AWARD winning local author and poet, Fiona Khan, has released a collection of poems entitled Windows of a Woman’s Mind, which she said is a culmination of her work over the past 27 years.
Fiona is an accomplished author and one of the leading children’s writers in the country, having published more than 14 titles over her writing career.
She started her career writing poetry and won major awards for her work, and then moved on to writing books. She has written novels, short stories, with some of them published in international literary magazines, and is one of the leading stakeholders in the literacy world in Durban.
She is the founder and director of the Global Forum 4 Literacy and the founder of the Traveling Books Project, spreading digital and mobile literacies globally. She also headed the steering committee to have Durban recognised as an UNESCO City of Literacy.
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“It is so beautiful all these years later to see the fruit of this work and in this new poetry collection. It is real, and tells a story. It is the catharsis of a woman over 27 years, and the process of transformation, growth, elevation of self after having children, and getting to the age where I can look back and see that I have done so much. I have never apportioned or quantified it, so this collection of poetry does this,” she said.
She said defining feminism is very important in this book – and gives insight into the multifaceted being a woman is.
“When I was younger I never worried about who I was, and women tend to forget who the ‘I’ is in marriage and when they have children. This book looks at self-preservation of the ‘I’ and that is what is so important. Through my writing I aimed to break the glass ceiling and open the path for other women writers,” she said.
Along with completing and publishing this book, Fiona has completed her Masters in Education, focusing on science and technology, at UKZN, is working on a PhD and finished writing a film script. She will be writing for stage in 2019. She has also worked on two more books all while being involved in ECD training and environmental workshops and starting a food blog for writers.
“I am passionate about cooking so I enjoy blogging. I love the sea and I also love walking, hiking trails and being one with nature and the environment. I also enjoy photography and am a keen astronomer. I am passionate about looking out at the night sky. I also love fast cars,” she laughed.
Fiona has three children and two grandchildren.
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