Buy Me!

Daughters are Diamonds available to purchase at the following stores:-

Adams Campus Bookshop
Howard College
UKZN
cedric@adamsbooks.co.za

Adams on West Street
Durban

Adams Books
Musgrave Centre

Adams Books
Adderley St
Cape Town

Al-Huda Books
Main Road
Fordsburg

Clarkes Books
211 Long Street
Cape Town
8001

http://www.clarkesbooks.co.za

Requests may be made online or telephonic orders placed with Ms. Dax

Exclusive Books Cape Town Airport
Domestic Departures

Exclusive Books
V&A Waterfront

Fascination Books
Savannah Centre
Polokwane
0152961628

IQRA Agencies Bookshop
Laudium Plaza
Cnr 6th Ave & Tangerine Street
0123742987

Wordsworth Books
V&A Waterfront
(opposite CapeTownFishMarket)

CENTRE FOR THE BOOK Stand
Cape Town Book Fair
16-19th June 2007

http://www.gumtree.co.za/capetown/99/10459799.html

http://www.gumtree.com/london/44/10459344.html

shafinaaz_hassim@yahoo.com

Limpopo BookFair 23-26April2007

I have just stepped out of the Limpopo Book Fair on Indigenous Languages, where I was honoured as a local author, even though my work is written in the English language. Having met a stream of interesting people, the likes of Professor Neville ALexander of UCT and Joan De Beer of the National Library, among others, the week turned out more than mundane eventfulness! Seminars, workshops and features in the foyer of the building that houses Polokwanes Main Library and the Museum of Art, made for a memorable artsie few days most delectable to the creative artiste's tastebuds. The festival turned out an excellent platform for speaking about my own experiences during the publishing and regarding distribution of Daughters are Diamonds, and allowed for invaluable feedback. Present were various organisations such as Biblionef, NB Publishers (Tafelberg, Pharos, Kwela, etc), MacMillan, Maskew-Miller, Schuster, and numerous others offering their support and advice on freeing the written word. Of particular interest was the book launch by Bibionef regards a childrens book that has been translated into all the official languages, called: "Brenda has a dragon in her blood", based on the true story of a three year old little HIV/Aids orphan who faced the stigma in her playgroup and pre-school. It hopes to foster understanding of the love and care needs of children who are HIV +v and break the stigma attached to their status. Brenda is now thirteen and lives with her foster parents in the Netherlands. The book was originally written in Dutch by her foster mom.
And. I have my own cherished copy of the book!
:)

Memories from the Limpopo Launch

Signing and Smiling
The Foyer - Book Sales and Signing
Julie, Shafs and Nazi

Profile D a D

Launch - Pietersburg

THE PIETERSBURG LAUNCH HAS BEEN CONFIRMED AS FOLLOWS:

DATE: FRIDAY 20 APRIL 2007

VENUE: OFFICE SUITES, OPP POLOKWANE LIBRARY AND ART MUSEUM (next to videotown) LIBRARY GARDENS, PIETERSBURG/POLOKWANE.

TIME: 8PM

REGRET NO CHILDREN

FeedBack:

Amid graceful ambience of sparkly faces and anticipation of what was to take place, Friday 20th April 2007 marked the day of the first official launch of Daughters are Diamonds, in Polokwane where I spent the most formative years of my life. A tribute to inaugurate a current project at my alma mater. Life the Journey, is speckled with reflective spots in the shade. Polokwane is one of these shady places for me, where I can often find time to recollect my thoughts, to paint and to write. The programme for the evening commenced at 8pm, at the Office Suites in Library Gardens, arranged by the property magnates, Moolman Group. About 200 guests were greeted in a lavish foyer amid frivolty, soft drinks and book sales/ signing. The response was phenomenal with above 50% sales on attendance, and the discussions engaged in during the Q&A were charged and deeply encouraging. Heres hoping that the momentum carries forth much energy to the string of an author tour ahead!

Programme MC - Jasmine Patel, CA, PWC

Guest Speaker- Glory - PWC Limpopo Regional Director
"The Challenges Faced by Black & Indian African Women @ home and in the Workplace"

Speaker - Julaikha Kalla / Damelin

Author Shafinaaz HassimIntroducing Daughters are Diamonds; Reading extracts from the book; Q & A

Finally! In Print!

Click on Image to View back cover text

The Journey

' The journey of my life

begins from home,

ends at the graveyard.

My life is spent

like a corpse,

carried on the shoulders

of my father and brother,

husband and son.

Bathed in religion,

attired in customs,

and buried in a grave

of ignorance.'

(Atiya Dawood, Sindhi Poet, Pakistan)

CoverSome

I finally have some covers I can cut my teeth on :)

Its only just a matter of time now, I can feel it!

All about the fonts and the text and the colour.. pinks are so not me, so silver it shall be :P

I am covered to be!

sHaFs

On Calm Beauty

An Artists Retrieve Where I found Escape, and My Self

Elsabe Moolmans place is a quaint little house in the suburbs, nested in a little garden. Flanked by shady verandas and an extensive outdoor area of built in barbeque, the living arrangements speak much of the extrovert personality of the couple whose habitat this is. Elsabe's work has been documented and exhibited at numerous galleries, and she has a postgraduate diploma in female art formulations. Her studio is a memorial to the delicate art forms that unfold from her psyche over time, and she holds a limited number of classes during the year. During 2005, after an extensive period on the waiting list, I was lucky enough to receive a place in one of these tutorial groups, thus making the aquaintance of an artist of note and a deeply moving human being. After an entire year of not seeing her, it was a pleasure to re-aquaint myself with a visit to her studio.

