Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? Where you come from, what you do, your interests and hobbies etc. Any fun details

Born and bred in Cape Town, I work as a book editor for a publisher, and previously spent many years as a journalist and magazine features editor. My vices include shopping at charity stores and subversive thoughts. My joys are dancing tango, practising Zen meditation, and making up ridiculous names for people (including ourselves) with my daughter. 

What’s your earliest piece of writing that you remember?

A poem I wrote at age eight was published in English Alive, a journal of school literature. It was called ‘Flying’. I remember my Standard One teacher patting me on the shoulder and showing me my poem in the book.

In your opinion, what’s the greatest challenge facing writers in the South African market?

The relatively small market of book buyers, compared with developed countries like the US, Britain and Australia. That said, if you write a novel that becomes a prescribed reader for local school or university students, you could sell a lot of books.

How do we overcome this challenge?

Keep your day job, enter writing competitions, and apply for writing residencies. You can try to write a book that will resonate with readers internationally and look for an overseas publisher. Or write stories about local people, places and issues that are so compelling they become setwork books. Focusing on a niche that you’re passionate about is better than trying to emulate the bestsellers of the moment, I feel. It’s more honest, and your genuine fascination with the topic is likely to touch readers.

Where do you get your inspiration for your books/stories from?

From situations I’ve experienced, whether as a witness or a direct participant; from the memorable characters I encounter in daily life; and from the weird thoughts that drop into my head. My mind produces these quirky ideas that make me go, ‘Ooo, I like that. Imagine if that happened.’

Writing is hard. It’s a lonely art that requires you to be disciplined. It requires hours and hours of research and even more time hunched over a computer and writing. Thereafter, you open yourself up to criticism from complete strangers. Why would you want to do that to yourself?

It’s the price you pay for creating something. As soon as you put something out there, you divide opinion. Some people will love it, some will hate it. Oh, and plenty will be indifferent. That’s why it’s important to have solid, personal reasons why you write. And to be confident in the products you put out in public. There are plenty of people who won’t like your work and will gladly dismiss it in a one-sentence tweet, but you’ve got to ask yourself: did they write a novel?

In my opinion, the goal of a writer is to evoke a reaction from the reader. What do you hope to evoke from your readers with this book/with your writing?

I’m a writer, a philosopher and a spiritual teacher. My aim is to entertain people into opening their minds and shifting their consciousness so they can see things in a different way. I aim to bring a sense of hope and possibility, as well as accountability: for example, to heighten awareness of pressing issues like climate change, and to encourage people to take personal responsibility for the way things turn out.

Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?

Yes, I do. Bad ones: I sometimes agree with the criticism. And if someone just didn’t like my book, that’s fine. Taste in literature is highly personal. I shrug and feel glad they took the time to a) read my book and b) review it. The good ones? Sometimes I marvel at what readers and reviewers draw from a book, especially when it wasn’t something I’d consciously intended. The reader is the mysterious Other in the conversation that is a book. With each reader, different alchemy happens. When someone has a ‘Yes, I loved it!’ response, it leaves me with a smile on my face that lasts years, because it confirms I achieved what I set out to do. I recently read on The Good Book Appreciation Society Facebook group that one of its members had adored my first novel, The Love Book (Oshun), and had read it at least eight times. That was really special to hear.

Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

Definitely. There are little in-jokes and asides for people with all sorts of arcane interests: Zen Buddhists, dancers of the Argentine tango … Also, in The Last Book on Earth I edited out a lot of detail and backstory. A romantic part of me thinks an energetic residue of these pasts remains in the book and some readers who are sensitive to these things will absorb them.

Are you working on any other projects at this moment? What do you have planned for the future?

I recently finished writing a collection of essays entitled Vital Sight: 10 Radical Views for a Richer Life. Each chapter focuses on a concept, with a diagram, to encourage you to see life from a more helpful perspective. It’s totally quirky and eclectic, with examples ranging from shipwrecks to Formula One drivers to the Dalai Lama. One can be very creative with the essay form: keep it succinct and academic; let it grow organically wild; mix it all up. I had a blast with it.

