A Writer's Lot by Zukiswa Wanner

So here I am in Sun City. I could tell you about all of them in my sleep but, I won’t. Well not a lot. I would rather tell you about the guy who landed me here.

It always began with emails.

“Dear Mr. Dube,
I am a journalist from New York Times/Times/Newsweek/Le Monde/The Guardian” etcetera etcetera. Then there are the flattering platitudes about how the journalist loves my first work of fiction, Township Stories. And then, inevitably it ends, “I will be in Johannesburg from ____________ to ____________ and would love to interview you as one of the literary torchbearers in post-apartheid South Africa.”

This story has been selected for the StoryTime anthology African Roar 2011, please go to the African Roar site for more info.

A Writer's Lot was written by Zukiswa Wanner.

Copyright Zukiswa Wanner 2009.

Zukiswa Wanner is a Joburg-residing novelist, blogger, and short-story writer and more of her writings can be seen at her blog at African Writing Online.

Zukiswa was born in Zambia to a South African father and a Zimbabwean mother. Her mother claims that she has been rebellious ever since her birth at the momentous time of the Soweto Uprisings.

Her primary and high school education was undertaken in Zimbabwe. An only child, Wanner insisted on studying her journalism undergraduate degree at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu – allegedly because she wanted to learn more about the fascinating Kanaka Maoli’s (native Hawaiian) rich history, but in actual fact because that was the only place she knew where her parents did not have friends.

Craving independence and restless by nature, Zukiswa also lived in England for a time. However, she now insists that she is permanently tied to the cultural capital of the world, Johannesburg, where she lives with her son, her computer and her fridge.

Her debut novel, The Madams, published in November 2006, dealt with racial role reversals in post-apartheid South Africa. She has also written numerous short stories for the amusement of her Johannesburg comrades in ink and drink AKA the JDL, although Zukiswa herself claims not to drink – much. In addition to writing fiction, she has also contributed essays to Oprah, Elle and Juice magazines, and literary reviews and essays to Afropolitan and Sunday Independent.

Behind Every Successful Man is her second novel. A funky, witty tale of a mother turned entrepreneur – to the great exasperation of Andile, her husband and BEE tycoon.

Zukiswa is a founder member of the ReadSA initiative, a campaign encouraging South Africa to read South African works, together with other South African writers.

Her third novel, Men of the South, came out in June 2010.