The Hidden Lives of Writers

Marian Keyes is the world-renowned, bestselling author of multiple novels and collected essays. Her Walsh Sisters novels have been turned into a successful television series, and she has won the British Book Awards and Irish Book Awards several times.

Marian joins Fiona and Gail to talk about the challenges that women writers face and why she hopes that editors will never go easy on her.

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Máire Fisher is the author of Birdseye and The Enumerations, both currently republished internationally by Catalyst Press. Her work has been described as 'masterful' and 'unputdownable'.

Máire joins Fiona and Gail to talk about writing the sequel to Birdseye, and dabbling in Regency Romance writing. She talks about how she gains great value from writing under mentorship.

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Mpho Boshego served as a South African diplomat in Belgium from 2007 to 2011. Her novel DIPLOMATIC TIES is inspired by her experiences.

A striking debut, her book has been described as ‘a captivating story' that ‘captures the realness of a South African township life'.

Mpho joins Fiona and Gail to talk about writing the book she would have wanted to read when she started out in the diplomatic service, and how she grew up inspired by the great Heinemann African Writers Series.

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Nadia Cassim is a novelist and short story writer whose most recent book NOT ANOTHER SAMOOSA RUN is currently longlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize.

A brave and ground-breaking novel, her book has been described as 'funny, thought-provoking, and empowering'.

Nadia joins Fiona and Gail to talk about how she trusts her writing process and knows that her next great idea is just around the corner.

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Sarah Lotz is a prolific and hugely popular author who won the British Fantasy Award in 2015. She lived in South Africa for many years before moving back to the United Kingdom.

Sarah is known for her many writing collaborations, as well as her solo work. Her most recent novel HOW TO KILL A CRIME WRITER is out now from Harper Collins

Sarah joins Fiona and Gail to talk about how grieving the sudden loss of her beloved husband became the impetus behind her most recent work.

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Deon Meyer is a multi-award-winning and bestselling author whose books regularly smash sales records. His latest book SKORPIO is available in Afrikaans, while SCORPIO RISING will be released by Pan Macmillan on 1 October.

Deon joins Fiona and Gail to talk about his early days of writing as a single father of young children, and how Benny Griesel forced his way out of minor-character status. Is this the most useful writing advice dropped in a single episode? Quite possibly!

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Catrina Ross is an author and editor with many years of experience in the South African book world. She is the author of THE WHICH WORD, newly released by Mirari Press.

Catriona joins Fiona and Gail to talk about the 6-second rule in publishing and the inspiration behind her magical novel.

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Busisekile Khumalo is the bestselling author of the Harvard Wife series of novels, as well as the standalone book, Nomaswazi, and a new series published by Jonathan Ball Publishers, including Rubies & Rain and Sunshine & Shadows.

Busisekile joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she walked away from a career in law to pursue her passion for storytelling. She shares her insights into self-publishing vs traditional publishing and tells us how she juggles the demands of her fan base. Listeners can explore Busisekile's website for information about her mentoring programme.

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Zakes Mda is one of South Africa's best known and most awarded writers. He is a novelist, playwright, short story writer, and painter. A Professor Emeritus of English at Ohio University, Zakes now lives and works in Johannesburg.
He joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how his earliest inspirations were Casper the Friendly Ghost and Xhosa mythology.
He explains why he often uses the first person plural as a narrative voice and why he is currently digging into the archives of Durban's iconic rickshaws.

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Nadia Davids is an award-winning playwright, novelist, and short story writer. She won the Caine Prize in 2024 for her short story 'Bridling'. Her latest novel CAPE FEVER has been released to great acclaim, published by Simon & Schuster.

Nadia joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how postcolonial fiction does not have to be bleak or hopeless and why she chose the Gothic form for her most recent novel.
She talks about the special relationship she has always had with Cape Town and why CAPE FEVER could not have been set anywhere else.

