Writing
I’ve always written, working briefly as a press officer after I graduated with a degree in journalism, then more contentedly as an advertising copywriter. Jerry de la Femina was right, advertising really was ‘the most fun you could have with your clothes on’, in those days — now, of course, there’s Paintball —  but all the while I knew I was biding my time, waiting for the big novel idea to tap me on the shoulder. 
One day, amid the burning rubber and teargas that was black South Africa in the late Apartheid years, it did. It was a tap I was eager to shake off at first; how could I, an urban, white South African, write about a brown-skinned indigenous person living in a remote area? How could I do it convincingly, ethically?  That's another story about a long journey I've been on; you'll find reference to it here. 
Picture
Baobab writing spot.
Meanwhile, I lost hope of the South African apartheid regime ever handing over power to a majority government. Packing up my three worldly treasures,  husband and two small children, I left the country. Once in England, the tapping grew louder, more insistent, harder to disregard, until finally I felt it physically, like a hand pressing on my shoulder, forcing me into that chair in front of my typewriter. 

Yes, a TYPEWRITER! I started my first novel in pre-p.c. days. Tippex was the height of hi-tech... and there were Pterodactyls flying past the window. I didn't even see 'em. Too busy clacking those typewriter keys, telling Koba's story. She'd chosen me and I couldn't let her down.

My Novels

So far, there are two Koba novels,
Salt and Honey and Kalahari Passage.

Teaching Writing

I taught Creative and Professional Writing at the University of Wolverhampton.