley Books. Fellow poet Khalil Anthony also shared his poetry. Athol got to meet the great poet Retabile Mashilo. It was a great night!






Paris is a beautiful city!








Thursday, December 29, 2016

Christmas in Oxford

As 2016 comes to end, I look back at a great year!

We visited SA 4 times this year, Athol published his autobiography Pushing Boulders, Athol won the 2016 Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award for the second year in a row!  We attended the Lowveld Poetry Festival in White River 5-8 August and the McGregor Poetry Festival where Athol read his poetry. We moved from student accommodation to private accommodation in Summertown. READ to RISE gave out over 22,000 new books to learners in Mitchells Plain and Soweto.

This week has been the coldest in Oxford so far, with minimums of -2 degrees and a max temperatures of 5 degrees! There's been frost on the trees and grass.

For Christmas, we had a nice, quiet day at home.

Merry Christmas all! or should I say 'Oxmas' :)

Yesterday, we met up with South Africans, Esme and Herschel, who are visiting. We had a lovely lunch with them at Vault & Garden.





Saturday, December 17, 2016

READ to RISE: 2016

In 2016, READ to RISE conducted their programme in 446 classes in Mitchells Plain and Soweto and gave out over 22,000 new books!

www.readtorise.org



Thursday, November 17, 2016

Limited edition hard cover copies of Pushing Boulders





So glad to get my limited edition hard cover copy of Pushing Boulders signed by the author :) it's a beautiful book!

South African Literary Awards 2016

The South African Literacy Awards for 2016 ceremony was held on Monday 7 November at UNISA in Pretoria.

Proud that Athol's poetry book 'Bumper Cars' got nominated for the poetry award :)








Athol on Expresso SABC3 10 November 2016


Athol was featured on Expresso SABC3 on Thursday 10 November 2016.

Athol talks about winning the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award for the second year in a row. Here is the link to the feature:







Unplugged with Athol Williams - 8 November 2016 Poppy's (Melville, JHB)


A great evening hosted by Vikki & Shaun Harry.