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Damon Galgut is one of South Africa's most distinguished writers. He won the Booker Prize in 2021 for The Promise, which was his third novel to be shortlisted for the award.

Damon joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how writing seems to become more difficult as the years go by, and how strenuously he wrestles with a first draft.

He tells us that plot has become increasingly less important to him and that he chooses not to repeat the same themes and techniques in his writing.

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Marguerite Poland is one of South Africa's most decorated authors, having won the Percy Fitzpatrick Award numerous times, as well as the Order of Ikamang for lifetime achievement. Her career spans many decades and includes books for children, works of non-fiction, and several critically acclaimed novels for adults.

Marguerite joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about her earliest love for storytelling and what she would say now to a young mother who wants to write while struggling with the challenges of domestic life.

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David Cornwell is the author of the critically acclaimed novel HELL OF A COUNTRY, which has been making waves since its release date.
David joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about the challenges of writing a fictional reimagining of real-life events and how he made his creative choices.
We also discuss his first novel LIKE IT MATTERS and the literary antecedents behind it.

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Karen Jennings is an internationally acclaimed author whose work has been rewarded with a Booker Prize longlisting.

Karen joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how new ideas sometimes come to her in the form of a colour, and how she writes multiple drafts of the same manuscript in search of incremental improvement. She describes where she was and what she was doing when she found out about the Booker longlisting.

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Jassy Mackenzie is a multi-award-nominated author who combines talent with hard work and an excellent head for business.

Jassy joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she got her start writing gritty, Joburg-based crime, before being approached to write with James Patterson. She talks about the obligations of being a contracted ghostwriter and how she is already planning to ensure the longevity of her writing career.

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Mike Nicol is one of South Africa's leading crime writers. His Mace Bishop and Fish Pescado series have enthralled readers for years.

Mike joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he once wallpapered a room in his house with rejection letters. He describes how he found his latest protagonist Zara Dewane lurking in an earlier novel and decided to give her a story of her own. Falls the Shadow is out now from Pan Macmillan.

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Sally Andrew is a South African literary superstar. Her Tannie Maria books are loved by many thousands of readers and have been turned into a successful international TV series.

Sally joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she plots her books under a huge and ancient tree, and how the voice of Tannie Maria arrived in her head fully formed. The fifth book in the Tannie Maria series, Wild Things Never Die, will be available in May.

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Botswana-based Lauri Kubuitsile is the multi-award-winning author of The Scattering and But Deliver Us From Evil, as well as many, many books for children, teens, and adults.

Lauri joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about writing what she likes and not being afraid to stand up for herself both creatively and in negotiating contracts.

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Anna Stroud is the award-winning author of WHO LOOKS INSIDE, an extraordinary debut novel that probes beneath the surface of small-town life.

Anna joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how doing an MA in Creative Writing gave her permission to take her writing seriously, and why she composes her stories on a secondhand, offline laptop called 'Gandalf'.

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Tom Eaton is a popular and widely read columnist. He has a long career as a novelist and writer of non-fiction. His latest book is a laugh-out-loud cosy mystery. AN ACT OF MURDER is out now from Penguin Random House.

Tom joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how to write humour, and how his own acerbic wit has softened over the years. Tom explains why he believes that cosy mysteries are having a moment in South Africa right now.

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Claire Robertson is a South African literary superstar and winner of multiple major awards. Claire is the author of numerous works of contemporary and historical fiction. Her most recent novel THE IMMORTALITES is out now from Penguin Random House.

Claire joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how her work as a journalist led to novel-writing and how her use of language captures the rhythms of the past

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Zibu Sithole is the popular and multi-award-nominated author of the ZOLA trilogy of novels. The final novel in the trilogy LOVE, ZOLA is published by Pan Macmillan and is in bookstores right now.

Zibu joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about why she feels it is her duty to write aspirational fiction for young black women, and why she dislikes the stereotype that women characters must suffer in order for literature to be good.

