An interview with Gavin Evans author of Son of a Preacher Man. In this episode, I talk with award winning London-based South African writer Gavin Evans, author of Son of Preacher Man. While preparing for my book club discussion on James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain, I noticed the book Son of a Preacher Man lying in one of the piles on my book table. Both books tell the story of a preacher's son; one in fiction, the other in a memoir. That connection immediately sparked the idea to reach out to Gavin Evans. In this conversation, you'll hear me ask questions that emerged from that idea. Gavin Evans answers them with generosity and depth, sharing insights about his relationships with his parents, his conversions, what makes literature "good" or "bad", what is good writing, and how Marxist ideas continue to influence thinking in our world; I even learned that Marx writes beautifully. He also reflects on why right-wing views persist, the human need for love, and how living with his wife, Margie Orford, whose own memoir Love and Fury has just been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Non-Fiction Award, has made the present feel more present. This conversation evolves around my believe why writing memoirs matters: they differ from fiction, yet they hold equal importantce in helping us make sense of our lives and the world we currently live in.

Listen and be captivated by her exquisite brief stories. In this episode you can join me on a journey to discover Lydia Davis, winner of the 2013 Man Booker International Prize- now known as the International Booker Prize. She is renowned for her exceptionally brief stories. Some are just one sentence long, but don’t let their brevity fool you. Each story can make you pause, contemplate and bring you delight in unexpected ways. Rather than just interpreting her work or telling you why I think her books are worth reading, I’ll be sharing four of Lydia Davis’ short stories with you: stories that I believe are quite unique. A special thanks to Stuart Cairns from Love Books in Melville for introducing me to Lydia Davis’ work last year. It’s been a great ride to discover her voice. In this episode you’ll hear: -Sketches for a Life of Wassily; -Almost No Memory: -Money & -Travelling with Mother. You can find these stories in: The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, copyright © Lydia Davis, 2004. I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I enjoyed reading them.

Realisations evoked by Ashraf Kagee's 'Song of the Slave Girl'. In this episode from The Story Explorer podcast, I take you on a personal journey from growing up in the Netherlands to discovering new perspectives here in South Africa. Before we start this exploration, a quick spoiler alert, I’ll be sharing key elements from the novel that inspired this episode. Still, I believe I do this in a way that leaves room for your own discoveries. The focus of this episode is ‘Song of the Slave Girl’ by South African writer, psychologist, and academic Ashraf Kagee. He lives in Cape Town and is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Stellenbosch University. This is his third novel. His debut ‘Khalil’s Journey’ won the European Union Literary Award in 2012 and the South African literary Award in 2013. Two other books that play an important role in this discussion are: ‘Early Slavery at the Cape of Good Hope, 1652-1717’ by Karel Schoeman, a celebrated South African historian and novelist, and ‘Indaba, my Children’ by Credo Mutwa, a legendary isiZulu sangoma and keeper of his people’s stories. These books inspired me to rethink aspects of my Dutch upbringing. In this episode I’ll share with you parts of that journey. I raise a difficult question for my Dutch listeners. And I offer a kind of ‘retelling’ of the factual record from Schoeman’s research, using a single word as an anchor to change the way we see the world.

About Red Sorghum by Nobel prize winner Mo Yan. In this episode you'll hear about my preparations for a book club discussion on Red Sorghum by Chinese author Mo Yan at Saint-Germain, 44Stanley in Johannesburg. Mo Yan is the only citizen to date awarded the Nobel prize in Literature, which he received in 2012. After announcing the book to our group, a loyal member, an award winning teacher, Natalie Alexander, approached me and told me her mother had grown up in China. This sparked the idea to prepare for book club together, as Natalie could offer insights into Chinese customs and culture that I wouldn't discover on my own. I take you through our journey of uncovering what makes Red Sorghum unique, from cultural details remembered by Natalie to the telling techniques Mo Yan uses. I discovered the acceptance speech of Mo Yan on the Nobel prize website and I quote from this speech. I believe it is an exceptional speech. The acceptance speech gives us clues on how to interpret several telling techniques, like repetition and colour. Together, Natalie and I developed discussion questions for the club, grappling with the novel's vivid depictions of extreme violence, committed by both Chinese and Japanese characters, and the surprising use of dark humour, which I initially missed. I share with you what the response is from the book club members. And Natalie Alexander presents a letter she wrote to the group, in this episode she reads it to us as an interlude. And when my episode is finished we have a chat about how it was for her to hear me telling about our preparations and the book club evening we hosted together. I close this episode with a short story I wrote myself, an attempt to echo some of the storytelling techniques we believe Mo Yan used in Red Sorghum.

