Offshoots 11


Introduction

Daniela Norris,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Offshoots 11 was published in September 2011

Writing can be a lonely journey, especially when one lives far away from family and in a different culture. The Geneva Writers’ Group provides inspiration, motivation, literary critiquing and support to over 150 writers from around the world, all currently living in and around Geneva. Most of us started writing many years ago, and had other careers. Employees in International Organizations and UN agencies, engineers, consultants, teachers, journalists, diplomats and others, are all joined together by the joy of writing and of supporting each other in our creative endeavors. Some of us are multi-published; others are on the path to publication.

It is an honour and a privilege to have edited this eleventh edition of Offshoots, the biennial anthology of the Geneva Writers’ Group. I could have never done this without my inspiring team, Mary Scheurer, a teacher and published poet and short story writer, Bob Piller, an independent consultant in commodity finance, university lecturer and fiction writer, and Sue Niewiarowski, a talented designer and artist. And of course, the founder and leader of the GWG, Susan Tiberghien.

The use of different types of English is deliberate. It seemed unjust to insist that an American write in British English, and an Australian in American English. Therefore, we left the various stories in the tongues which they were submitted, making this anthology richer in its variety of dialects.

I hope you will enjoy reading Offshoots 11 as much as I have enjoyed editing it, and that you be able to feel the spirit of internationalism and multi-culturalism that is an integral part of the GWG while you read through these pages

 

Editorial and Production Team

Editors

Daniela Norris
Bob Piller
Mary Scheurer

Design

Sue Niewiarowski

Photographs

Pamela Baillie, Kristine Greenaway, Valerie Harrison, Patti Marxsen, Karen McDermott, Caroline Thonger, Sue Niewiarowski


Writing in Offshoots 11


Sunanda Krishnamurty Deceptions
Martha Culig One Cold Night
Caroline Thonger Prickly Heat
Suzanne McFayden Smith Home
Adrienne Hahne Fourteen 
Wendy Zito Dogs are People too
Iqbal Alimohamed The Crystal Perfume Container
Kristine Greenaway Bitten by the apple
Sharon Pollack Tough in the Suburbs
Leti Baumgartner Monochrome
Kathy Giannini Black Walnut Winter
Lisa Karlin-Rigo These Few Moments
Pamela Baillie A simple pink chair
Erika Anderson Citizen of the World
Peter St. John CHoo-CHoo Sky Train
Angela Ernest The Birthmark
Livia Varju Stages
Taylor Jennings Bosnian Coffee
Sophia Tellen Process
Alan Harmer Wild Pheasant Castaway’s Stew
Patricia Beckham-Prout A Home for the Heart
Mary M. Pecaut About the Mind
Beth Peoc’h Toussaint, Letter to Self
Susan Tiberghien Maple Leaf, Ivy
Christiane Ledakis The Crinkly-haired Old Man
Jacqueline Cooper An Evening With Farouk
Karen K. Mason The Elements and Willa
Catherine L. Hayoz Fragmented Archeology, Lifeguard
Karen Laudenslager McDermott Mid-afternoon, I Know Why I Am Here
M. Anita “Emanita” Bailey Hail La Forge!
M. Byrd Glimpse of Fire
Roderick Vincent Songs of the Naked Monkey
Zeki Ergas Heart of Jenin
Julianne DiNenna On a Mission
Valerie Harrison Finding My Marks
Adrienne Hahne Getting it Right
Sylvia Petter The Burka
Elizabeth Hornor Boquet Acorns, mother-daughter tanka
Christine Breede-Schechter Bells and Beyond
Bashir Sakhawarz I Sail in Your Eyes
Bob Piller Rhino, Elephant, Effort
Patti M. Marxsen Seventy Winters
Maria Cecilia H. Santos My Life in Bags
Paul Smith In a Park at Ventnor, Burning
Yvonne B. Laverrière Buenos Aires
Shizue Tomoda Ode to My Hometow
Lang-Hoan Pham Airport Goodbyes
Joy Manné The Right Game
Jo Ann Hansen Rasch At the Swimming Pool
Alexa Intrator House of Emptiness
Gwen de Mel In your loss are my losses all combined
Folake Idowu The Letter
Jillian Vigrass The Ship that Launched a Thousand Laws


“Offshoots is a tribute to the spirit, commitment, and talent of the outstanding international expatriate writing circle centered in Geneva, Switzerland, but reaching throughout the world.”
— Thomas E. Kennedy, Author of The Copenhagen Quartet

“The Geneva Writers’ Group has produced an enthusiastic and talented group of writers.”
— Geeta Kothari, Fiction Editor, Kenyon Review

For further details and to buy copies, contact Offshoots sales

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software