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WELCOME

Hello, and welcome to my website. You will find information about me and my books here, as well as some news that I blog about.

If you would like to contact me personally, you can either complete the contact form on the contact page or get in touch with me on social media.

ABOUT ME

Thanks for stopping here to learn a little more about me.

I live in South Africa, my country of birth, but I spent the first 14 years growing up in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia at the time). Those experiences formed the foundation of who I am today. At age ten, I decided to become a teacher, and, after leaving my beloved country, I began to write.

My teaching career began in 1988 and spanned 12 years with children ages 5 to 12. Since 2003, I have taught English (Home and First Additional Languages) to teens ages 13-19. When I was 48, I decided to study for a Bachelor of Education Honours in Teaching and Learning. I graduated in April 2016 (aged 50). I am proud of what I accomplished since this was probably the most challenging thing I have ever done.

In 2003, I wrote my first children’s novel, Pop-In Jay Pomp, with supporting educational materials for the classroom. Schiel & Denver published the book in 2006. Additionally, I have written a romance adventure called Mareijke’s Courage and a crime romance called The 6th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill. My fourth book, The Power is Yours, is a motivational book for teenagers. My last books are Through the Bark, a YA fantasy novel, and Implicitly, a romance novel. My books are available through Groep7 Book Shop and Amazon. I am currently writing my autobiography, Padded Foot, Encumbered Mind. The main reason for writing this autobiography is to better understand my health and the chronic pain with which I live.

I love poetry, which means I tend to enjoy writing poems. In 2011, I entered a Quickfox Publishing poetry competition. My poem Crossing the Border was selected and published in the 2011 anthology, The Ground’s Ear. My poetry book is named Breathing African Air and is still to be completed. My first short story, Makeshift Moments, was published in the 2014 edition of Fingerprints.

In 2019, I received a diagnosis of Peripheral Neuropathy, and subsequently, in 2020, I made the decision to retire from my teaching career. This steered me in a new direction. Part of the change saw my family move from the bushveld of the northern province of South Africa (Limpopo) to the coast (Western Cape). I’ve been married to Nick Steyn since 9 January 1988, and we have two beautiful children: Jana (1992) and Colin (1997).