in conversation with award winning journalist Mr. Hamilton Wende. In this episode, I have a captivating conversation with award-winning journalist, war correspondent, television producer, and children’s book author Mr. Hamilton Wende. With this podcast, I aim to continue having one-on-one conversations about books. When I approached Mr. Wende, he immediately said yes and suggested we discuss the Brontë sisters: a subject he finds deeply fascinating. Mr. Wende proposed we focus on three major Brontë novels, along with the renowned biography by Juliet Barker. Although Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, featured in my previous episode Jane Eyre in Africa, was still fresh in my mind, I felt a flicker of panic. I realized I’d need to read the 800-page biography, immerse myself in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, and reread Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Since the biography had been on my reading list for years, I decided to accept the challenge. In this episode, you’ll hear us talk about when and what Mr. Wende reads - and why. He explains his fascination with the works of the Brontë sisters. Together, we explore the recurring theme of abuse in their novels, a subject we find both intriguing and disturbing. Mr. Wende’s extensive knowledge of European literature guides us through a wide array of literary and historical references; many of which I now feel inspired to explore or revisit.

What can go wrong, and how it might go right. In this episode, I share how I prepare for the bookclub evening at Saint-Germain; a popular gathering spot in 44 Stanley, Johannesburg. The evening will centre around Heaven, a novel written in 2009 by Japanese author Mieko Kawakami. Kawakami won the Murasaki Shikibu prize for this book in Japan, and the English translation by Sam Bet and David Boyd was shortlisted for the International Booker prize in 2022. A bookseller from Exclusive Books in Hyde Park, Johannesburg, had recommended this book to me. The book is about teenagers who are being bullied at school. Bullying is a subject that I believe needs our full attention. That's why I choose it for the book discussion. I'll take you inside my thought process when preparing the questions that form the basis of our bookclub conversation. For example, my first question is inspired by an Instagram reel featuring influencer Mel Robbins and Dr. Gabor Maté. This prompted me to start the discussion with the question: "What is the real trauma here?" I explain the construction process of the other 4 questions too. And I share what unfolded during the evening; how bookclub participants responded, where we found agreement, and where not... I end the episode with some afterthoughts. If you have seen the Netflix series 'Adolescence' you'll probably recognise it leaves you with a horrifying, barbed wired knot, in your chest. I'll compare the two stories and explain why I think the ending of Heaven (which definitely leaves us with hope) makes these kind of stories crucial to be read in our world.

About how and why to read beach reads. In this episode, I share my reading experience and interpretation method with two books I read during the South African long summer break. The two books I read and discuss here are 'The lack of Light' by Georgian writer Nino Haratischwili and 'There are Rivers in the Sky' by Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak. I explain to you why 'The lack of Light' resonated with me despite the story being set in a horrible war. I share with you how I - after finishing this book - while on holiday in The Western Cape end up in a small mall in Noordhoek and find this amazing gem of a bookstore called Wordsworth Books. I introduce to you my book buddy from The Netherlands, who relentlessly recommends books to me. And, I share with you a method to interpret the story using one of the motto's of 'There are Rivers in the Sky'. This book has four motto's. I use the one that is from 'The epic of Gilgamesh', to explain how I make meaning and interpret the writer's intention. It's my attempt to inspire you to reread the motto of a book after you've finished it.

How to read Jane Eyre in Africa. In this episode I talk about my experience when I discussed my favourite book, Jane Eyre, with a group of teenagers in Hillbrow at the Windybrow Arts Centre in Johannesburg. I share with you what I discover about this book during this journey. Jane Eyre not only is a white classic which in itself makes it a complicated choice, yet it also, as I learn along the way, has a racist element in it that can not be excused. At the Windybrow Arts Centre I used the children's version from Tanya Landman, first published in 2020 by Barrington Stoke, an imprint by HarperCollinsPublishers. This - in my opinion - very good retelling of Jane Eyre does not talk about the colour of the skin of the characters. But how do we read the original nowadays? I don't believe we should stop reading important stories from the past. On the contrary we should read them and look at what they tell us about ourselves. And talk about it with each other.

