Writing for Africa

Innovation thinker Curtis Carlson has been quoted on the view that communication at the grassroots is smart but chaotic. This leaves a leadership vacuum.

As I write this, two state-sponsored threats to freedom of movement and expression are looming over South Africans. Motorists on Johannesburg highways – and eventually, it seems, in all major cities – will automatically be billed exhorbitant amounts through a fancy road toll system from which there will be no escape. The sheer cost of travel will restrict mobility.

And Parliament is once again to “debate” the absurdly named Protection of Information Bill (POIB) which will effectively close down channels of information about government. It will return us to the kind of official secrecy that prevailed under apartheid – this, under a reactionary ANC Parliamentary majority that has forgotten where the party came from and what it stood for.

All of this could be deeply depressing if it didn’t, at the same time, cause us to reassert our rights of citizenship. Read the rest of this entry »

A middle-aged couple who called themselves “grey rovers” asked me to help them write a book about their road trip through Africa. They showed dozens of photos and were burning with enthusiasm to have their story told. “Greys can do it!” they said, “there’s nothing to be afraid of!” I sent them away to write down whatever they could remember about their emotions, interior life and relationship (the mirror of their outward travels). They should draw from their diaries, then come back with something drafted.

My point was there are any number of travel books and one-dimensional tales of trips, but very few that project real meaning from the experience. For a retired couple adventuring through Africa, the sense of wonder, tinged with fear, and the rediscovery of the self, would really be the story to tell. Read the rest of this entry »

Writers can struggle to make a living but when things come together it’s wonderful. In the past few weeks I’m proud to have been associated with the launch of two new books:

• The autobiography of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
• A major work on on African philosophy and business, Attuned Leadership, by Dr Reuel Khoza

I substantially edited the former book, checking and overwriting many passages, and did major research and chapter crafting, including the full wordsmithing, of the latter. Both are big books – over 500 pages each. The Tsvangirai book took three months of work, 6 hours a day, and the other book was a labour of love over two years. When they both came out from Penguin just a few days apart it was like enjoying getting my matric results all over again.

People often ask me what it’s like to write, rewrite, or ghost write books. I’ve written Read the rest of this entry »