‘RIVETING, INSIGHTFUL AND BEAUTIFULLY TOLD. A DEEP DIVE INTO A HIDDEN UNDERWORLD REVEALING THE VERY HUMAN FACE OF POACHING AS NO OTHER BOOK HAS.’
– Julian Rademeyer, author of Killing for Profit, on POACHER
BOOK PUBLISHING –
EDITING, WRITING & PROOFREADING
2005 to present
Consulting to major imprints, such as Tafelberg, Human & Rousseau and Kwela. Specialist in fiction and nonfiction – English as well as Afrikaans.
UPCOMING TITLES (2019):
Developmental editor – young-adult fantasy
Editor – West Coast cuisine
Contributing writer – Traditional cuisine
Contributing writer/proofreader – Health cookbook
Proofreader – Afro-Jewish life-writings/memoir
Proofreader – Detective fiction
PUBLISHED (2017-18):
Editor – The South African Vegan Cookbook by Leozette Roode (H&R)
South Africa’s first vegan cookbook with a large commercial print run, this culinary adventure celebrates the wonder of a body powered by botanicals.
Editor – The Vagabond by Frank Rautenbach (Lux Verbi)
The story of how the Hollywood star comes undone when he ends up as a janitor – and is forced to seek true meaning in his life.
Editor – Ultimate Survivor – Saved from My Drug Hell by Hykie Berg (Lux Verbi)
This memoir candidly shares the actor’s story, from Hillbrow’s drug dens to a maximum security cell in Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital.
Contributing writer – Chocolate by Katelyn Williams (H&R)
Indulge in a luxurious affair that will dissolve all resistance and deepen everything you think you know about one of life’s most enduring pleasures.
Contributing writer – There’s an Angel in My Pantry by Willie Strauss (H&R)
A quirky, nostalgic food memoir that transforms old favourites into original combinations – with celestial approval from the angels themselves. Published in Afrikaans as ‘Daar’s ‘n engel in my koskas’.
Contributing writer – Boerekos with a Twist by Annelien Pienaar (H&R)
Mouthwatering plot turns on simple, filling home-cooking lovingly made by your mom, gran and great-gran. Published in Afrikaans as ‘Boerekos met ‘n twist’.
Editor – POACHER by Kimon de Greef and Shuhood Abader (Kwela)
Confessions from the abalone underworld.
‘A stunning achievement.’ – Richard Poplak, author and commentator.
‘The sentences glint like mother-of-pearl.’– Sean Christie, author.
Creative consultant – Anatoli by Tayfun Aras (Human & Rousseau)
Experience the history and heart of Turkish food, and its equivalent South African ingredients, in this celebration of Anatolian cuisine.
Proofreader – White isn’t a Colour by Nathan Trantraal (Kwela)
Life-stories about living in the Cape Flats. Described by Die Burger critic Charles Smith as ‘one of the best Afrikaans stories in years’. Published in Afrikaans as ‘Wit Issie ‘n Colour Nie’.
Proofreader – Shéri: Just the Way I Am by Shéri Brynard (Lux Verbi)
A breathtaking narrative of a woman’s fight to become the world’s first Down Syndrome person to earn a tertiary diploma.
Editor – The Twinkling of an Eye by Sue Brown (Human & Rousseau)
A boy’s battle against brain cancer. ‘Beautifully told. True aestheticism. I felt understood in my own grief.’ – Karina Szczurek, critic/widow of novelist André P. Brink.
Proofreader – Firepool by Hedley Twidle (Kwela)
Creative nonfiction about a not-so-new South Africa. Named one of the most compelling books of 2017 by the Sunday Times.
Proofreader – Savute by James Gifford (HPH Publishing)
A photographic and narrative celebration of Botswana’s ‘wildlife kingdom’.
Proofreader – Cult Sister by Lesley Smailes (Tafelberg)
Memoir: A South African girl’s decade in a secretive American sect.
Editor – Queen of the Free State by Jennifer Friedman (Tafelberg)
A coming-of-age memoir about growing up Jewish in small-town apartheid.
SUNDAY TIMES: BEST BOOKS OF 2017
Proofreader – On Your Bike by Chris and Tim Whitfield (Tafelberg)
Tips and trails for MTB riders.
MORE HIGHLIGHTS (2015-17):
The Truth about Relationships by Stefan Blom
Wild as it Gets: Wanderings of a Bemused Naturalist by Don Pinnock
The Impossible 5: In Search of SA’s Most Elusive Mammals by Justin Fox
Megastructures and Masterminds: Great Feats of Civil Engineering in Southern Africa by Tony Murray
CONTENT-EDITING & COPY-EDITING
2005 to present
My headline for a piece written by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, highlighting the IFP President’s outlandish claim. In this image, he stands next to Nelson Mandela following his 1990 prison release
Copy-editing for the Sunday Times and Business Times (Feb 2010 to Dec 2017)
A large volume of arresting copy and headlines for South Africa’s biggest newspaper: politics, business, finance, science, tech, lifestyle and sport.
Deputy editor/subeditor, Sunday Times Lifestyle Magazine (2007 to 2009)
Helping to manage South Africa’s most widely read lifestyle publication.
Other copy-editing clients include:
Business Day | Getaway magazine | House and Leisure | The IRB’s Official Rugby World Cup magazine | corporate clients.
Trevor Noah | Sunday Times Lifestyle cover | Business Times cover
FEATURE & COLUMN WRITING
2004 to present
Fields: Politics to culture, et cetera.
Pole Dancing | Sands of Silence | The Iceman
Writing highlight – Sunday Times environmental column
October 2010 to October 2013
I earned the Sanparks Environmental Journalist of the Year Award for this column. It was the first of its kind in the paper’s history.
The Future of the Big Five | Footprints Only | Heroes and Villains
Writing highlight – First SA female journalist to oversummer in Antarctica
October 2009 to February 2010
I was the second journalist (and first female journalist) to oversummer with the South African National Antarctic Programme as science writer-in-residence.
Download ‘The Silence of the Sirens’, House and Leisure, June 2014
Writing highlight – In search of the Knysna elephants
December 2005
Mounting the first media expedition in 10 years to find the presumed-extinct Knysna elephants. We discovered live evidence, such as fresh dung.
THE SUNDAY TIMES WILDERNESS/TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE YEAR
(FOUNDER/MANAGING EDITOR)
2012 to 2017
South Africa’s biggest platforms for nature/travel photography, with a strong focus on rare nature. I launched and managed these projects, giving away R2.5m in prizes. Veterans such as Obie Oberholzer, Greg du Toit and James Oatway were on the panels. With Canon and Wilderness Safaris.
Winners, 2014 | Sunday Times Travel cover, 2014 | Winners, 2015
BROADCASTING – TELEVISION & RADIO
Television field reporter/producer, 50/50
June 2006 to December 2007
My assignments for 50/50, South Africa’s oldest environmental television show, ranged from swimming with Wild Coast dolphins in a shark-infested sardine bait ball and chasing abalone poachers (but not simultaneously).
Radio producer/presenter, EnviroWorld
January 2001 to June 2006
I presented and syndicated my weekly science/environment show, EnviroWorld, throughout Africa, the Caribbean and UK via satellite and community radio.
No matter your project scope, I would love to make your content sing.
Connect with me for an obligation-free quote within 24 hours.
Image credit: 2018’s Books of the Year, Daily Maverick, December 2018