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Twitter: @CatrionaWriter

• Top 3 Books of 2020 (South African or International):

All My Lies are True by Dorothy Koomson

Not to Mention by Vivian de Klerk

Old Drift by Namwali Serpell

• Top 3 Television Shows:

The Crown

Downtown Abbey

Game of Thrones S1-7

• Top 3 Movies:

I only have 2: The Wolf of Wall Street and 12 Years a Slave

• Top 3 Musical Acts:

Notorious BIG

Luther Vandross

Whitney Houston

• What are you reading right now?

House of Stone by Christina Lamb

About your latest book

• In your own words, what is A Family Affair about?

A Family Affair is a book about family ties and the lies that often bind them. The book invites you into the Mafu home in middle class suburbia, Bulawayo. On the outside, they look like a picture perfect middle class family, headed by the patriarch, Abraham who pastors a church and his long standing wife, Phumla. The three main themes that permeate the narrative of the novel are patriarchy, religion and culture. It incorporates romance and sex, sometimes illicit and not always consensual. There is  humour, drama and intrigue which make up this saga. All families are complicated. Think of the first family we meet in the bible, Cain killed his brother Abel – right there you have sibling rivalry and jealousy played out. Yet families are obsessed with keeping things together and exuding this appearance of perfection yet a lot of dysfunction begins in families.

• What inspired you to write it?

This book was inspired by the society we live in. Everything you read in the book happens in real life. I was 20 when I started making observations for this book. It’s a manuscript I would revisit at certain stages of my life only to discover that nothing had actually changed, things that bothered me then, still bother me now and so I decided maybe it was time that this book saw the break of dawn.

• The reader goes on a highly emotional journey in which the story addresses some serious evils that possess communities, such as gender-based violence, misogyny and sexual assault. What I’d like to know is, did you intentionally write A Family Affair around these themes, or did they organically infiltrate the plot during your writing process?  

Yes, I was very intentional about writing about these themes because gender based violence remains an insidious occurrence in our society. It was there when I started writing this book 20 years ago, I can’t say it has gotten worse, I just believe that women are now more adept at exposing it than they were 20 years ago. So I was keen to explore how social constructs, religion continue to perpetuate and not alleviate gender based violence. 

• What I took away from the book was an indictment of the expectations society has on people. In this case, on black women, and the shunning, almost abuse of women who are seen as not meeting those expectations? Is this an accurate interpretation? And if so, what message would you like to deliver to black girls and women in regards to this?

Yes, this is an accurate interpretation of the book. I don’t want to be          dogmatic in my messaging but I just want to tell that girl who doesn’t want to conform to societal expectations that it’s okay. That what is important is that you live your own truth and own it.

• A lot of reviews of the novel note that there are a number of graphic love scenes. Was this done intentionally to ‘shock’ the reader?

The love scenes in the book are not there just to fill space or padding. They are an integral part of the plot. There are different types of sex described in the book, consensual and non consensual. I have found in many discussions that people don’t understand the concept of consent, marital rape, date rape etc. So you juxtapose this with consensual fulfilling sex.  So people shouldn’t just flip pass them. Not sure why people are uncomfortable with sex in novels. If you are going to write a novel about family, church there will obviously be procreation in there!

About Sue Nyati

• Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? (Where you come from, what you do, your interests and hobbies etc. Any fun details)

I was born, bred and educated in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe. This is why you will find that most of my books are set here. I have always been an avid writer and my creativity began to show at the age of 8 when I would cut out pictures from magazines and write little excerpts around them.  My interest in writing was further nurtured throughout high school where I received several accolades for my poetry. However paradoxically, it is prose that has captured my heart. Fun facts about me, I used to be a Formula 1 Racing addict. The sport used to give me an adrenaline rush. I don’t watch much television but I love binge watching series. I was a member of the Bulawayo Ornithological Society (Bird Watching) so that I had the freedom to leave home on weekends!

• What’s your earliest piece of writing that you remember?

I was thirteen when I penned my first “novel” titled “Crazy over You” on a Marvo A5 exercise book. My classmates were my first readers and my books were passed around from class to class. I gained notoriety for books in high school.  

