Media is ever evolving bringing with it a new set of industry jargon, with the likes of blogs, blooks, podcasting and a host of others.
Memoirs for Kimya is a blook – Yes that’s an actual word
Blog (weblog) that has been turned into a book. Hence it is a blook.
Bo-kaap Kombuis – featured as a place with a view to make angels weep -was the best venue to launch this book.
The mountain stands tall in the background as day descends to dusk and night. The venue is framed by city lights and the shadows of nature.
Memoirs for Kimya is released to Cape Town on 18 October 2009, boasting an anthology with light reading pieces that are layered with depth and natural imagery.
The Contrast of venue elements weaves together a pleasant ambiance for the themes in the book. Add a few Proudly Cape Town writers and bloggers to the event; and it makes for a great meeting of literary minds.
Shafinaaz Hassim has her book signing. The table carries her latest book.
Socializing intermittently with the audience, schmoozing punctuated with words like
blogs, poetry, writing.
Nazia Peer , author of House of Peace, reads an excerpt called ‘CUT’
Life can cut you. And like an open fruit, you will be at some point, left bare; revealing the glory of guts to the elements. But this gross cut is a blessing in disguise.
Why? Because it is at precisely this moment that it all starts to make sense.
For the first time, you are one with everything that ever was, everything that is, and everything that ever will be. Open to all that is, you will feel life flow through you. And you begin to get the idea that inspiration exists, because you do.
Read the original here
The book has a considerable amount of poetry, but also some short narratives. There’s something in the book for everyone – thoughts, feelings, life, reality, humility, vices, and lots of natural soulful imagery.
Pictures are taken. Shabbir Banoobhai is present at the event. Nielfa, the book designer and typesetter, was also amidst the attendees. Undoubtedly seeing your work in its finished form holds the joy of personal achievement.
Shafinaaz reveals tidbits about the behind the scenes of the book, its origins, the typesetter, the inspiration that has fueled it to fruition.
I particularly liked Shafinaaz’s speech on society and writing, that the readers should choose the type of stories they want to read, and this should not be dictated by publishers. “There’s a book in everyone” – however some people just don’t possess the adequate skills to present it in a literary form to an audience.
The event draws to a close, with yummy delights. Fruit juices, light savouries and deserts.
Congrats Shafinaaz,
Yet another rung on the ladder of success.
May you be balancing on a pile of books in years to come.Love,
Hasina
Filed under: Books, Cape Town, Hasina Suliman, Link Love, Proudly South African, Visual Elements, icanbuyhappiness, people | Tagged: bloggers, Bo-Kaap Kombuis, book launch, Books, cape town events, cut, Female writers in South Africa, Hasina Suliman, House of peace, Link Love, Nazia Peer, Nielfa Hanifa Cassiem-Carelse, Shabbir Banoobhai, shafinaaz hassim, South African Writers, writers
They say a picture is worth 1000 words. That view must be worth at least 1000 000.
awesome post -well done shafinaaz and well done to nielfa for the amazing design
thank you for capturing this beautiful event for me, i really dnt have the words to write it out… i think im just going to enjoy my silence for a few days… still dazed and jetlagged this morning… last few days seem like a dream to me
Cool! Pity I missed it – will make it for the next
I’m intrigued by the idea of a “blook.” It’d be a very cool idea to offer a ‘blooking’ service – where bloggers could pay a fee to have their blogs (or selections from their blogs) compiled into a proper, hardcover book.
I guess that would make ANYone a ‘published’ writer – but hey, that’s an opportunity that has emerged through this technology.
I’m glad Shafinaaz’s stuff made it to this format
Well, not all bloggers are writers, so not all books will be blooks. It’ll still need to pass the publishing and editing process for it to be turned into something tangible and interesting to read for an audience. Even self publishing is a process where a publishing house won’t just publish / print anything you take to them. I think there’s alot of future on the blooking front.
antonio… the view was beyond anything measurable, for sure.. and so was the experience of just being in that space… i feel truly blessed
even by the entirety of the ct experience..
MJ: thanks!
))
bilal… next launch or next book?
shukran…
dreamlife, hasina… i see great potential in the blogosphere, and yes, our writing needs fine tuning before it can make its way to and through the publishiing process, but the prospects for taking writing from the blogs to the world of print are rather exciting, i think!
as a case in point, i would look at every one of the commentators here, from antonio’s stream of thought, mj, bilal, dl and hasina’s whispers as having immense potential for publication. think on it guys!!!