The Hidden Lives of Writers

S03 E06 Helen Moffett

Helen Moffett is a writer, an editor, and an award-winning poet. Her novel 'Charlotte' was released internationally to great acclaim. Helen joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how every writer needs to be edited and why the business of editing has remained untransformed for so long. Helen…

22 Apr 1 hr 05 min

S03 E05 Diane Awerbuck

Diane Awerbuck is the award-winning author of multiple novels and short story collections. Her latest book is Inside Your Body There Are Flowers published by Karavan Press. Diane joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about being published at a young age and what a young writer brings to…

15 Apr 55 min

S03 E04 Ron Irwin

Ron Irwin is the acclaimed author of Flat Water Tuesday and My Side of the Ocean, which was recently published by Pan Macmillan. He is a senior lecturer in Media Studies at UCT and teaches in the UCT Creative Writing Masters programme. Ron joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to…

8 Apr 1 hr 14 min

S03 E03 Shafinaaz Hassim

Shafinaaz Hassim is an author, activist, and sociologist. She has written extensively about GBV, human trafficking, and women's issues. Her latest novel, Darlings of Durban, has everyone talking. Shafinaaz joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she built her literary career from the ground up and developed…

1 Apr 1 hr 05 min

S03 E02 Sven Axelrad

Sven Axelrad is a Durban-based writer whose debut novel Buried Treasure took the South African literary world by storm in 2023. Sven joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he balances his day job as an accountant with the demands of his lively literary imagination. He talks…

25 Mar 1 hr 06 min

S03 E01 Qarnita Loxton

In their first-ever remote interview, Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel are joined by the charming and delightful Qarnita Loxton. As well as being an award-winning novelist, Qarnita is a regular listener to the podcast, so it was great to have her on this side of the microphone. Qarnita is the…

18 Mar 1 hr 06 min

Season 3 is coming!

We have an episode locked & loaded and ready to go early in 2024. Gail and Fiona are going remote, and their first guest connects from Cape Town.

2 Jan 2 min

S02 E10 Mandy Wiener

Mandy Wiener is a superstar of South African journalism. Currently the presenter of the Midday Report on 702, Mandy is the award-winning author of Killing Kebble, Behind the Door: The Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Story, Ministry of Crime, The Whistleblowers, and more. Mandy joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel…

20 Nov 2023 1 hr 06 min

S02 E09 Jo Watson

Jo Watson is an internationally bestselling and award-winning author of romantic comedies. Her latest huge hit is What Happens on Vacation. Jo joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she got her start writing on Wattpad, building such a huge online audience that her first book garnered…

13 Nov 2023 1 hr 06 min

S02 E08 Craig Higginson

Craig Higginson is an award-winning novelist, playwright, and theatre director. His most recent book, The Ghost of Sam Webster, is currently making waves on the South African literary scene. Craig joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how writing for him is a thing that flows in to…

6 Nov 2023 1 hr 09 min

S02 E07 Ekow Duker

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…

30 Oct 2023 57 min

S02 E06 Ndumiso Ngcobo

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…

23 Oct 2023 1 hr 08 min

S02 E05 Nechama Brodie

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…

16 Oct 2023 1 hr 09 min

S02 E04 Hamilton Wende

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…

9 Oct 2023 1 hr 06 min

S02 E03 Kate Sidley

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…

2 Oct 2023 1 hr 12 min

S02 E02 Siphiwo Mahala

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…

25 Sep 2023 1 hour

S02 E01 Amy Heydenrych

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…

18 Sep 2023 59 min

S01 E11 Jonny Steinberg

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…

7 Aug 2023 1 hr 06 min

S01 E10 Joanne Joseph

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…

31 Jul 2023 1 hr 13 min

S01 E09 Fred Khumalo

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…

24 Jul 2023 1 hr 12 min