• A Family Affair is your third novel, after The Polygamist and The Gold Diggers. Where do you get your inspiration for your books/stories from?

 I draw my inspiration from life.  If you think that family is the most basic unit but there is so many stories in a family. We all come from families, we love them, hate them or tolerate them but every family has a story and more often than not the stories are scandalous.  So the Mafus lift up a mirror to your own families and hopefully people will introspect and be equally provoked into discussion about some of the themes I have raised.

• Your debut novel, The Polygamist had been optioned to be turned into a movie in 2017. Do you have an update on how that process is going?

It was optioned but the option has expired without exercise by the producer due to lack of funding for the film so the rights have since lapsed and have reverted back to me however I don’t think that is the end of that story. There is something in the pipeline with regards to adaptation but at this point it might not necessarily be a movie.

• In your opinion, what’s the greatest challenge facing writers in the South African market?

There are many challenges for South African based writers, but the greatest being that they are writing for a very small market which means there is limited scope in terms of sales and earning a living from writing. Trying to diversify as a South African based writer and breaking into the global market  is even harder.

• Writing is hard. It’s a lonely art that requires you to be disciplined. It requires hours and hours of research and even more time hunched over a computer and writing. Thereafter, you open yourself up to criticism from complete strangers. Why would you want to do that to yourself?

I do that for the simple reason that writing chose me, I did not choose it and every time my son says to me he wants to be a writer like me I try to dissuade  him for the very same reasons. You need to be thick skinned as a writer, not just to handle scathing criticism but to handle the rejection which often times comes with manuscript submissions.  Also writing nowadays requires you to be performative and this is difficult if you consider how introverted most writers are.

However because I am passionate about writing, this fuels me through the long arduous hours spent in creation. I don’t think it’s lonely but rather it requires you spend many hours alone. I never feel alone as during the writing process I keep company with my characters. When I think of the times I wasn’t writing it would still call to me. The voices in my head would get louder and louder, forcing me to write them into life. I can’t run             away from it, which is why I say it chose me.

• In my opinion, the goal of a writer is to evoke a reaction from the reader. What do you hope to evoke from your readers with A Family Affair?

I want to provoke a discussion on the issues of culture, gender based violence, patriarchy, marriage, sex, religion and the other themes that are woven through the book. I have eavesdropped on conversations about the characters in my book and I love it. I don’t want people to say it’s a good book and leave it there, I want them to engage with it and interrogate it.  There is so much in that book beyond being an entertaining read.

• Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?

I do read my book reviews, especially in the beginning after the book is released just to gauge the reception.  If people liked it, what did they like about it? If they hated it, what did they hate? However I try not to take it to heart. The same way I read a book and not like it is also the same way others could receive my work. I think the trick is to realise that not everybody will like your writing or gravitate towards your books. However, you just need to get enough people to buy into your story and that’s enough.

• Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

I don’t hide secrets but there are certain aspects of me that land up in some of my books so if you know me very well you will be able to discern that this is Sue here. However there are certain things that only certain readers pick up and I am like wow,  you are quite a discerning reader.

• What was your hardest scene in A Family Affair to write?

The domestic violence scenes were hard to write because recreating violence is not an easy feat but at the same time you need the reader to feel the brutality. It’s not enough to say he beat her up. This is where the showing and not telling becomes so important. I find a lot of times violence in novels is romanticized. There is domestic violence but then it morphs into hot passionate sex likes it’s a prelude to foreplay. So while that may happen, it wasn’t my intent. I wanted to write violence for what it is – violence. Some readers may complain that the scenes are too graphic but violence isn’t pretty, its ugly and should make us uncomfortable.

• Are you working on any other projects at this moment? What do you have planned for the future?

Yes, I am busy with an anthology but apart from that I also started writing the sequel to the Polygamist. This was unplanned and just took root during the lockdown. For the longest time I swore I would not write a sequel to the Polygamist. I felt the story was complete. However as ideas often do, it jumped at me and I was like there is the story.

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Website: www.suenyathi.co.za

Twitter: @suenyathi

Instagram: @suenyathi

Facebook: Sue Nyathi

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