"I have always been much more comfortable writing about things than talking about them. I am more of an observer so writing has been a way of staying in touch with my own voice."
"I have always been much more comfortable writing about things than talking about them. I am more of an observer so writing has been a way of staying in touch with my own voice."
Brink Scholtz, one of the winners of the National Art’s Festival’s 2009 Writing Beyond the Fringe programme, is the third South African writer who will be leaving for Belgium in March 2010 to take part in a fully funded exchange tour to the Passaporta Literature Festival. “I write about things which are close to me which can be extremely revealing. My work generally deals with experiences of cultural difference and dislocation, so I am so excited about being able to write in a different environment," she says.
Scholtz, who holds the position of resident director at Ubom! East Cape Drama Company has created a play called Passing, which she submitted for the Writing Beyond the Fringe competition at this year’s National Arts Festival. She says it took her one week to write it as it deals with issues that are very close to her heart. "Passing came from a family story that had been my point of departure for the 2008 Festival piece Halo. The story, which is based on a suicide in the family, was a big concern for me last year and it basically deals with a young woman trying to understand her place in the family, while she’s also reflecting on her place in the world around her."
Although she says writing has always been part of her life, Scholtz says she has never considered herself to be "a writer". Being a daughter of the Afrikaans novelist Ingrid Winterbach, she says she veered away from the identity of a writer because she has needed her own creative space.
Hailing from Durban, Scholtz has travelled extensively as a result of her mother’s career and she says this has contributed to her sense of "not quite fitting in anywhere". This has become a central theme in her work and Scholtz says she is excited to see how her experience in Belgium will affect her writing. "The great thing is you never know what’s going to come out. My writing depends a lot on the environment I’m in so it’ll be very interesting to see what comes out," she said.
Scholtz says she hopes to return from Belgium with a fresh sense of her South African individuality, as well as a greater connection to the world. “I would also love to bring back a sense of other trends in theatremaking, to feed into my work within theatre in the Eastern Cape,” she added.
