South African writer and PEN SA President Margie Orford has been elected to the international board of PEN International. She follows the South African Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer who was appointed Vice President of PEN International, a position she held until her death.
Orford is well-known journo who has written for The Guardian, the Observer, and The Telegraph in Britain and for the Mail & Guardian, The Sunday Times, and The Cape Times in South Africa. It is as a crime writer that she is well known around these parts with her books Clare Hart series of crime thrillers which are kind of like a Sherlock Holmes for the new millennium. Or rather Remington Steele with Clare Hart as Stephanie Zimbalist the lady who actually did the detective work as opposed to the lovable buffoon that was Pierce Brosnan in that beloved 1980 TV series. They include Like Clockwork, Blood Rose (Clare Hart, #2), Daddy’s Girl, Gallows Hill, and Water Music.
So what will she be doing for PEN International? Well, she is now in an exclusive 10-person body that represents authors, poets, editors, and other writers in more than 100 countries around the world.
Even with a resume bigger than the African Bible and dealing with big big issues she also has a lighter side if her Twitter account is to be believed with tweets like
World peace seems out of the question but how about a cat free week on the internet #hatecats
— Margie Orford (@MargieOrford) October 19, 2014
Oxford babes pic.twitter.com/o8oeuhst70
— Margie Orford (@MargieOrford) October 19, 2014
Congratulations to Margie.
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