‘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 imprints, such as Tafelberg, Human & Rousseau and Kwela. Specialist in fiction and nonfiction – English as well as Afrikaans.
UPCOMING TITLES (2018-19):
Editor – International poaching investigation
Proofreader – Afro-Jewish life-writings/memoir
Editor – Celebrity memoir
Bydraende skrywer – Humoristiese kookboek/memoir
Redigeerder – Weskus-kookboek
Editor – Celebrity memoir on overcoming drug addiction
Editor – ‘Conscious’-eating cookbook
Contributing writer – Artisanal cuisine cookbook
Contributing writer – Boerekos met ‘n Twist (2018)
PUBLISHED (2017-18):
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 – Wit Issie ‘n Colour Nie 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’.
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 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)
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: 2017’s best reads, Sunday Times, December 2017