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Tony Park is the bestselling author of multiple series and standalone novels set in southern Africa. DIE BY THE SWORD is out right now, published by Pan Macmillan.

Tony joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about the origin of his special relationship with the southern African bush. He discusses his interest in conservation, and gives great tips on how to keep track of a large cast of recurring characters across a sprawling fictional universe.

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Onke Mazibuko is the award-winning author of the coming-of-age novel THE SECOND VERSE and the whistleblower thriller CANARY, both published by Penguin Random House.

Onke joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about growing up in the early days of liberation in South Africa, and the influence of rap music in forming his creative self.

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Bonnie Espie is the author of this year's sleeper hit novel MAKING A KILLING, as well as several short stories.

Bonnie joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about making her publishing dreams come true, and the role that writing workshops and support groups have played in her success.

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Marina Auer is the author of the thrilling and highly successful series of medical suspense novels, including DOUBLE EDGED, SINGLE MINDED, and most recently THREE ECHOES, which is now available from Kwela.

Marina joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about drawing on real-life experiences for inspiration, and how to make writing a priority in the midst of a demanding professional and personal schedule.

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Alistair Mackay is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of the dystopian novel IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY and the literary novel THE CHILD. His most recent release is a collection of short stories entitled THE LUCKY ONES.

Alistair joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about what it means to write queer fiction and what it was like to live and write in New York City.

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John Boyne is the internationally bestselling author of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS as well as 18 books for adults. This includes the ELEMENTS quartet, the final novella of which - FIRE - has recently been released.

John joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he will never stop being grateful for having such a huge, breakout novel so early in his career, and why he likes to end each day knowing he has made some progress on his current book.

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Takalani M is the author of the bestselling The Royal Mistress series, the After Dawn series, and the standalone novel A BURNING DESIRE. She has created a publishing and distribution powerhouse that dominates the romance sphere.

Takalani joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she got her start in 2017 with a Facebook page and no followers. She tells us about writing 2,500 words a night alongside her full-time job in finance and three children. Takalani breaks down the exact process for producing a book, from editing, layout, and cover design, to sales, distribution, and…

Paige Nick is the author of multiple novels and a collection of humorous columns. Her latest novel BOOK PEOPLE has already gone into reprint. Paige is also the founder of the Good Book Appreciation Society on Facebook.

Paige joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how humour is the golden thread that links all her writing, and why she now creates the kind of books she loves to read.

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Khaya Dlanga is an author, speaker, opinionista, and all-round South African celebrity. His latest collection of essays LIFE IS LIKE THAT SOMETIMES is available from Pan Macmillan right now.

Khaya joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he is preparing for his upcoming talk on the main stage at TED Vancouver. He tells us how he breaks his writing down into achievable goals, and why he decided to embrace radical honesty in writing about his late younger brother.

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Joanne Fedler is the celebrated and beloved author of such bestsellers as Secret Mothers' Business, Unbecoming, Love in the Time of Contempt, and When Hungry, Eat. Fans are thrilled to have a new Joanne Fedler novel to enjoy - The Whale's Last Song.

Joanne joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about the time she gave up writing and how she found her way back to it again. We talk journals, illustrations, dreams, and vision boards. And we hear how an image of a young girl running through a village with a fork in her hand inspired Joanne's latest book.

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Morabo Morojele is the award-winning author of the novels How We Buried Puso and Three Egg Dilemma, which won the University of Johannesburg Award in 2024.

Morabo joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about the time he forgot that he was a writer, and what made him remember again. He talks about writing drunk and editing sober, and gaining his inspiration from visits to a nearby working-man's pub.

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Cliffordene Norton is the celebrated author of young adult novels and short stories in Afrikaans, and has a new title coming out in 2025.

Cliffordene joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about why Afrikaans readers show up so consistently for their writers. She shares the secrets behind writing for teens, and having her short stories regularly snapped up by magazines like HUISGENOOT.

