ARTAFRICAFEATURE / ARTS WRITING IN AFRICAWIELDING THE PEN / HOUGHTON KINSMAN 3/10 ARTAFRICA
- ANNA STIELAU
Anna Stielau (b. 1989, Pietermaritzburg) is a one-time artist,
part-time writer and full-time student. Currently a MFA candidate
at the University of Cape Town, she is a double gold medal winner
in the National Arts Journalism awards.How would you describe the experience of emerging
as an arts writer?First off, I’m uncomfortable with the word ‘emerging.’ I know it’s a bit pretentious to
begin with a caveat but I believe it’s worth acknowledging the implications built into the
language we use. ‘Emerging’ is all-too-frequently a term bestowed on younger people
by older ones, and can feel patronising. You’re emerging (from what?) and then you
emerge (to where?), as if everything that precedes commercial success is a sticky birth
canal of sorts. The word also attempts to define a common path of experience, as if we
all come to writing in similar ways and on similar terms as the products of some natural
evolutionary process. That’s too tidy and linear. I consider writing to be an enormous
privilege. To pursue it as a vocation is a choice, and that choice is a luxury. Like any
creative pursuit, writing is risky. It’s rarely lucrative and opportunities are few and far
between. You can’t be picky or precious, you mostly work hard for whomever will have
you and scrape by. While that’s true for me too, I’ve been cushioned by a financial and
emotional support system and afforded a consistently excellent (ongoing) education.
I’ve been able to choose to write under better circumstances than most. While I’m
grateful for the place in which I find myself – I love writing and feel strongly about the
work that I do – I know that my experience is the exception both in my country and
on the continent at large.