Award-winning author Lauren Beukes features in the second episode of Brand South Africa’s Play Your Part TV series, to air on SABC2 on Sunday 22 June at 9pm.
Beukes says that when she writes, it’s “like taking a road trip at night. You know where you’re leaving from and where you’re going to, and some of the major landmarks along the way. The rest of the time, it’s pitch black. You can see 20 feet ahead of you in the headlights and you just have to figure it out. And sometimes getting lost or taking a detour from your intended route turns out more interesting.” (Image: Lauren Beukes)
Lauren Beukes is raising the profile of South Africa in circles not reached by the everyday. The science fiction writer has won the Kitschies Red Tentacle Award as well as the prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award for Zoo City. Playing her part for South Africa, she is raising the profile of the nation internationally through her novels.
Beukes has been described as South Africa’s most inspired new literary voice, writing imaginative fiction with a crazy twist. But her fantastical stories also shine a light on real issues with which people grapple. She says: “I like cute. I like dark. I like rugby-tackling social issues through fiction.” Her ideas develop like Polaroids in her head, she explains. “I always know my beginnings and my endings.”
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
First published on Media Club South Africa – Brand South Africa’s library of quality images and articles, available for free
