On the 11-12 June Frome in Somerset is hosting a Celebrate South Africa Event. I'll be there hopefully selling some books, tasting some food from my ex-planet and meeting some new aliens from that same planet.
Being an alien is hard. I've mentioned this before, so when I was invited to join this event I must confess to feeling conflicted. I love living on my new planet but am much saddened by what's happening in South Africa at the moment. I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to 'celebrate' South Africa. I'll even admit that apart from my family and friends, I don't even miss it much, as sixteen years on I am still marvelling at the delights of Europe and loving the freedom to travel practically anywhere with my maroon passport. I've just returned from a holiday in Menorca, a mere two hour flight away.
But as I thought on it, I remembered (and admitted) that South Africa made me who I am today. It gave me the skills and opportunities to hone my craft and nurtured in me the same pioneering spirit that drove my ancestors from England, Wales and Germany to a new life in Africa. In a sense I've completed the circle they started as long ago as 1820.
From the days of teaching sweaty children to sing and read and write, to writing Kideo, Pumpkin Patch and Generations to becoming an actual author published in the UK, all of this is a result of my life in South Africa, and the teaching, input, support, encouragement and hardships I endured there and the people I met and who inspired me. Everything I needed to know to survive on a new planet was learned in Jacaranda lined streets and in swimming pools, classrooms and lecture halls in Pretoria and Johannesburg, not forgetting the memorable two years spent in the smell and flame-spewing streets of Secunda. (See previous post on this enthralling time in my life.)
Much of what I was taught as a child was of course a lot of propaganda and indoctrination, especially at school, but even those days have made me who I am and inform everything I write. Even now my new work is set in South Africa, as I suppose a trickle of South African blood (or should that be melktert?) runs in my veins and no matter how I move on, change and adopt new ideas and beliefs, part of me will always remain rooted in the red dirt of Africa. So please, if you're anywhere nearby, why not pop in and say Howzit! I'll be waiting...
Being an alien is hard. I've mentioned this before, so when I was invited to join this event I must confess to feeling conflicted. I love living on my new planet but am much saddened by what's happening in South Africa at the moment. I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to 'celebrate' South Africa. I'll even admit that apart from my family and friends, I don't even miss it much, as sixteen years on I am still marvelling at the delights of Europe and loving the freedom to travel practically anywhere with my maroon passport. I've just returned from a holiday in Menorca, a mere two hour flight away.
But as I thought on it, I remembered (and admitted) that South Africa made me who I am today. It gave me the skills and opportunities to hone my craft and nurtured in me the same pioneering spirit that drove my ancestors from England, Wales and Germany to a new life in Africa. In a sense I've completed the circle they started as long ago as 1820.
From the days of teaching sweaty children to sing and read and write, to writing Kideo, Pumpkin Patch and Generations to becoming an actual author published in the UK, all of this is a result of my life in South Africa, and the teaching, input, support, encouragement and hardships I endured there and the people I met and who inspired me. Everything I needed to know to survive on a new planet was learned in Jacaranda lined streets and in swimming pools, classrooms and lecture halls in Pretoria and Johannesburg, not forgetting the memorable two years spent in the smell and flame-spewing streets of Secunda. (See previous post on this enthralling time in my life.)
Much of what I was taught as a child was of course a lot of propaganda and indoctrination, especially at school, but even those days have made me who I am and inform everything I write. Even now my new work is set in South Africa, as I suppose a trickle of South African blood (or should that be melktert?) runs in my veins and no matter how I move on, change and adopt new ideas and beliefs, part of me will always remain rooted in the red dirt of Africa. So please, if you're anywhere nearby, why not pop in and say Howzit! I'll be waiting...