Why making stories matters. In this episode I share with you four stories I wrote myself. I used to be 'only' a reader, yet I started to notice the question in my body: 'Where is my creative output?'. Inspired by Brenee Brown and the theory she shares in her book 'Rising Strong', about the importance of stories and the possibility to create connection between people via story making, I started to write down my own stories. The first story I share is about a heavy topic. I grew up with a parent that struggled with depression; so I got to know this 'thing' up close. Depression comes in many forms which is why our experiences often differ. The story 'The death of a deathly pale girl who loved dark chocolate', expresses my look on what can happen when depression lives inside a family. The other three stories are much lighter in topic. 'The coffee date' is a short story about an encounter with someone in a mall in Johannesburg. 'A morning walk to the Seine' was a writing exercise from my mentor and writer Barbara Adair. I went on an African Art Gallery expedition in Paris in 2022 and as writing exercise she gave me the assignment to sit at the Seine and write a story. This is that story. The last story, I share with you is called 'The heir'. It is a short, short story: it is actually more of a dream. A dream I have about the city Johannesburg. Each short story I share with you in this episode is an expression of a thought or feeling, yet I wrapped words around them. And I hope each story will spark a connection with you.

In this episode, I have a conversation with South African writer Barbara Adair about the book Crooked Seeds from Karen Jennings. This book is published by Karavan Press in 2024. I share with you how I know Barbara and how we decided we were going to have a conversation about this book. Karen Jennings was long listed for the Booker Prize in 2021 for her book An Island. Barbara shares with us the story of how she knows about this writer and why she wanted to have a conversation with me about this story. Crooked Seeds is about a woman who is stuck, and as I just had read Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (he won the Booker Prize in 2023 with this book), I hesitated to talk about another book that has a main character who is stuck. And yes, this book is hard to read if you look at the story and characters as if they are real people. Yet in our conversation, Barbara explains a different way of reading this story which helped me understand the story in another way. I am from the Netherlands and I have sometimes specific ways of reading, looking at books and stories, and in this conversation I mention a few of those. For example, my starting point is often to look at the story from the perspective I learned from a Dutch author I read many years ago. This author is Jos VandeLoo. I translated and shared his view on literature as follows: "Literature must make people think. The people have to become participants of the story, they have to take a side, make a judgement call. They have to do something!"

A challenging read that proved to be fun! In this episode, I share with you what I discussed with a few people who joined the book club evening @Saint Germain, 44 Stanley, Johannesburg on the 9th of May, 2024. We read If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, published in 1979 by Italo Calvino. I thought it would be a challenging read, but I actually found myself having so much fun with the book. I am a fan of Roland Barthes essay 'The death of the author" and while I read this book I thought this is either a play, or a critique, or a tribute to Roland Barthes. Via questions and a categorisation assignment we talk about this book. I guide the participants through a word play activity to find 'a' meaning, my meaning, of this book. I share a passage from the book that I believe 'proofs' this play. We kept talking about the book, even when we lost all lights and our host Nikki brought us candles, so we can continue despite a huge power outage. In the dark we talk about reading aloud to someone else. I have just read in the book Papyrus by Vallejo that when the alphabet was invented, we read aloud for many, many years before someone invented silent reading. Nowadays podcasts and audiobooks have become a normal go to for many people. I wonder, has the reader died and has the listener been reborn? Everyone in the small group acknowledges that they rather read a book because it gives the possibility to underline sentences or passages, yet, we also wonder are we becoming lonely travellers? I end the conversation with presenting a novel in German: Der Vorleser. This book was translated in many languages, and in English it is called The Reader. The famous movie with Kate Winslet and David Kross is well known. We talk about the difference in meaning between the reader and der Vorleser. We were with only four, yet we felt inspired and heard by each other, even in the dark.

We are told "it takes two to be a slave". I will share with you what the book club evening was like in a little cafe in Johannesburg, early 2024. On this specific evening I discussed the book Homegoing, written by Yaa Gyasi in 2016. This book is her debut. She won National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize for Best First book with Homegoing. She was only 26 when she won this prize. I prepared questions to discuss with people who also had read the book. My intention with this book club is to hear what other people have to say in answer to questions I have with regards to the book. This episode is about the main theme of this book which is the effects of slavery on the lives of many African people. The outlook of this book brought me to a history of slavery: Born in Blackness by Howard W. French, Black American artist Kara Walker and a song titled come home, come home - bra fie by Fuse ODG. The group consisted of mainly white people, but was at last joined by an African American man, who joined the conversation with meaningful words.

Hello listener, welcome to my podcast series: The Story explorer. I am a reader who has the need to talk with others about what I’ve read. I have started and joined many book clubs. I now run one in a little café in Johannesburg. You are all welcome to join. But because time is sparse for many of us and Johannesburg is not within travelling distance for many readers I am taking up the challenge to talk about books in a podcast. I believe a story always is embedded in something else. This will be the starting point of this podcast journey. I want to look at what is around the story; what is the location? Who are the characters? What is it that happens in the story? What does it do within me, the reader? What do I think the author wants to say? What does this story make me think about? These are questions I want to explore with books that I think are important and we all should read and talk about.