SOUTH AFRICAN AUTHOR LIVING IN CANADA

Have you come across Kobus de Villiers? I first saw his work on the Howzit website, where he has a blog section called Slypsteen's Corner (Slypsteen is the Afrikaans word for "Grindstone: a revolving stone, shaped like a disk, which could be used to grind, sharpen or polish edge tools or even a stone that one would wash clothes with). I love Kobus's writing style. He creates magic across the pages. I can literally hear, see and smell it all. Such a talented guy. What got me writing about Kobus was that I felt I needed you to hear his fascinating and intriguing stories too. He is one of the most interesting people you will meet. A South African from the Free State, married to a French woman. He did his time in South Africa, lived through the bush war and now a retired aeronautical engineer living in Vancouver, Canada. Kobus was prohibited from talking about his experiences and what went down during those times. The book will reveal a lot of his life and stories that he never got to tell. I don't do any of his work justice with my casual speaking tone across these pages, but Kobus has 4 published books and several short stories and it is worth the read.

Uiters Geheim en ander Anekdotes (the translated version, Top Secret and other Anecdotes is available) is about his travels and working in strange places on very secret aerospace projects. It received the 2019 Book of the Year award for the publisher.

And then there's Once upon a time I lived in Africa. A book written in response to so many questions and strange concepts that Canadians have about Africa and South Africa. Kobus's wife is considering translating this one into French and helped with the editing of the English version and it was published in early 2020.

Vlug 237, Ben Gurion na Waterkloof, is written in Afrikaans. It is written about a specific time when Kobus lived and worked in Israel for more than 6 years in the 80s.

You can find his books on Amazon and from Malherbe Uitgewers if you are in South Africa. Also, follow his blog, Slypsteen's Corner on the Howzit website.

Now that we have lockdown and that I can get all of his books on my Kindle - even better!

Happy reading!