A Western Cape teacher has been selected to be part of a group of emerging writers of non-fiction and fiction who will be mentored and considered to have their books published.
The Jakes Gerwel Foundation/NB Publishers made the announcement last week and Plumstead High School teacher, Faeed Amardien, is keen to use his writing skills to impact the youth he works with every day.
Other participants in the 2023 mentorship programme include Bonisani Sibeko, Nadia Cassim and Reginald Hufkie.
They will be mentored by seasoned mentors and editors Angela Briggs for the English writers and Suzette Myburgh for the Afrikaans writers.
Cassim obtained an honours degree from the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2008 but chose to pursue a career in fine arts instead.
Bronwyn Davids of the Jakes Gerwel Foundation said one of Cassim’s short stories has been included in the anthology, “Riding the Samoosa Express” (published by Modjaji Books).
She is now working on her first novel.
Bonisani Sibeko was born in South Africa, but grew up in the United Kingdom where his grandfather was living in exile, Davids said.
Davids explained that Sibeko was recruited into the South African State Security Agency where he learnt, as an operational scribe for ministers and even the president himself.
He is also a musician, traditional healer and writer and assumed the pen name King Afrika Sibeko. He is preparing to write his first Afrocentric sci-fi and fantasy novels.
Hufkie, is an actor, singer and writer and has been seen on programmes such as “7de Laan” and is looking forward to writing about sports and music.
Davids said the writers would be part of the year-long programme and would have to learn to do their own editing after submitting their manuscript.
“Every single mentorship is different and is designed to suit the purposes of the genre, whether it is for publication or performance,” Davids explained.
“What happens is any author who submits their manuscript or the first three chapters of their book proposal to NB, may find themselves headed to Somerset East for mentorship. There they will work with their mentor, refining their manuscripts.
“NB submits the manuscripts of authors it wants to work with, and the Jakes Gerwel Foundation’s independent readers and mentors study all the manuscripts, discuss the work and choose four authors on merit.
“Some authors come with completed manuscripts that they need to structure and rework. Some come with three chapters.”
Amardien said he had no idea his writing would expose him to a whole new world.
“Two years ago, when I wrote this, I had no idea it would open more doors for me.
“When the opportunity came from the Jakes Gerwel Foundation, I could not think of a better opportunity to empower myself and my writing.
“It is a great initiative that provides young, raw, and eager individuals who aspire to become writers the platform to expose their stories and the narratives that are more often than not ignored.”
Amardien gave some insight into his work and said his writing focuses on what people experience, daily from tragedy, poverty and trauma and abuse.
“It’s about a young, marginalised, and disenfranchised boy on the Cape Flats who yearns to survive after losing his father and younger brother in a tragic accident. As if this is not enough, his mother becomes physically absent after choosing a life that she missed out on in her younger days.
“He (Leonardo) finds himself on the street, struggling to survive the streets of Cape Town.
“The odds are highly stacked against him having no education.
“Finding his mother after many years in an abusive relationship, he does something that has serious repercussions. The myriad challenges that the youth grapple with, particularly on the Cape Flats, need to be told.”