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Terry-Ann Adams is the award-winning author of the novel THOSE WHO LIVE IN CAGES and the short story collection WHITE CHALK.

Terry-Ann joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about what it is like to embark upon an MA in Creative Writing after you have already been published and won awards. She shares what she has learned from the process.

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Penny Haw is the highly successful author of several works of historical fiction. Her latest novel FOLLOW ME TO AFRICA is hitting bestseller lists all over South Africa right now.

Penny joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about her early forays into children's fiction, thrillers, and now historical fiction.

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Shameez Patel Papathanasiou is taking her writing in a new direction.

The author of the Selene Trilogy of fantasy novels, has gone back to her one true love - contemporary romance.

Shameez joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about what inspired this pivot and how much fun she had writing her new hit novel, PLAYING FLIRTY.

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Spud is back! John van der Ruit is the record-smashing, best-selling author of the SPUD series of books, as well as an actor and playwright.

John joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about what it was like finding the voice of an older Spud after all these years.

He gives great tips about writing a comic novel, and explains how it is not enough to write funny scenes - your novel has to have comedic bones.

We were delighted to catch John at the beginning of his Spud book tour.

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Gareth Crocker is a well known novelist, film maker, and television creator. His latest book NOW YOU SUFFER is garnering great reviews.

Gareth joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he got an international deal for his first novel FINDING JACK, and why major Hollywood stars like Chris Evans and Elijah Wood began calling him shortly afterwards.

He talks about why he recently pivoted to thriller writing and how to create characters that can sustain a whole series.

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Samantha Shannon is the internationally bestselling author of the BONE SEASON series of urban fantasy novels, as well as the epic fantasy novel THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE.

Samantha joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about why she is rereleasing the BONE SEASON series as 'the author's preferred edition' with all new artwork.

She explains what it was like to strike a major book deal at a young age, and discusses the challenges she faces in writing while living with chronic pain.

Gail and Samantha discuss the way she subverts gender expectations throughout her novels, and…

Louisa Treger is the acclaimed author of four historical novels featuring remarkable women whose contributions to society have been overlooked or forgotten. Her most recent novel is THE PARIS MUSE.

Louisa joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about why she pivoted from academic research to fiction writing, and how she chooses the women who become the subjects of her novels. She explains why South Africa is the country of her heart, despite the fact that she was born and brought up in the UK.

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Vernon Head is the author of THE SEARCH FOR THE RAREST BIRD IN THE WORLD - a piece of creative non-fiction that has recently been reissued, as well as A TREE FOR THE BIRDS, and the award-winning ON THAT WAVE OF GULLS.

Vernon joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how a childhood encounter with the Burchell's Coucal was the spark that got him interested in bird-watching. He tells us how he keeps returning to the theme of liminality in his writing and why his next project may be informed by sunsets. As an architect, Vernon works with the built environment, but his heart belongs…

Alex Latimer is an author and illustrator of children's fiction and an author of books for adults. As Frank Owen, he and Diane Awerbuck wrote the dystopian novels SOUTH and NORTH. Alex also recently released the acclaimed collection of short stories LOVE STORIES FOR GHOSTS.

Alex joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how his career as an illustrator got started thanks to his own chutzpah, and why he believes that anyone can learn to draw. Alex tells us how his own experience of personal loss fed into the deeply poignant stories in his latest collection.

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Mphuthumi Ntabeni won the UJ Debut Novel Prize in 2019 for BROKEN RIVER TENT and is the author of the acclaimed 2021 novel THE WANDERES. He is also a journalist, columnist, reviewer, and cultural commentator.

Mphuthumi joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he draws on the history of the Eastern Frontier to create his narratives. He admits that researching the archives has the power to humble those who think they already understand the past. Mphuthumi talks about melding Christianity with traditional cultural beliefs and why he believes this is not talked about enough.…

Jarred Thompson's stunning debut novel THE INSTITUTE FOR CREATIVE DYING won the UJ Debut Prize and has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize.

