I was recently invited to speak at the Collegiate Girls’ High School in Gqeberha. The school is 150 years old. They chose to celebrate the occasion with numerous author and book events.
I was asked to speak about young-adult fiction (YAF). It is a topic I am passionate about, and I love reading YAF, but I am really old, so I started my discussion with a warning: At least half of what I was about to tell them, would be wrong. The problem was that I didn’t know which half it would be.
That was one of the reasons I asked four YA authors to share their views on their own writing with the girls.
The authors agreed to share their insights with the rest of the country on World Book Day.
Here I am with author and old girl Dianne Stewart at Collegiate Girls’ High School in Gqeberha. (Photo courtesy of the school)
Jaco Jacobs
Jaco Jacobs is the most popular and prolific children’s book author in Afrikaans. He has published more than 260 books and more than a million copies of his books have been sold. Jaco is also a well-known translator.
Many of his books appear in translation as well.
I asked him how he is able to write across such a wide register.
Anzil Kulsen
Anzil Kulsen writes children’s books, YA novels and books for adults.
She never shies away from difficult topis.
I asked her why she was willing to challenge her audiences like that.
Hannes Barnard
Hannes Barnard debuted in 2019 with the Afrikaans novel Halley se komeet, which he translated into English as Halley’s comet.
He has since published three more YA novels and a crime novel for adults.
Halley’s Comet is classified as a bildungsroman, that strange genre between young adult and adult fiction.
I asked him about that.
Fanie Viljoen
Although Fanie wrote good essays at school, he never thought he would become a writer one day. He now spends his days writing, illustrating or dreaming up new ideas for stories, and has become a prolific author.
His YA novel Pleisters vir die dooies has just been translated into English as Band aids for the dead.
We watch the trailer (which Fanie created) and then I chat to him.
See also:
Wêreldboekedag 2024: Trek aan soos ’n Suid-Afrikaanse kinderboekkarakter!