Solid Gold Podcasts #BeHeard The Hidden Lives of Writers

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 Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he got his start writing anecdotes about his life while working as an engineer in the oil fields of Libya and Algeria. He describes how he self-published his first novel, only to have a major publisher approach him to publish it.

Fiona asks Ekow about the gap between his extremely contained and thoughtful real-life persona, and his wild and provocative fiction. Gail asks Ekow to describe what it is like when his writing is going well, and it feels more like taking dictation from an external source than creating it from scratch. Ekow breaks down his backlist for us, taking us through the inspiration and process behind each book.

For more details about the books, movies, series, and podcasts that are discussed on the show, sign up here for our weekly newsletter. Fiona and Gail would love to hear from you!
30 Oct 2023 English South Africa Books · Arts

Other recent episodes

S04 E03 Nthikeng Mohlele

Nthikeng Mohlele is a prolific and critically acclaimed author of multiple novels and short stories - most recently 'Revolutionaries' House'. His novel 'Breasts' has just been shortlisted for the UJ Prize for Fiction. Nthikeng joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how music informs his fiction and how…
23 Sep 57 min

S04 E02 Shubnum Khan

Shubnum Khan is the author of the novel ONION TEARS which has recently been rereleased in paperback. She also wrote the collection of essays HOW I ACCIDENTALLY BECAME A GLOBAL STOCK PHOTO and the internationally successful novel THE LOST LOVE OF AKBAR MANZIL. Shubnum joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel…
16 Sep 1 hour

S04 E01 Barbara Boswell

Barbara Boswell is a distinguished academic and novelist whose latest work THE COMRADE'S WIFE has taken the literary world by storm. Barbara was a visiting fellow at Oxford University earlier this year where she conducted research in preparation for future life writing. Barbara joined Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to…
9 Sep 1 hr 04 min

S03 E10 Ivan Vladislavic

Ivan Vladislavic is a multi-award winning author, editor, and professor of creative writing. His new memoir The Near North is available now. Ivan joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how not having grown up in Johannesburg has made him more curious about the city and how the…
20 May 1 hr 09 min

S03 E09 Lynn Joffe

Lynn Joffe is a copywriter, a novelist, a short story writer, and an author of children's books. She is the author of the critically acclaimed picaresque novel, The Gospel According to Wanda B. Lazarus, published by Modjaji Books. Lynn joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how she…
13 May 54 min
All episodes