Jarred joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he structured his complex narrative and juggled the voices of his different characters. He tells us why he decided to set his first book in the world of chronic illness and end-of-life care.

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Nthikeng Mohlele is a prolific and critically acclaimed author of multiple novels and short stories - most recently 'Revolutionaries' House'. His novel 'Breasts' has just been shortlisted for the UJ Prize for Fiction.

Nthikeng joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how music informs his fiction and how he writes only when inspiration strikes. Fiona and Gail agree that Nthikeng has one of the most unusual and fascinating author's minds they have encountered.

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Shubnum Khan is the author of the novel ONION TEARS which has recently been rereleased in paperback. She also wrote the collection of essays HOW I ACCIDENTALLY BECAME A GLOBAL STOCK PHOTO and the internationally successful novel THE LOST LOVE OF AKBAR MANZIL.

Shubnum joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she wrote her first novel in her early twenties under the mentorship of Kobus Moolman and how a series of Twitter posts led to her collection of essays. Shubnum discusses the difficult path to an international book deal and what it has brought into her life.

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Barbara Boswell is a distinguished academic and novelist whose latest work THE COMRADE'S WIFE has taken the literary world by storm. Barbara was a visiting fellow at Oxford University earlier this year where she conducted research in preparation for future life writing.

Barbara joined Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how THE COMRADE'S WIFE may be read in conjunction with her earlier work, GRACE: A NOVEL. She discusses questions of loyalty to a former party of liberation and concludes that the freedom to criticise must remain paramount.

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Ivan Vladislavic is a multi-award winning author, editor, and professor of creative writing. His new memoir The Near North is available now.

Ivan joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how not having grown up in Johannesburg has made him more curious about the city and how the words of other authors are the constant backdrop to his life.

Ivan discusses the narrative choices one has to make as a memoirist and gives credit to his trusted early readers for helping his decide how to structure The Near North.

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Lynn Joffe is a copywriter, a novelist, a short story writer, and an author of children's books. She is the author of the critically acclaimed picaresque novel, The Gospel According to Wanda B. Lazarus, published by Modjaji Books.

Lynn joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she came to write a feminist reimagining of the antisemitic Medieval myth of the Wandering Jew.
Describing antisemitism as a 'light sleeper', Lynn talks about how this myth was reverse engineered into scripture centuries afterwards.

Lynn describes how losing her sister to cancer plunged her into a state…

Margie Orford is a writer, academic, activist, and award-winning journalist. She is the author of the acclaimed Clare Hart series of crime novels. Her most recent work is a much-anticipated memoir, Love And Fury.

Margie joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about the narrative choices one makes for memoir rather than fiction, and how second-wave feminism influenced her life at every step.

Margie discusses how she handles sexual violence on the page and how talking about one's own life is different to talking about fictional constructs.

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In this special episode of The Hidden Lives of Writers, Fiona Snyckers sits down with author, reviewer, and journalist Gus Silber to talk about her new novel THE HIDDEN, which is published by Pan Macmillan.

Gus grills Fiona about her secret past as a child writer and whether her own children find her books difficult to read, and Gus does a deep dive into the culture wars and the historical and cultural antecedents of Fiona's new book.

Watch the full video on YouTube, or listen to the audio version on all podcasting platforms.

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Helen Moffett is a writer, an editor, and an award-winning poet. Her novel 'Charlotte' was released internationally to great acclaim.
Helen joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how every writer needs to be edited and why the business of editing has remained untransformed for so long.
Helen describes her writing process for 'Charlotte', much to the envy of Fiona and Gail, and explains why writing poems is very different.

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Diane Awerbuck is the award-winning author of multiple novels and short story collections. Her latest book is Inside Your Body There Are Flowers published by Karavan Press.

Diane joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about being published at a young age and what a young writer brings to the table.
Diane talks about why she believes that a writer's process shouldn't always be revealed to the world. She describes how her own process has changed since becoming a parent, and how parenthood has supplied her with new inspiration.