The shade of the familiar cherry blossom tree embraced my car as I parked. I gingerly approached the entrance to ring the bell, aware that her pet dog might all-too-delightfully welcome me. I tried the buzzer labeled 'Studio Deodando'. And again. Hmm, no reply. Just as I tried the one for the main house, a voice rang out in joyful welcome. I stepped in through the electric gate as it rolled by a few centimetres and closed again behind me, already being smothered in hugs and a waft of perfume, and all the while taking note of the pinkish colour in her face glowing happily and the blue spark in her eyes twinkling with her usual merriment. Amidst kindly compliments and exchanges I was led down the walkway to the studio, already hearing the faint sound of Strauss becoming louder as the cool interior of her art enclosure drew closer. The fascinating faces greeted me like old friends, in similar likelihood of the joy I had just seen on the artist's face. Except for a new addition screaming out of the painting in agony! Her evocative charcoal sketches have always dug deep into my soul to bring out much emotion, and I knew that I wouldnt leave without an extensive discussion about that one! But she scurried me along to the far end of the studio: the business at hand, as we had planned, was for me to see two paintings of a German student of hers, named UtE.

When I called Elsabe two days prior to out meeting, I presented to her my dilemma of finding a suitable cover for Daughters are Diamonds. And she brainstormed and quickly set up this viewing for me. Each were worked in oil with the use of a fine brush. One of a little Iranian girl readin the Quran, in shades of cream, and the other, a rural North African Muslim woman sitting behind a trellace, wrapped in the traditional 'chador'. Admittedly, even though the works I saw were beautifully rendered and an absolute visual delight, they were too random and not in keeping with the content of the manuscript. And to illustrate my view, I proceeded to show Elsabe the picture that I have my heart set on, sitting benignly on my laptop, awaiting the possible permission for its use. And, not only did she agree with my choice, but she pointed out symbolisms in the painting that even I had not discovered. So now I feel like my heart will break if I am not able to make use of it!

*sigh*

But, I left Studio D feeling revitalised by the memory of the creative centre that fueled my soul for some time, classic music, flowing white curtains and captivating masterpieces all etched in my memory for a time past and a glorious future of spurning forth my own creative endeavours.

Un-Covered

This is a diSaster!

I have seen a further seven (like thats sposed to be a lucky number!) alternatives for the book cover and they're totally NOT OK!!!

*sigh*
In fact, theyre so bad, I refuse to post them to the blog! Yep. That bad!

I have other plans, needs to start pulling them out the hat, and FASt!

Came across a totally kewl and rather symbolic piece of artwork online, so while thats in the process of being possibly permitted by way of digging into the late artists estate out in what-was-PerSia.. I have to keep the searchlights burning! Hope the torches dont burn down the house while Im at it!

And so the struggle continues...

The Why and the Who...

Daughters are Diamonds is a treatise on the objectification of women in honour-bound sectors of society.

As a study, it sets out to define these questions:

How are the opportunities, challenges and obstacles facing South African Indian Muslim women within the family, perceived and experienced by the individual?

To what extent, if at all, does traditionalist culture create/influence a gap between opportunity and achievement for South African Indian Muslim women?

The statement that “women are diamonds” is often used by Indian Muslim traditionalists to justify the abject seclusion of women. In this view, that which is valuable should be hidden in safekeeping. The metaphor of the diamond is used to illustrate the objectification of daughters borne of honour-bound societies, and the limits put to the administration of their lives, in keeping with the code of honour. This study is a comment on the notion that, in keeping with this honour code, there is a fine line between maintaining the dignity of a people and infringing on the rights of the individual. It also asks whether women are able to carve out a space for themselves within which a fully reflexive life may be lived in spite of the restrictions placed on them.

A fun distraction denoting diamonds n daughters;)

In tribute to the title of the book, a friend just mailed me a logic-question denoting daughters and diamonds:- To get the creative juices flowing so to speak :P

Lets see what you peeps think up on this one!

There was once a man who had 2 daughters A and B. He converted his entire estate into 9 or 16 diamonds, and decided to give each daughter some diamonds. Suppose MAX denotes the maximum number of diamonds, and he gave daughter A X diamonds, then daughter B got MAX-X diamonds. What he did just before dying was to tell daughter A how many diamonds daughter B had, and he also told daughter B how many diamonds daughter A had. After he died, each daughter wanted to know how many diamonds she had gotten, so they had the following conversation:

1)A: Tell me how many diamonds I got.
2)B: No first you tell me how many diamonds I got.
3)Ok, I now how many diamonds I got.
4)I too now know how many diamonds I got.

How many diamonds were there in all, and how many did each of the daughters get?

Cover Me...

hey all..
the prospect of getting my work in print is filled with ambivalence; on the one hand, excitement and joy forseen/ and on the other some amount of anxiety, towards getting things done in the right way, and of course once the child script walks, having to let it go out into the big bad world..
*sigh*
feeling like a lil mommy, i am!
the crawling child shall walk, perhaps it shall be bruised, grazed knees and the works.. who knows.. but this is life, hey!
ive run through some edits with the guys in layout and typesetting..
script is doing ok. sailing smooth as far as i can see.. its the cover design thats wreakin havoc with me: - take a peek and give me a review!

The Manuscript

Daughters are Diamonds, the manuscript has been sitting in my lap for three years now. Almost. And the time has come to see this work find published fruition. This, is now a work in progress for a few months already, with a plan to print by late January 2007. The deadline looms.

In an attempt to resolve some of the anxieties that i am presented with, this blog occured to me.. to log the progress and to introduce the long-awaited work. The final product.

Read on.. and wish me luck!

Shafs