The Hidden Lives of Writers

Ekow Duker is the author of White Wahala, Dying in New York, The God Who Made Mistakes, and most recently Yellowbone. Ekow was a finalist for the European Union Literary Award in 2011/2012 and is currently a judge in the fiction category of the Sunday Times Literary Awards.

Ekow joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he got his start writing anecdotes about his life while working as an engineer in the oil fields of Libya and Algeria. He describes how he self-published his first novel, only to have a major publisher approach him to publish it.

Fiona asks Ekow about the gap between his extremely contained and thoughtful real-life persona, and his wild and provocative fiction. Gail asks Ekow to describe what it is like when his writing is going well, and it feels more like taking dictation from an external source than creating it from scratch. Ekow breaks down his backlist for us, taking us through the inspiration and process behind each book.

For more details about the books, movies, series, and podcasts that are discussed on the show, sign up here for our weekly newsletter. Fiona and Gail would love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram · Chat with us on Twitter · Join our Facebook group · Subscribe to us on YouTube · Join our newsletter · Ask your writing-related questions here

Humorist, columnist, author, and social media star, Ndumiso Ngcobo needs no introduction to the South African audience – his column in the Sunday Times Lifestyle section has been a beloved institution for more than fifteen years.

Ndumiso joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how his early efforts as a blogger led to a national newspaper approaching him to write for them. We get deep into the weeds about writing humorously, and particularly about observational humour. The bad news is that there is no way to teach humour. The good news is that Ndumiso has more than his fair share of natural wit, which makes for a very entertaining podcast.

Fiona and Gail ask about how to deal with writer’s block when you have an immovable weekly deadline and Ndumiso talks about using material from everyday life to inspire creativity.

For more details about the books, movies, series, and podcasts that are discussed on the show, sign up here for our weekly newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r4a9m8 Follow us on Instagram · Chat with us on Twitter · Join our Facebook group · Subscribe to us on YouTube · Join our newsletter · Ask your writing-related questions here

Nechama Brodie is a distinguished academic, journalist, novelist, and pioneer in the field of fact-checking. She joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how the different career hats she wears make her feel at times as though she has multiple personalities.

Nechama talks us through how she got started as a journalist and how a random tweet got her involved in fact-checking and ultimately in training fact-checkers all over the world. She talks about the research she did to make her novels as authentic as possible, and what it was like to release a book at the height of the pandemic. Nechama has a new book out right now on domestic violence. She explains how she works to protect her mental health while researching such distressing topics.

Fiona talks about how being a writer is like having homework every day for the rest of your life. And Gail tells us why Phillip Pullman is not for her.

For more details about the books, movies, series, and podcasts that are discussed on the show, sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r4a9m8 Follow us on Instagram · Chat with us on Twitter · Join our Facebook group · Subscribe to us on YouTube · Join our newsletter · Ask your writing-related questions here

In 1985, a young Hamilton Wende watched the South African security forces drag seven bodies into Casspirs at Crossroads township and lie about it on the evening news. Since that day, he has dedicated himself as a war reporter to keeping the record and telling the truth in wartime situations.

Hamilton Wende joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to break down how he

went from being a 16-year-old boy who used to hide Pride and Prejudice behind his Maths textbook at boarding school to a seasoned war reporter, historical novelist, and children’s author. Hamilton is the author of numerous historical novels, set in wartime situations, as well as the Arabella series of novels for tweens.

Fiona talks about dealing with professional jealousy as a writer and Gail tells us how

her break from writing has freed up different parts of her brain.

This episode provides fascinating insight into how one man’s day job – war reporting

– can feed into decades of fiction writing. Follow us on Instagram · Chat with us on Twitter · Join our Facebook group · Subscribe to us on YouTube · Join our newsletter · Ask your writing-related questions here

Prolific writer, reviewer, columnist, co-author, and ghostwriter Kate Sidley joins Fiona and Gail to educate us on the nuts and bolts of being a co-writer.

Kate takes us from her earliest days as a young girl who was “good at English”

growing up in a small town in England, to being an in-demand magazine writer, to a much-requested ghostwriter.

Kate explains the various forms of ghostwriting, from total anonymity to open co-

writing that receives acknowledgement on the cover. She talks us through the process of interviewing a subject for many hours before writing can begin. Then Kate and Gail explain how they split up the plotting and writing for their hugely successful Katie Gayle cosy mysteries.

Gail talks about not writing until the tank is empty, but saving some for the next day,

and Fiona talks about paying attention to the little voice in your head that tells you when something you’ve written is not good enough.

For more details about the books, movies, series, and podcasts that are discussed on the show, sign up here for our weekly newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r4a9m8

Fiona and Gail would love to hear from you. Please join the conversation here:

Email: [email protected]

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Siphiwo is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, playwright, and academic. He is a noted scholar of Can Themba and the Drum generation.

