What's Been Keeping Me Busy???

This year has flown by! I cannot believe it is already September tomorrow.

I've had a crazy, busy year. The first half of the year was spent working on an early reader series for Cambridge University Press (UK). It was not the first time I'd written for this age group as I'd written a book for Macmillan UK called Elephants, which was part non-fiction and part cartoon story. But in this case with CUP, the readers were graded and learning the system required a very steep incline to be tackled. In the end, I wrote three fiction titles and two nonfiction. They will hopefully be coming out next year.

I've been spending a lot of time during the last few months going through various edits for my two books that will be coming out soon.

My book Thato Lekoko: Superhero will be coming out with Oxford University Press- SA in December this year. It's the story of a young teenager who is trying to manage her school duties, her home life, and her friends, while also being a superhero who can be called out at any time to save a dog in a well or a man in a car accident. She tries her best, but never seems able to measure up. This is the second book I have at Oxford University Press SA. The first is The Second Worst Thing which is now CAPS approved for grade 7 and is read in the schools there (along with my book with Vivlia, Curse of the Gold Coins, which is CAPS approved for the same age).

The other book I'm very excited about is called The Scattering and is being published by Umuzi (the South African imprint of Penguin/ Random House). It is my first published adult literary novel and my first book with Umuzi, an exceptional South African publisher.

The Scattering is the story of Tjipuka. It takes place primarily around the years of 1904-1908. Tjipuka is Herero and lives in the then German South West Africa (GSWA). After a series of events, the Herero rise up against the Germans and, at first, are successful. But then the Germans arrive with overwhelming fire power and a mission to exterminate all Herero people. In the final battle on the plateau of Ohamakari, Tjipuka loses her husband Ruhapo. Then begins her journey through the harsh desert, the concentration camp at the coast, and finally to Bechuanaland (the colonial name for Botswana) where she mistakenly believes she will re-find the peace that was lost on Ohamakari. The book will be coming out next year in May.

So that's 2015 so far. When I look back on what I've been working on this year, it looks as if I have been preparing for a very big 2016. Crossing fingers that next year, the 50th birthday of the country of my heart, Botswana, will be as wonderful as I hope it will for both me and Botswana.