Author page - Denis Hirson

Meet Denis Hirson

Denis Hirson – a writer, lecturer and one time actor – was born in 1951 in Cambridge, England, and spent his childhood and youth in South Africa until the age of 22 when he returned to the UK, later obtaining his doctorate in Creative Writing there. Meanwhile, In 1975 he settled in France, where he lives near Paris.

He is the author of nine books, almost all of them at the frontier between prose and poetry and concerned with the memory of South Africa at the time of apartheid.

His books include the memoirs The House Next Door to Africa (David Philip), We Walk Straight So You Better Get Out the Way, the bestselling I Remember King Kong (the Boxer), and My Thirty-Minute Barmitzvah; the poetry collection Gardening In the Dark; the novel The Dancing and the Death on Lemon Street (short-listed for the Commonwealth Book Prize, 2012); White Scars, a lyrical meditation on reading and its significance in our lives, runner-up for the South African Sunday Times Alan Paton Non-Fiction Prize in 2007 and a succinct history of South African literature from the 19th Century to 1994, Worlds in One Country (all published by Jacana Media).

He is also the editor of three anthologies, one of prose — The Heinemann Anthology of South African Short Stories — and two of poetry covering the period 1960-2013, The Lava of this Land (Northwestern University Press) and In the Heat of Shadows (Deep South).

Hirson’s ten conversations with William Kentridge, Footnotes for the Panther, came out with Fourth Wall in September 2017. His first book in French, Ma langue au chat, followed from Points one month later,
describing the torture and delight of speaking and writing in French.

“A potent story of a diaspora coming-of-age… [A] moving, historically significant memoir.” — Foreword Reviews

“Hirson’s memories will take you back in time so vividly that they will leave you breathless”– Goodreads

Denis has taught English at the École Polytechnique and, more recently, was invited by the Jacana Literary Foundation to run ‘The Art of Memoir Writing’ masterclasses.

The highly acclaimed first series explored Writing the Opening Paragraph; The Landscape of Memory; TheResources of the Memoir Writer; and The Uncertain Frontier between Memoir and Fiction.

Testimonials

‘Writing about one’s life has been made even more profound with Denis’ extraordinary insights.’ – S.H.

‘[These masterclasses] ignited my dormant writing spirit.’ – J.G.

‘…inspiring and extremely useful thoughts! Makes one feel like writing.’ – D.A.

‘Honestly, I could listen to Denis all day.’ – S.K.

Sign up for Denis’ Art of Memoir Writing second series now and give your writing the attention it deserves. Whether you’re new to the craft or an experienced author, each workshop will help you think
about the writing process and, hopefully, help refine your writer’s voice.

Each workshop costs ZAR500. Sign up for all four and save 25%, you only pay ZAR1500!

https://jacana.co.za/product/art-of-writing-memoir/

Structuring a memoir

Do you want to create a structure for your memoir before you start writing it? If so, would you prefer a
strictly chronological structure? Could you scramble the dates, beginning elsewhere than at the beginning of your story? Would you prefer a fragmentary structure or a unitary one? That is, should you choose a series of small, perhaps inter-related events rather than big overall story? How about drawing all parts of the memoir towards one key moment that you start with? How do the choices you make about structure correspond to the material you have before you?

https://jacana.co.za/product/the-art-of-writing-memoir-second-series-by-denis-hirson-workshop-one/

Writing through the eyes of a child

When writing a memoir, how can you gain access to the vision of the child you once were? Learn to see things from a different height, a different perspective, with a different degree of ignorance, freshness and surprise. How does innocence meet experience in your writing? Can a memoir be seen not only as a journey into the past, but also a journey into the present through childhood’s unique lens.

https://jacana.co.za/product/the-art-of-writing-memoir-second-series-by-denis-hirson- workshop-two/

Writing out of an experience of great difficulty

‘If you can’t bring good news then don’t bring any’ sings Bob Dylan. Can this statement be applied to a memoir? What if the subject of the memoir involves tremendous violence, trauma or depression? Does such a subject inevitably lead your story into a darkness from which it would be difficult to extricate yourself? It is sometimes necessary to recount such experiences, when the time is ripe. In this workshop, these questions are addressed, while there is an exploration of how writers have managed to shift stories of darkness towards the light.

https://jacana.co.za/product/the-art-of-writing-memoir-second-series-by-denis-hirson-workshop-three/

Exploring a counterpoint to your intimate world

When writing a highly personal memoir, one can get wrapped up in one’s own world. But there are ways to counteract this tendency. Would you turn to fiction? Or could you explore a counterpoint to your own intimate world? Could you write, for example, about a sport or a craft you are involved in, a series of objects you have collected, a language you speak other than your mother tongue, or your knowledge of a foreign landscape or city? How about the dogs or cats in your life? There are also wider political and historical concerns you might focus on. In other words, in your memoir, could you focus on subjects other than a highly personal preoccupation, extending the landscape you choose to write about?

https://jacana.co.za/product/the-art-of-writing-memoir-second-series-by-denis-hirson- workshop-four/

Contact info@jacanaliteraryfoundation.co.za if you have any queries about Denis’ workshops.

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