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Ron Irwin is the acclaimed author of Flat Water Tuesday and My Side of the Ocean, which was recently published by Pan Macmillan. He is a senior lecturer in Media Studies at UCT and teaches in the UCT Creative Writing Masters programme.

Ron joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how deciding to write a book that he would give an A to instead of a D, transformed his writing career years ago.

Ron shares what it is like to have a novel in script development in Hollywood, and tells us why his latest book features a female protagonist who makes choices that readers may choose to…

Shafinaaz Hassim is an author, activist, and sociologist. She has written extensively about GBV, human trafficking, and women's issues. Her latest novel, Darlings of Durban, has everyone talking.

Shafinaaz joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she built her literary career from the ground up and developed a network of loyal readers and reviewers. Shafinaaz describes how her use of domestic oral lore in her Nisa Qamar series for children has won her fans among their parents too.

Shafinaaz hosts the Book Bytes radio slot on Salaamedia and has started her own publishing…

Sven Axelrad is a Durban-based writer whose debut novel Buried Treasure took the South African literary world by storm in 2023.

Sven joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he balances his day job as an accountant with the demands of his lively literary imagination. He talks about the influence of the South American magical realists on his work and discusses the significance of the Bob Dylan lyrics that appear at the start of each chapter of his book.

Fiona and Gail disagree about whether Buried Treasure is a light book with dark moments or a dark book with light moments.…

In their first-ever remote interview, Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel are joined by the charming and delightful Qarnita Loxton. As well as being an award-winning novelist, Qarnita is a regular listener to the podcast, so it was great to have her on this side of the microphone.

Qarnita is the author of the 'Being' series of novels, including Being Dianne, Being Lily, Being Kari, and Being Shelley. Qarnita describes how she recently submitted a new manuscript to a publisher and is now feeling bereft without it, as she waits to be drawn into a new idea. She tells Fiona and Gail how a writing…

We have an episode locked & loaded and ready to go early in 2024. Gail and Fiona are going remote, and their first guest connects from Cape Town.

Mandy Wiener is a superstar of South African journalism. Currently the presenter of the Midday Report on 702, Mandy is the award-winning author of Killing Kebble, Behind the Door: The Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Story, Ministry of Crime, The Whistleblowers, and more.

Mandy joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how the first idea she ever pitched to a publisher was rejected, but the second was enthusiastically accepted. She describes how she wrote that book in three months, and regularly produces ten thousand words a week when she is writing.

Mandy traces her early…

Jo Watson is an internationally bestselling and award-winning author of romantic comedies. Her latest huge hit is What Happens on Vacation.

Jo joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she got her start writing on Wattpad, building such a huge online audience that her first book garnered offers of representation from three major literary agents.

Jo discusses romance as a genre, and how it is really made up of hundreds of sub-genres, providing something for everyone - from dark mermaids to Amish romance. Jo tells Gail and Fiona how she has resisted setting her novels…

Craig Higginson is an award-winning novelist, playwright, and theatre director. His most recent book, The Ghost of Sam Webster, is currently making waves on the South African literary scene.

Craig joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how writing for him is a thing that flows in to fill the spaces that are left in a day. Sometimes this means writing in his car in the parking lot before work, and sometimes it means trying to write while on holiday in the countryside.

Craig talks about how he got his start writing poetry, and how he is once again working on putting together a…

Ekow Duker is the author of White Wahala, Dying in New York, The God Who Made Mistakes, and most recently Yellowbone. Ekow was a finalist for the European Union Literary Award in 2011/2012 and is currently a judge in the fiction category of the Sunday Times Literary Awards.

Ekow joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he got his start writing anecdotes about his life while working as an engineer in the oil fields of Libya and Algeria. He describes how he self-published his first novel, only to have a major publisher approach him to publish it.

