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 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:
Email hiddenlivesofwriters@gmail.com
Instagram and Threads @thehiddenlivesofwriterspod
Twitter @hiddenwriterpod
Facebook discussion group The Hidden Lives of Writers
7 Aug English South Africa Books · Arts

Other recent episodes

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 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 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 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 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 1 hr 08 min