Spotlight On Writers
Deryn Graham
@DerynGraham
- Where do you originate from?
I was born and bred in Manchester, UK, but left at 18 to go to university and never returned except for visits to my family, all of whom are still there. I was pretty itinerant for a number of years, moving around and working in the travel sector, but eventually at 30 settled in London which became a second home city.
- What do you cherish most about the place you call home?
I now call South Africa home – Johannesburg specifically – where I have lived for 30 years. It’s the city in which I raised my children and so I cherish those memories of the parks, zoo and duckponds where we spent so much time. I also cherish the rich diversity of this complex city with its melting pot of cultures and influences, I love the city’s energy, its pace, and the resourcefulness of its inhabitants who have been forced to find innovative ways to manage failing infrastructure and poor municipal services. It’s a city to cherish, warts and all!
- What ignites your creativity?
The richness of language and putting words together to make beautiful sentences is my creative driver. My prompts for a piece are always words or phrases and rarely visual images, then I go and build on those to create a narrative. I love mixing fact and fiction and a lot of my stories stem from something that has happened to me, or someone I have known. I imagine myself back in that situation, or hear in my head the story again as it was told to me and use that to ignite my creativity.
- Do you have a favorite word and could you incorporate it into a poetic phrase?
For some reason, my favourite word has always been notwithstanding which is very prosaic and doesn’t really flow in a piece of poetry, so I’m not even going to try!
- What is your pet peeve?
I sound like a real grinch, but so many! People who dawdle drive me crazy – I am brisk and decisive so people who are slow to make their minds up are definitely a pet peeve! Also, people who aren’t punctual which has been tough living in Africa where time is perceived differently. Bad table manners, yugh. And cruelty of any description – to children, animals, or other people – just be kind!
- How would you describe the essence of Deryn Graham?
I am the sum of the whole of my life’s experiences – carrying something of every place I’ve lived (though the accent is still distinctly Mancunian!) I value humour and hope that friends above all would say I was funny, amusing and entertaining. I’m a bit of a people pleaser but my motivation in helping others is genuine and I hope that people recognise authenticity as at the core of my being.
- Spotlight On Writers – Deryn Graham - January 11, 2025
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