Fiona asks Ekow about the gap…

Humorist, columnist, author, and social media star, Ndumiso Ngcobo needs no introduction to the South African audience – his column in the Sunday Times Lifestyle section has been a beloved institution for more than fifteen years.
Ndumiso joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how his early efforts as a blogger led to a national newspaper approaching him to write for them. We get deep into the weeds about writing humorously, and particularly about observational humour. The bad news is that there is no way to teach humour. The good news is that Ndumiso has more than his fair…

Nechama Brodie is a distinguished academic, journalist, novelist, and pioneer in the field of fact-checking. She joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how the different career hats she wears make her feel at times as though she has multiple personalities.

Nechama talks us through how she got started as a journalist and how a random tweet got her involved in fact-checking and ultimately in training fact-checkers all over the world. She talks about the research she did to make her novels as authentic as possible, and what it was like to release a book at the height of the…

In 1985, a young Hamilton Wende watched the South African security forces drag seven bodies into Casspirs at Crossroads township and lie about it on the evening news. Since that day, he has dedicated himself as a war reporter to keeping the record and telling the truth in wartime situations.

Hamilton Wende joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to break down how he
went from being a 16-year-old boy who used to hide Pride and Prejudice behind his Maths textbook at boarding school to a seasoned war reporter, historical novelist, and children’s author. Hamilton is the author of numerous…

Prolific writer, reviewer, columnist, co-author, and ghostwriter Kate Sidley joins Fiona and Gail to educate us on the nuts and bolts of being a co-writer.

Kate takes us from her earliest days as a young girl who was “good at English”
growing up in a small town in England, to being an in-demand magazine writer, to a much-requested ghostwriter.
Kate explains the various forms of ghostwriting, from total anonymity to open co-
writing that receives acknowledgement on the cover. She talks us through the process of interviewing a subject for many hours before writing can begin. Then Kate and Gail…

Siphiwo is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, playwright, and academic. He is a noted scholar of Can Themba and the Drum generation.

Siphiwo joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how academia is taking over his writing time, and the effort he puts in to keep his creative work alive. He takes us through his earliest days as an idealistic young writer, when he quit his job after having a short story accepted by a journal - and how he quickly rejoined the working world after that!

Siphiwo talks about how toxic masculinity has become more of a problem since he wrote…

Amy Heydenrych has had extraordinary success in getting her books in front of major international agents. She grabbed the attention of these agents and converted their interest into significant publication deals.

Amy is the author of Shame On You and The Pact, and the co-author of Chasing Marian. She has a new book forthcoming from Karavan Press soon. Amy joins Fiona and Gail to share the secrets of successfully querying overseas literary agents as a young South African who started out with no connections in the industry.

Amy also talks about how writing is a career with a high failure…

We close out Season 1 on a high note with this fascinating interview with multi-award-winning author Jonny Steinberg, who was gracious enough to fit us in during his whistle-stop book tour of South Africa.

Jonny joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about his greatly acclaimed portrayal of the marriage of Winnie and Nelson Mandela.

Jonny and Fiona reminisce about their time together at Hyde Park High School, while Gail gets to the bottom of Jonny's origin story as a writer. Jonny talks about how his daily word count has decreased in recent years and how he doesn't start writing…

Today we welcome media personality, writer, and scholar Joanne Joseph into the studio.

Joanne takes Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel through the process of having a book adapted for the audio format. She describes how she got her start in media by auditioning for YFM as an 18-year-old and then advancing her career through the ranks of audio and TV. Joanne shares some details about the process of training one's voice for radio - spoiler alert; she has the most beautiful voice imaginable!

Fiona asks Joanne about her first writing project 'Drug Muled' and how her role as a presenter led her…

Brad Pitt is in the studio!

Prolific and award-winning writer Fred Khumalo talks to Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel about how he inhabited the first-person consciousness of a female protagonist in Bitches' Brew. He has the ladies hanging on his every word as he describes how the historical inspirations for The Longest March and Dancing the Death Drill presented themselves to him.

