S01 E09 Fred Khumalo

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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.

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24 Jul English South Africa Books · Arts

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