‘BEAUTIFULLY TOLD. TRUE AESTHETICISM. I FELT UNDERSTOOD IN MY OWN GRIEF’
– Karina Szczurek, author, critic & widow of novelist André P Brink
BOOK PUBLISHING –
EDITING, WRITING & PROOFREADING
2005 to present
Consulting to major publishers, such as Tafelberg, Human & Rousseau and Kwela. Memoirs, science, astronomy, wilderness, travel & tourism, arts, health, food, politics, finance, sport, wellness, engineering and psychology.
Book projects include (several titles are in confidential production stages):
Editor – Epic fantasy novel (long-term)
Editor – Poaching investigation (2018)
Editor – Africa/global investigation into natural-resource politics (2018)
Editor – Celebrity memoir on overcoming drug addiction (2018)
Editor – ‘Conscious’-eating cookbook (2018)
Contributing writer/proofreader – Turkish cookbook (2018)
Developmental editor – Ongoing global wildlife investigation (2017-19)
Proofreader – Wit Issie ‘n Colour Nie by Nathan Trantraal (Kwela, 2018)
A collection of life-stories about living in the Cape Flats. Described by Die Burger critic Charles Smith as ‘one of the best Afrikaans stories in years’.
Proofreader – Shéri: Just the Way I Am by Shéri Brynard (Lux Verbi, 2017)
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, 2017)
A critically acclaimed account of 12-year-old Craig Brown’s battle against brain cancer, as told by his mother.
Proofreader – Firepool by Hedley Twidle (Kwela, 2017)
Creative nonfiction about a not-so-new South Africa. Described as ‘enviably well written’ and named one of the most compelling books of the year by Sunday Times books critic Tymon Smith.
SUNDAY TIMES: BEST BOOKS OF 2017
Proofreader – Savute by James Gifford (HPH Publishing, 2017)
A photographic and narrative celebration of Botswana’s ‘wildlife kingdom’.
Proofreader – Cult Sister by Lesley Smailes (Tafelberg, 2017)
Memoir: A South African girl’s decade in a secretive American sect.
Editor – Queen of the Free State by Jennifer Friedman (Tafelberg, 2017)
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, 2017)
Tips and trails for MTB riders.
I was also proofreader on:
The Truth about Relationships by Stefan Blom (2016)
Wild as it Gets: Wanderings of a Bemused Naturalist by Don Pinnock (2016)
The Impossible 5: In Search of SA’s Most Elusive Mammals by Justin Fox (2015)
Megastructures and Masterminds: Great Feats of Civil Engineering in Southern Africa by Tony Murray (2015)
CONTENT EDITING & COPY EDITING
2005 to present
My headline for a piece by IFP President Mangosuthu Buthelezi. In this image, he stands alongside Nelson Mandela following his prison release in the 1990s
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
Beyond the Pale | Spotted – Roberts Birds | Broken Flowers
Writing highlight – First national weekly eco column by a female journalist
October 2010 to October 2013
I earned the Sanparks Environmental Journalist of the Year Award for my science and environmental reporting in my weekly column for the Sunday Times.
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 South African journalist to spend a summer on the frozen continent with the National Antarctic Programme in its then 50-year history, and the first South African female journalist.
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
In association with Canon South Africa and Wilderness Safaris, the Sunday Times Wilderness Photograph of the Year and Sunday Times Travel Photograph of the Year competitions were South Africa’s biggest talent platforms for global nature/travel photography, with a strong focus on endangered nature.
I conceptualised, launched and managed these projects, giving away R2.5-million in prizes. Iconic photographers like Obie Oberholzer, Greg du Toit, and James Oatway were on the panels.
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, SA’s oldest environmental TV show, included swimming with dolphins off the Wild Coast in a shark-infested, sardine bait ball and touring the country’s landfill sites.
Radio producer/presenter, EnviroWorld
January 2001 to June 2006
I made, syndicated and presented my own weekly eco-science/wild-travel show, EnviroWorld, heard throughout Africa, the Caribbean and UK on the SABC, DStv Audio and community radio stations across South Africa.
No matter your project scope, I would love to make your content sing.
Connect with me for an obligation-free quote within 24 hours.
Featured image credit: ‘Top authors’ picks of 2017’s best reads’, Sunday Times print edition, December 23, 2017