Siphiwo joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how academia is taking over his writing time, and the effort he puts in to keep his creative work alive. He takes us through his earliest days as an idealistic young writer, when he quit his job after having a short story accepted by a journal - and how he quickly rejoined the working world after that!

Siphiwo talks about how toxic masculinity has become more of a problem since he wrote 'When a Man Cries', rather than less. He tells us about what it is like to teach a university course that includes his own work, and how he decides whether a new project should be a novel, a short story, or a play.

Fiona tells us about using the Pomodoro method to work on more than one project at a time. And Gail tells us about how it feels to get past the halfway point in writing your book.

And, of course, we discuss the progress of Siphiwo Mahala's famous beard - both on social media and in real life! Follow us on Instagram · Chat with us on Twitter · Join our Facebook group · Subscribe to us on YouTube · Join our newsletter · Ask your writing-related questions here

Amy Heydenrych has had extraordinary success in getting her books in front of major international agents. She grabbed the attention of these agents and converted their interest into significant publication deals.

Amy is the author of Shame On You and The Pact, and the co-author of Chasing Marian. She has a new book forthcoming from Karavan Press soon. Amy joins Fiona and Gail to share the secrets of successfully querying overseas literary agents as a young South African who started out with no connections in the industry.

Amy also talks about how writing is a career with a high failure rate, and how to pick yourself up and start over again when your career strikes a low point.

Fiona talks about how letting initial rejections get you down, even if they are brutal. Gail talks about using snippets of free time throughout her day to get a few hundred words of writing done.

Fiona and Gail learned a huge amount from Amy and can't wait to share this intel with their listeners. Follow us on Instagram · Chat with us on Twitter · Join our Facebook group · Subscribe to us on YouTube · Join our newsletter · Ask your writing-related questions here

We close out Season 1 on a high note with this fascinating interview with multi-award-winning author Jonny Steinberg, who was gracious enough to fit us in during his whistle-stop book tour of South Africa.

Jonny joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about his greatly acclaimed portrayal of the marriage of Winnie and Nelson Mandela.

Jonny and Fiona reminisce about their time together at Hyde Park High School, while Gail gets to the bottom of Jonny's origin story as a writer. Jonny talks about how his daily word count has decreased in recent years and how he doesn't start writing until he is at a point in his research that warrants it.

Fiona asks Jonny about his substantial backlist and whether he would approach any of those topics differently today. Gail drills down into how the Coetsee Collection of letters and transcripts facilitated the writing of this book.

Even people who know the Mandela story will have been surprised by the insights contained in Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage. Jonny explains that the Mandelas were the first South Africans to realise that celebrity is a political tool.

Fiona and Gail would love to hear from you. Please feel feel to join the conversation here:

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Today we welcome media personality, writer, and scholar Joanne Joseph into the studio.

Joanne takes Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel through the process of having a book adapted for the audio format. She describes how she got her start in media by auditioning for YFM as an 18-year-old and then advancing her career through the ranks of audio and TV. Joanne shares some details about the process of training one's voice for radio - spoiler alert; she has the most beautiful voice imaginable!

Fiona asks Joanne about her first writing project 'Drug Muled' and how her role as a presenter led her towards it. Gail asks about the origins of 'Children of Sugarcane' and the writing and rewriting process that brought into being.

Fiona and Gail discuss how they know whether a writing idea has legs or not and how to create sustained motivation for their characters. They agree that Joanne's willingness to redraft her manuscript in the service of quality writing is truly inspirational.

Fiona and Gail would love to hear from you! Please join the conversation here:

Email [email protected]

Instagram and Threads @thehiddenlivesofwriterspod

Twitter @hiddenwriterpod

Facebook discussion group: The Hidden Lives of Writers Follow us on Instagram · Chat with us on Twitter · Join our Facebook group · Subscribe to us on YouTube · Join our newsletter · Ask your writing-related questions here

Brad Pitt is in the studio!

Prolific and award-winning writer Fred Khumalo talks to Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel about how he inhabited the first-person consciousness of a female protagonist in Bitches' Brew. He has the ladies hanging on his every word as he describes how the historical inspirations for The Longest March and Dancing the Death Drill presented themselves to him.

Fred describes how journalism taught him not to wait for inspiration before starting to write. He starts writing and then the inspiration comes. He describes the experience of having his works adapted for the stage and how there is a certain loss of control during that process.

Fiona and Gail talk about whether it is necessary to have physically visited a place before setting a novel there, and the value of dwelling on details when describing time and place.

Fiona and Gail would love to hear from you! Please join the conversation here:

Email: [email protected]

Instagram @thehiddenlivesofwriterspod

Twitter @hiddenwriterpod

Threads @thehiddenlivesofwriters

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