An Appreciation of and Farewell to Anne Schuster by

Christine Coates and Maire Fisher

Part 1
Farewell to Anne Schuster

(Anne Schuster is moving to Kleinmond, from where she will run

writing retreats and a scaled-down writing workshop programme.
This event, organised by the women who are members of her
monthly writing groups, honoured her contribution to many, many
writers.)

‘In writing with others, without pretension, without competition and

without trying to impress, there is an extraordinary connection of
creative energies’ ~ Anne Schuster

On Wednesday 20 October, 2010 Ann Donald generously opened

the doors of Kalk Bay Books to the Monthlies, and we gathered to
pay tribute to Anne Schuster, a remarkable woman, a gifted writer
and writing teacher who has worked with women's groups in Cape
Town for more than a decade.

Preparations started well before 20.10.2010. Ilze Olckers, another

exceptional facilitator, consulted with members of the group and so
a fine plan was hatched. Each Monthly would write a tribute to
Anne, on a postcard. These would, if possible, include words from
‘Writing is Learning to Die’, a poem written by Anne in her novel,
Foolish Delusions.

The postcards were then given to Christine Coates, story-teller,

poet and book-maker extraordinaire. She became, in her own
words ‘totally absorbed and compulsively obsessed’ as she created
A Renga Book for Anne to Read and Play with at Leisure, made of
recycled watercolour paintings, layered and folded into an
accordion book with pages, envelopes, packets of surprises. It’s
impossible to describe how beautiful the book is; hopefully the
photographs will help to show what an inspired creation it is.
Cynthia Mac Pherson kindly arrived early to fill vases with an
abundance of proteas and bougainvillea and Cathwrynn, the lovely
and willing assistant at KBB helped us to clear the decks for the
evening.

As Anne and Annemarie arrived they were sung to their seat by

Daniel Fisher (Maire Fisher’s son). Shaida Ali, newly published
author of Not a Fairy Tale, then welcomed everyone, and aided by
her ‘lovely blonde associate, Ms Wordsmith herself, Nella Freund,’
presented Anne with ‘The Sparkly Chocolate Cupcake Award for
Most Fabulous Writing Teacher’.

Christine, one of the original Monthlies, took us back to the first

workshops, recalling the events that happened along the way. She
presented Anne with her Renga Book, and as a true devotee,
proceeded to show not tell her how it worked (as well as all the
tributes from the Monthlies, Anne has been set games and writing
exercises which involve pink and green slips ...). Christine said that
the book represents the texture and richness of Anne’s influence
on the writing and lives of many women.

Maire introduced Daniel’s next song, and explained that both

songs, ‘That’s All’ and ‘You were Always on my Mind’ had been
chosen specifically for ‘that ever-giving and ever-forgiving creature,
Our Writing’.

Ilze then invited the monthlies to share in an open-mic session, to

read the poems they had written for Anne, or to say something to
her. A stream of Monthlies shared their words, including poems
from the mezzanine balcony by Sue Bust and Brigitte Murphy ...

Time for the grand finale: the presentation of two Dutch bicycles
specially chosen for Anne and Annemarie’s forthcoming move to
Kleinmond. As Mish Damstra and Shaida wheeled out the bikes
which Mish had garlanded with flowers and festooned with flags,
the Monthlies joined in a ragged but rousing rendition of ‘Annie,
Annie, here is a bike for you’ (Maire’s version of ‘Daisy Daisy’).

Ilze then ended by asking us to think about the web that connects
us all, that allows us to be where we are, who we are. We sat in
silence as she chimed her Tibetan bells 12 times. One chime for
each of the years the Monthlies have been writing together.

‘Anne, your writing workshops have brought us much light,

laughter and love. You’ve taught us that with stubs of pencils or
fancy pens, we can open up cans of worms, free jinn from bottles,
break locks on closets where bones were turning brittle. You’ve
shown - without telling - that our non-dominant hands hold golden
keys to secret words. Your workshops have been magical journeys.’
~ Shaida Ali.
Part 2
Anne Schuster’s contribution to South African women
writers

‘My greatest satisfaction when I look back at my work over the last
12 years is to know that I enabled this “community of women
writers” (as Ingrid de Kok once described it).’ ~ Anne Schuster

Among the publications Anne Schuster has been responsible for

are: Kilimanjaro on my Lap a collection of poetry by Epiphanie
Mukasano; Living on the Fence: Poems by women who are
refugees from various countries in Africa; Writing the Self: An
anthology of new writing from Women's Writing Workshops;
Women Flashing: A collection of flash fiction from Women's Writing
Workshops and A woman sits down to write: Orts and Fragments
from Women's Writing Workshops.

