Abigail George

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Born
in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
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Influences
Rilke, Goethe, Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Sylvia Plath, Virgin ...more

Member Since
August 2012

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South African Abigail George has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize ("Wash Away My Sins"), and Best of the Net awards for her poetry which was published in Deaf Poets Society and for an essay published in Synchronized Chaos. She is the recipient of two writing grants from the National Arts Council in Johannesburg, another from the Centre for the Book in Cape Town, and one from ECPACC in East London (the Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Council). She won her first writing competition for Upbeat Magazine (a national magazine in South Africa) in high school.

She is a blogger (her blog is called African Renaissance and she blogs with Goodreads, and she writes for Great Health Watch and Newslineplus). She is an editor, produced screenwri
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Abigail George Dear Pat,
Are you in a good space with your writing? There are times when I do feel overwhelmed, I have to admit. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by what …more
Dear Pat,
Are you in a good space with your writing? There are times when I do feel overwhelmed, I have to admit. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by what you write? It is wonderful for me to see a response from you. I am thinking of turning one of my books into a feature script and that will of course begin with several re-readings of the book. I feel it is something which will be tough to do but also rewarding. Your works seems to have that kind of or lends itself to that energy. This December I am thinking of starting another book. Onwards with the writing I suppose. Do you find it helpful to belong to a writer's group or to swap manuscripts? I don't belong to a writer's group. Do you think it helps with writing though? Trilogies are well worth the effort and a lot of hard work. I wrote my poetry books as a kind of trilogy. Keep on writing. Take courage, believe in your storyline, the backstory and the narrative. Thank you for your wonderful feedback on independent publishers. In the past I always got stuck on the query letter. Talk soon. It's always good to share stories about our writing I feel. Do you journal by any chance?(less)
Abigail George How did you approach publishers for your books, a hearty congratulations Pat. I am so proud of you? I am looking for a traditional publisher in the St…moreHow did you approach publishers for your books, a hearty congratulations Pat. I am so proud of you? I am looking for a traditional publisher in the States. Do you have an agent? I have only been approached by vanity publishers in the States and because of the currency in South Africa I cannot afford to pay the vanity publisher in the States.

My novel Letter To Petya Dubarova has just been released in Australia and New Zealand in August 2022. Check out Gazebo Books' website online. You can find the cover of the Petya book online and there is also an author Q&A there. Please read and share widely. I would appreciate that. I don't know if the Petya novel is available in the States yet.

Getting exposure for my books is uppermost in my mind. You have done some phenomenal writing. By the way I just love how imaginative your title is. It's so captivating and evocative. How did you finally choose your publishing house and did you have an editor?

I am doing an online writing course now at my leisure by award-winning South African author and poet Finuala Dowling. I was feeling stuck. Maybe I am doing too many things. I need your advice on this.

I am doing a documentary film on my father's life. He was recruited into a subversive organization during the sixties in apartheid South Africa. My brother and I are also hard at work at completing our father's memoire. I am also thinking as a follow-up course to Finuala Dowling's I Remember: A short course on writing from memory I will do another creative writing course on the fundamentals of fiction writing by Tariro Ndoro (another award-winning writer). This time she is Zimbabwean and attented the prestigious writing program at the University of Iowa. So, please do tell me if I am doing too much.

To me it seems as if I am. I can always wait until next year March to do Tariro's course. It was great hearing from you Pat. Let's stay in touch. Have I followed you on Goodreads yet and lookout for Letter To Petya Dubarova. Please support my books on Kindle and the ones available at Barnes and Noble. You just have to buy one and please leave a review. Do send links to your interviews, congratulations again and when you have a chance go to Gazebo Books on Facebook and check out my author Q&A and Letter To Petya Dubarova by leaving a like, a comment and sharing widely with your contacts. All my love my dear American friend and happy writing. Best of luck with your next book Pat or are you going to take a break? Enjoy your weekend. Happy writing and happy Friday.

Warm regards,
Abigail George(less)
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More books by Abigail George…

The Outsider In A COVID-19 World

"Community" in response to the life of the Greek poet, Virgil. Dear Astronomer, I have turned my head away from all my arrogance and fear, my limited thinking and awareness in the arms of the universe. There are still subjects difficult for me. Sometimes it is hard to love the people you find yourself with. Sometimes it is hard to get hurt but I always return to the great matters of the wildflower Read more of this blog post »
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Published on April 19, 2020 01:22
Through the Eye o...
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The God of Small ...
Abigail is currently reading
by Arundhati Roy (Goodreads Author)
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Abigail’s Recent Updates

