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Novels and short stories

2 01, 2020

Events Open to the Public

By Sylvia Vetta|January 2nd, 2020|Categories: Events, Novels and short stories|0 Comments

 Monday February 24: 7pm Minster Lovell History Society (Oxon) Village Hall Based on her experience writing the 120 life stories in the Oxford Castaway books Sylvia will talk about Life-writing and how to begin. Saturday April 4 : 10.30- 5

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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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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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23 07, 2019

Events coming up very soon

By Sylvia Vetta|July 23rd, 2019|Categories: Events, Novels and short stories|0 Comments

Friday 30 August: the Ashmolean: I'll be guiding a tour of visiting Chinese academics. I'm calling it ' Crossing Cultures ;Crossing Time' and emphasising how ideas and inventions  spread from East to West and from West to East' .  I

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2 05, 2019

The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India – dry sounding but incredible! As others see Us

By Sylvia Vetta|May 2nd, 2019|Categories: Novels and short stories|0 Comments

It will be possible to read Sculpting the Elephant as a moving love story and ignore the historical subplot but I hope it will grip readers. My Victorian polymath works for the Great Trigonometrical Survey - the nineteenth century equivalent

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29 04, 2019

Deco-rators pops up in Antiques on High ( Opposite Queens College – Oxford)

By Sylvia Vetta|April 29th, 2019|Categories: Novels and short stories|0 Comments

  Harry King’s shop Deco-rators is making an appearance in Antiques on High throughout May.  I’m pictured with Caroline Henney putting the Sculpting the Elephant banner in the window of the Oxford centre. On Thursday 2 May, I’ll be in

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10 04, 2019

My new talks topic – a more personal one.

By Sylvia Vetta|April 10th, 2019|Categories: Events, Novels and short stories|0 Comments

The Friends of Watlington Library are fortunate in their poster designer - Ross Speirs. He made a great poster for my talk there about Brushstrokes in Time. I must have done okay because they have asked me back. Its open

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19 03, 2019

Memories of Successful Launches of Sculpting the Elephant

By Sylvia Vetta|March 19th, 2019|Categories: History, Novels and short stories|0 Comments

Scroll down for pics. The first launch was in the former Coopers Oxford Marmalade factory which Sylvia and Gill named as ‘The Jam Factory’ when they ran an art and antiques centre there (1987-1998) Some of the dealers came as well

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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

  • Reptiles- scarily up to the minute!
  • Making HISTORY and friendship across continents.
  • The British Empire: a force for good or Colonial Holocaust?
  • Memories of Helen Peacocke: The importance of my talk at Headington LitFest on May 10
  • Build BRIDGES not WALLS or climb over them.

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  • Ai Weiwei
  • Antiques
  • Art
  • Ashoka
  • Biography
  • Buddhism
  • China, Art & History
  • Cultural Appropriation
  • Events
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  • India
  • Kennington
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  • Letters to the press
  • Lost History
  • Madras Courier
  • Mixed relationships
  • Nalanda
  • Novels and short stories
  • Oxford
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  • Shepherd.com
  • The Bodleian library
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  • The Stars ArtMovement

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