Anne has encouraged and empowered many women to write and

publish. Some members, past and present of her groups are:

Anne Woodborne (with Basil Appollis), Silence of the Music,

premiered at the Baxter Theatre, September, 2010.
Beth Hunt, Hermanus (Penstock Publishing, Hemel en See
Boeke/Books).
Christine Coates (with Stephen Malherbe), Living with my X,
(Random House/Struik).
Colleen Higgs, halfborn woman (Hands-On Books), founder of
Modjaji Books.
Consuelo Roland, The Good Cemetery Guide (Double Storey
Books), short-listed for Sunday Times Fiction Prize; Honorable
Mention Olive Schreiner Prize for Prose.
Gail Gilbride Bohle, The Web of Silence (Online at Crink).
Epiphanie Mukasano, Kilimanjaro on my Lap (Dakini).
Helen Douglas, Love and Arms: On violence and justification after
Levinas (Trivium Publications).
Hester van der Walt, Hester se Brood (Modjaji Books).
Jean, Behind the Curtain: Jean's Journey to Sobriety (Human and
Rousseau), long-listed for the Alan Paton Award for non-fiction.
Joanne Fedler, When Hungry, Eat; Things Without A Name; Secret
Mother's Business; The Dreamcloth (Jacana and Allen and Unwin).
Joanne Hichens (with Mike Nichols), Out to score (Random House /
Struik); (Ed) Bad Company (Macmillan); (Ed) The Bed Book of
Short Stories (Modjaji Books).
Karen Brooks, Emily and the Battle of the Veil and Emily and the
Sprites of Light (Self published).
Karen Cochlovius, Desert Varnish (Kwela).
Karin Schimke and Margie Orford, Fabulously 40 and Beyond -
Women Coming Into Their Own (Spearhead Press).
Kiki Theo, Money Well, Money Alchemy, Wealth Journey (Penguin).
Lynne Carneson McGregor, Red in the Rainbow (Random House /
Struik).
Margaret Legum, Learning to saunter (Kalk and Cheese Press).
Margie Orford, Daddy's Girl and subsequent Clare Hart thrillers
(Jonathan Ball)
Mary Monaghan, Remember Me; Who Do You Belong To? (Self
published).
Melissa Steyn and Mikki van Zyl, (Eds), The Prize & The Price:
Shaping Sexualities in South Africa (HSRC Press).
Pregs Govender, Love and Courage: A Story of Insubordination
(Jacana), long-listed for the Alan Paton Award for non-fiction.
Rahla Xenopoulos, A Memoir of Love and Madness: Living with
bipolar disorder (Zebra).
Ruth Carneson, finalist for Penguin Prize for African Writing.
Shaida Ali, Not a Fairy Tale (Random House / Struik).
Tracy Farren, Whiplash (Modjaji), short-listed for the Sunday Times
Fiction Prize.
Willemien De Villiers, Kitchen Casualties; Angel in the Tree house
(Jacana).

And to prove that Anne walks the walk:

Anne Schuster, Foolish Delusions (Jacana), translated into German
and published by Kalliope.

Many monthlies have been published in poetry collections, literary

journals and short story anthologies and won writing competitions.
Among them are:

Anne Woodborne, Avis MacIntyre, Beth Hunt, Chantal Stewart,

Christine Coates, Colleen Higgs, Consuelo Roland, Epiphanie
Mukasano, Erika Coetzee, Helen Douglas, Irene Zeelie, Joanne
Fedler, Joanne Hichens ,Karin Schimke, Loubna Freih, Maire Fisher,
Margie Orford, Mish Damstra, Nella Freund, Rahla Xenopoulos,
Susan Ziehl, Tanya Chan-Sam, Tracey Farren, Wilhelmien de Villers
and – of course - Anne Schuster herself.

If names have been omitted from both of these lists, please forgive
us. The intention was not to exclude anyone, but rather to show,
with the information we had available (mainly from the Monthlies
Blog ) how many women have been inspired by Anne as a writing
teacher. [http://monthliesblog.wordpress.com/]

When discussing her workshops, Anne had this to say:

‘I'm often amazed that people don't realise or recognise the power
of women’s creative spaces. They think the fact that I make it a
women's only space is just an odd quirk of mine, and the fact that
The Monthlies has grown from a handful of women when I started
Women's Writing Workshops in 1999 to the splendid number of
100-plus women at the last workshop, is some strange,
unexplained phenomenon.’
‘Strange, unexplained’ … and also highly creative and productive!

Thank you, Anne!