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“You will always be the bread and the knife, not to mention the crystal goblet and—somehow—the wine.”
Billy Collins
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Museum of Silence by Oluwasegun Romeo Oriogun
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Sacrament of Bodies by Oluwasegun Romeo Oriogun
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Abigail and 1 other person liked Bernard St's review of Winter in Johannesburg:
Winter in Johannesburg by Abigail   George
"
In October 1962 I was sent by the magazine I worked for to the reception in the Savoy Hotel in London where the South African writer Nadine Gordimer was presented with a prize of £1000 by Lord Chandos. I remember being greatly impressed by her humili" Read more of this review »
Abigail liked an answer from Mosab Abu Toha:
Mosab Abu Toha
Discovering my self.
Abigail liked an answer from Mosab Abu Toha:
Mosab Abu Toha
Being unable to leave my country or return to it when I want.
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WALKING ON EGGSHELLS by Karen Osborn
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Quotes by Abigail George  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Yes, I know that now that there is truth in beauty and beauty in truth. My nature is to be depressive and come out of it and write, and enjoy writing and feeling as if I have a passion and excitement and love and euphoria for it and then I go 'back to sleep again' where I can eat and watch television and not work, not be productive and then just as if a magic switch is turned on I can do it all over again. I don't mind the being depressed part. Sometimes it seems to fuel me. The anger though is gone now that was there in my twenties and even earlier in my youth. Your voice is Tolstoy’s, Hemingway’s, Updike’s, Styron’s, Mcewan’s, Greene’s, Fugard’s, Kundera’s, Rilke’s while I am the incarnate of Radcliffe Hall crossing both genders effortlessly. You betray nothing. There is son in the picture. A small boy but you don’t introduce him to me. Obsessions are unhealthy creatures. They make you mentally ill, emotionally unstable; leave you with a chemistry of deep sadness in your life. I have my writing. It keeps me from disintegrating into fractions. I should stop now before I begin to make myself cry.”
Abigail George, Winter in Johannesburg

“Nice people sometimes finish last but they are always the winners who take it all in the end.”
Abigail George

“Woman lost (skin deep) like a damn fine thread in the fire
Woman of the world caught up in your black machinations
I was a woman who cried alone at night, who gave it all
away when she saw the good heart of the man inside
Woman caught standing up; her open parts are broken -

Someone's armour broke right through, it was you, you
For some reason I've been thinking about you, your light
Today, you poured out all the tension, the ego underground
Hibernating inside my heart. I was so close to it, to the flicker
Of love in a lonely street and I turned my head and walked

Away from the flame in your arms. As I put away the fun in
A house of fight I came across you and a mechanism in
My brain shifted chemically, walls caved in like the cadence
In your words and I was lost in the darkness. Even now in
Middle age I remember when desire was a popular drug

And everyone was selling it but I don't live to explore to be
Able to illuminate the proof of my existence, live to burn
Vicariously though the diamond mouth of sleeping stars.
From so much love, pictures of death arrived in black and
White photographs and you're perfect, you always were -

Illusions have no flaws; they're dangerous beings, smoke.
Could I take the moon back and still live with my great
Expectations of nostalgia, laughter, tears and suffering -
But they are all a part of me not the people of the stars,
Long dead videotape, the past has stained the symphony

Of my soul (like the wind through the trees) throughout
Me finding myself, my two left feet as a female poet
The warning was there of the noise of eternity, signs
That said, don't anger the sea, you have an ally in her.
When men grow cold listen to their stories and bask in

The glory of their genuine deaths, their winters, put
Them away so you can read them like the newspaper.
Once in a while you can go back to where you stood
In youth with your afternoon tea, the sun of God in our
Eyes - I am that kind of woman who lives in the past”
Abigail George, Feeding The Beasts

“If she's amazing, she won't be easy. If she's easy, she won't be amazing. If she's worth it, you wont give up. If you give up, you're not worthy. ... Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.”
Bob Marley, Bob Marley: Guitar Chord Songbook

“He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can. He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.”
Bob Marley

“Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.”
Plato

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
Leonardo da Vinci

“If you're reading this...
Congratulations, you're alive.
If that's not something to smile about,
then I don't know what is.”
Chad Sugg, Monsters Under Your Head

233 ¡ POETRY ! — 22435 members — last activity Jul 24, 2025 10:55PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read ...more



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Abigail Beth wrote: "Abigail, your comments are a delight to me. I found you through a class on African Literature. An assignment was to write a mock interview with an author from our readings, and I wrote about you. T..."
I always think of writing as a solitary activity but also an emotional one. I would love to read your mock-interview that you did on me. I think it's fine that you had to take liberties. I thought when I first came into the social media world that every one loves poetry and could connect with it. (Btw, congratulations on your books being published.) Thank you for writing back to me. I am including a link to two of my short stories in this comment as well. I hope we will be able to continue writing to each other. I hope you won't find it with any problems. You see because I like to write in the medium of short stories as well. Everything's a catalyst for me. (I was very happy when I read that you found me through a class on African Literature and was thinking to myself how does something like that happen.) Your words have really meant so much to me. Because in one way I also write to survive. Keep writing and sharing your gifts with the world.

http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/9874
http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/9863


message 1: by Beth

Beth Burnett Abigail, your comments are a delight to me. I found you through a class on African Literature. An assignment was to write a mock interview with an author from our readings, and I wrote about you. There wasn't a ton of information, so I had to take some liberties. I do love your poetry, which is saying a lot because I definitely prefer prose. :)


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