Being an ex South African, rooting out discrimination of any sort is very important to me. My maternal grandfather was highly political and did hard labour for his activities in the ANC. My mother stayed out of politics; perhaps because she and her siblings had suffered the hardships her dad’s imprisonment dealt the family. But she was not afraid to voice her opinions in as strident a way as possible. And while at times I was embarrassed by my mother’s loudness, over time I came to value her openness and questioning attitude. She instilled in me a deep love of reading. But more importantly she fostered the idea that I should not take everything read as concepts set in stone. In a recent Twitter post on how to get children to read, Joanne Harris said it so much better than I do. My childhood reading, along with people skills learnt from my dad has definitely helped me become the adult I am today. And while I’ve never been as bolshie as my mother I’ve
I write therefore I am