Fred describes how journalism taught him not to wait for inspiration before starting to write. He starts writing and then the inspiration comes. He describes the experience of having his works adapted for the…

The massively popular author of 'A Year in the Wild' and most recently 'Return to the Wild' James Hendry joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to explain why the first suggestion that pops up when you Google his name happens to be, "is James Hendry married?".

James takes us through his evolution as a writer of strong female characters and
credits several ex-girlfriends for helping to mature his ability to write complex women. He tells Fiona that wildlife novels that preach a strong conservation message are destined to languish unread, and stresses the importance of emphasising story and…

2020 Goethe Medalist and 2023 Einstein Forum Fellow, Zukiswa Wanner, joins Fiona
Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about her roles as a writer, publisher, curator, and speaker. Zukiswa describes how she often walks around with an idea in her mind for a long time before finally sitting down and producing a first draft at speed – frequently writing many thousands of words a day. She describes mining a shebeen in Thembisa for inspiration for a character in her forthcoming novel.

Zukiswa takes us all the way back to her first novel, The Madams, and spills the news
that it is currently being…

Award-winning author, Yewande Omotoso, joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she has recently got back into writing now that her twins are two-and-a-half years old. She talks about guarding her precious Fridays because that is the time she has to devote to writing.

Yewande wonders whether writing emerges from having an idea or an idea emerges from the act of writing. She talks about how Bom Boy arose from her fascination with characters who exist on the margins of society.

A trained architect, Yewande tells us about layering multiple versions of a manuscript over each…

Pamela Power is a television scriptwriter and script editor currently working on several South African TV shows. She is the author or co-author of four well-received novels and the sober-curious memoir My Year of Not Getting Sh*tfaced.

Pam joins fellow authors Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she got her start in television and what the path might look like for a young person who wanted to pursue a career in writing for the small screen.

Fiona tells Pam that she has never forgotten a masterclass she once gave on using cliffhangers to build tension in one's writing and how…

South Africa's favourite non-fiction writer Gus Silber joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about his distinguished career as a journalist, columnist, reviewer, screenwriter, and speechwriter.

Gus takes us all the way back to his earliest days as a reporter for a local newspaper in Krugersdorp and talks about how that was the best possible training for a journalist. He shares advice for anyone wanting to embark on a career in the media and discusses whether its better to be a generalist or a specialist.

Fiona and Gus reminisce about the old days of Style magazine and how Gus…

Multi-award-winning and much-translated writer Niq Mhlongo is in the studio to talk about his long and varied career. He describes how he got his start as a writer by flunking out of law school and how his early novels foreshadowed the Fees Must Fall movement.

Niq tells us what to do when a character refuses to die and how his inspiration comes from living close to a popular shebeen in Soweto. Niq and Gail break down how they know whether a new idea needs to be a novel or a short story. Niq describes how he once refused to change a book to make it more 'accessible' to an overseas audience…

Acclaimed and award-winning author Sue Nyathi joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how life has gone since she left the corporate world to become a full-time writer. Spoiler alert – it's gone really well!

Sue breaks down how she got started as a writer, going back to the early days when her handwritten books were passed around the class in her Bulawayo high school. Sue admits that she writes two kinds of books – fun and scandalous vs deep and literary. Listen in to find out how her fans react to this dichotomy.
Fiona and Gail ask Sue about her new masterwork An Angel’s…

Fiona and Gail are joined by the brilliant and hilarious Angela Makholwa, author of Critical, But Stable, The Blessed Girl, Black Widow Society, and more. Angela tells us about her close encounters with serial killer Moses Sithole and how she needed a break from the darkness after Red Ink came out. Fiona and Angela talk about how turning thirty hits differently when you're a woman, and Gail asks Angela to describe her writing process (hint: it involves luxury hotels and tow-thousand word days).

Angela spills the beans on what changes she had to make to The Blessed Girl when it was published…

Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel are working writers - and their favourite people are writers. Join them as they dive deep into HOW and WHY successful writers write.