Hello dear SkryfVars subscribers, it has been a minute. Thank you for your patiences in my absence. You have been at the back of my mind in the best and at times worst way.
As usual I am here with a message about my health keeping me away from you. It was a tough end of year, a short film worthy miserable Christmas, and a painful start to the year thanks to a lingering injury. I also put on my big girl pants after all of this and went back to South Africa for the first time since I started this page - you can trace my journey by clicking on the ‘Archive’ button - to do research for my PhD. A big bonus of my trip was that I got to see Katie, the person attached to the name that long time readers might have seen pop up. But I am back now.
I am in the 3rd year of my PhD and feeling the encroaching sense of doom I have seen encompass my friends who have made it through the trenches. This unfortunately means that the precious writing time I have will have to go to towards proving I deserved a scholarship. I also don’t want to let down the institution I have been working with on decolonising museums, The Horniman Museum and Gardens, as they have been nothing but supporting and open to change in a way I have not experienced in all my years of working around concepts of decolonisation, African art history and museum ethnography. If you ever make it to London skip the draw of visiting all the big government museum and make your way to Forest Hill to visit the Horniman. You might be getting an idea of why I want to whole-ass my thesis which means less time here.
There will are some articles on the way. For my Brighton subscribers there is even a live performance of a new poem at:
A Gathering of Witches: Spring Equinox
Tickets sold out early las time so I suggest following the link above to book now.
For all my international subscribers and those other parts of the UK (train tickets are expensive so as far as I’m concerned there is only Brighton and London) I will upload a video of the performance. And paid subscribers will get the final version, usually heavily edited after finding all the snags from performing it, within the week. Paid subscription really keeps this page, and me, alive. It is a way to let aspiring writers know that they have a future and value in a world where you pay just to walk out your door. You can subscribe for as little as £4 a month. If you want to know more this post Are you keen to give me money by becoming a paid subscriber? has everything you need to know.
I look forward to popping up in your mailboxes and Substack threads in as many forms as I can fit into this year - women’s sizing is so unpredictable. I love to hear from you so please comment and share if something resonates with you. As always, join me, won’t you.