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6 11, 2019

Is it harder for an Indian woman to be independent than a Western woman?

By Sylvia Vetta|November 6th, 2019|Categories: Biography, Novels and short stories|0 Comments

Why Ramma is a role model. Among the audience at McGill for my talk on mixed relationships was a distinguished Professor of Computing. For Kerelan born Prakash Panagaden 60th birthday his research community held a three-day symposium, called Prakash Fest,

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6 11, 2019

My Anglo/Indian event @ Abingdon Library on Thursday 21 and great feedback.

By Sylvia Vetta|November 6th, 2019|Categories: Events, Novels and short stories|0 Comments

Drawing on my experience – from which I created my novel Sculpting the Elephant – l’ll explore the dilemmas of identity in mixed- race relationships. Doors open at Abingdon Library  at 7 pm on Thursday 21 November for Bombay Sapphire and

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24 10, 2019

Sculpting the Elephant is about connecting across cultures. Thank you Prof Rebecca Haque

By Sylvia Vetta|October 24th, 2019|Categories: Novels and short stories|0 Comments

    https://youtu.be/_dvPNrKyALc Rebecca  Haque  is Professor of English Literature at Dhaka University and an inspiration to her students who want  to be part of a progressive Bangladesh.  I felt honoured when she offered to read Sculpting the Elephant. My

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16 10, 2019

Can we see ourselves as others see us and confront the realities of our colonial past?

By Sylvia Vetta|October 16th, 2019|Categories: History|0 Comments

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009cd4 I found this programme deeply moving. Not enough Brits feel appropriate remorse for what we did in Iraq.  It is my belief that even liberal minded English people are deeply ingrained by our colonial past.  Rabab Ghazoul suggests

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15 10, 2019

Racism, the brilliant ‘The Life Scientific’ but still a long way to go…

By Sylvia Vetta|October 15th, 2019|Categories: China, Art & History|0 Comments

The disgraceful scenes in Bulgaria gives this recent email of mine to BBC Radio4  Feedback  relevance. ‘My husband is not white and we married when that was unusual. In the seventies I wrote to Hugh Weldon and the Director General saying that black,

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14 10, 2019

Sylvia Vetta: Art, Artists and Acceptance by Sam Bennett (Ox Magazines)

By Sylvia Vetta|October 14th, 2019|Categories: Art, Novels and short stories|0 Comments

For 20 years I was proud to write features for the magazines of The Oxford Times . Newsquest who own about half of the local press in England have stopped using freelancers. I was lucky that the then editor of

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2 10, 2019

Oxford Castaway Icolyn Smith aptly rewarded by Alan Titchmarch

By Sylvia Vetta|October 2nd, 2019|Categories: Biography, Oxford Castaways|0 Comments

Writing the Oxford Castaways series for 10 years I had the privilege of interviewing  120 incredible people  and often becoming friends with them afterwards.( I should have said 119 – because I was the final castaway interviewed by Philip Hind)

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28 09, 2019

Buckminster Fuller: a man whose time has come

By Sylvia Vetta|September 28th, 2019|Categories: Biography, History|0 Comments

  Buckminster Fuller –a thinker whose time has come Last night I chatted with my friend Ray Foulk - he who stole Dylan from Woodstock. His hero is the American thinker Richard Buckminster Fuller 1889-1983. This inspirational man was telling

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26 09, 2019

Oct 1 – 70th anniversary of the Communist Revolution in China & fortieth anniversary of the courageous Stars Artists.

By Sylvia Vetta|September 26th, 2019|Categories: China, Art & History|0 Comments

Tuesday October 1 is China’s National Day it marks the seventieth anniversary of the Chinese Revolution. It is also the 40th anniversary of the day the Stars Artists marched to Tiananmen Square under a banner saying ‘In Politics we want

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2 09, 2019

The life and thoughts of Dwina Gibb for those Australian Bee Gees fans who want to read it.

By Sylvia Vetta|September 2nd, 2019|Categories: Biography, Oxford Castaways|0 Comments

Click here to read the feature .Dwina Gibb   This pic  was taken at the launch of Oxford Castaways 3 . These are some of the castaways. They include Roger Bannister-the first man to run a mile in under 4

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About the Author

As a writer Sylvia Vetta is best known in the Oxfordshire area for the 18 years she was a freelance writer on The Oxford Times and other magazines,  especially for her popular ‘Oxford Castaways’ series which gave her the opportunity to write the lives of  120 inspirational people from five continents. Her novels cross cultures but have impressive endorsements for their authenticity. ‘Brushstrokes in Time’ set in China and California wouldn’t have been possible without the three years she spent researching and interviewing Qu Leilei, a founder of the Stars Art Movement (Beijing 1979) who saved the life of the first leader of the Democracy Movement. It has been endorsed by China experts from Oxford, Harvard and Frankfurt and the poet Jenny Lewis says it is “Utterly mesmerising and unforgettable and among my top ten historical novels.”

‘Sculpting the Elephant’ set in Oxford and India, is close to her own life experience. Her Indian born partner Atam Vetta’s PhD was in Quantitative Genetics. She learned from him that each one of us is unique. Life has taught her that when you see your fellow human being as just that – a unique human being – and refrain from attaching labels you react with empathy. That is why she and one of her Oxford castaways, Nancy Mudenyo Hunt, have been able to co-author the novel ‘Not so Black and White’.

Recent Posts

  • Meeting Giorgio!
  • The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India – dry sounding but incredible! As others see Us
  • Stand up for the young people wrongly charged with terrorist offences.
  • Why was India’s greatest ruler & the destruction of the great library at Nalanda forgotten for 1000 years ?
  • Reptiles- scarily up to the minute!

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