Anne has only recently taken to writing again – in a different vein. She began with travel writing – mostly about tourist journeys she had done in Africa and was published in magazines and newspapers. Now, as she has more time, she is slowly experimenting with poetry and historical writing.

Anne was born in Tanganyika, East Africa and for 7 years lived in Zanzibar during the years of the Sultanate. She left there as a young adult to move to South Africa. It was there that she went to university during the worst years of apartheid. In a way she feels that she has existed through several lives in Africa, the UK and Australia!

She finds that her poetry reflects a return to the sea, shells and the bush. Not surprising, as these are lifelong interests.

Have you ever found a nautilus shell?
On the beach, gleaming
Amongst the dark sea wrack.
Each whorl, curve, indentation
A perfect creation.

Strange traveller of the ocean depths,
Part bird, part hero of ancient times.
Home of a fearsome protector,
Whose lidless eyes saw other worlds
In a journey beyond our imagination.

Now stranded here, a sublime gift.
Fragile perfection borne through the blue
To death on the bright shore.
If god lives, this is his work,
No better could we do.

Anne Chappel April 2006