Career in writing starts with reading

I DO not have a vivid memory of the first book that I ever read or the first story that ever captured my imagination. My family has never been fond of reading or anything related to literature for that matter.

My mother was an exception, although I suspect she was forced into reading because of her profession. As a primary school teacher, she was a well of information and I believe that it is from her that I inherited my addiction to knowledge.

It was this primal desire to know more that led me to books, which changed my life forever.

Growing up in a family that did not have a collection of books, I was forced to bury my head in anything that I could access which, more often than not, meant textbooks and school-prescribed literature. Reading also helped to alleviate boredom after school as we were only allowed to watch 30 minutes of TV every day.

It would later lead me to writing and a new chapter in my life began.

It was in 1993, at the age of 13, that I started to explore using words in various formats, especially in performance. I was captivated by rap and after high school discovered slam poetry in the Newtown and Melville underground scene.

This was where I sharpened my writing and performance skills, and was inspired by peer voices such as Lebo Mashile, Mak Manaka, Flo Mokale, Natalia Molebatsi and Napo Masheane, to name a few.

It was with this movement in mind and the desire to create a credible stage for young writers that my partners and I later founded the Word N Sound Live Literature Company in 2010. Using slam poetry as a vehicle for development we believed that we could draw young people into writing and reading to show them the opportunities available in a literary career.

In a country with such a low literacy rate, spoken word encourages curiosity and exposes people to literature in English from a range of cultures around the world.

To date, more than 1200 young writers and poets – and at least 25 international artists – have performed on our various platforms.

On a personal level, I have continued to expand my writing into other industries including business, television and advertising. I have also recently compiled my first short collection of poetry, Blueprint for a Coup D'Etat, and I look forward to producing my first multimedia production, Broken Men.

I believe that as writers we live in the perfect age to expand our writing and make a living from it. From print publications to blogs, audio and video productions, the possibilities for a writer are infinite.

Reading and writing are essential to every single industry and sphere of our lives. Thus as a writer and reader I will never be out of a job.

The world will always need words and I have plenty to give.

But it all started with reading. And as I travel and grow as a writer, I collect books which I read and then save to give to my children one day. I hope to inspire them while they are still young by surrounding them with literature, a privilege which I never had.

See

STORIES help your children to develop their language and thinking, especially when they hear or read them in their home languages.

See your free copy of reading supplement Nal'ibali in The Herald tomorrow. For children's stories in a range of South African languages plus reading and writing tips, visit or