1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:06,280 Speaker 1: Seven two Weekend Breakfast the Literature Corner. It is twenty 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:08,719 Speaker 1: minutes before ten o'clock. At the top of the hour, 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:11,479 Speaker 1: we'll get your very latest eyewitness news. Before that, we'll 4 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: find out from Kenny Maystreet what's coming up on his 5 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: show when he takes over seven or two music at 6 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: ten o'clock. But before then, we end the show in 7 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,079 Speaker 1: the Literature Corner as always on a Saturday, and this 8 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: week we're speaking about a memoir that was written six 9 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: weeks following the sudden death of Matt. This is Melinda 10 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,599 Speaker 1: Ferguson's partner, and it is a book that kind of 11 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: tells the story of how Melinda moves through the shock, 12 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: the sadness, the sorrow of loss, but also trying to 13 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: keep alive a swift bird that she'd rescued just a 14 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: few days before her partner passed away. And so this 15 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: book is, you know, this kind of memoir of grief, 16 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: of pain, but also of I guess, trying to keep 17 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: this little thing alive. And so joining us this morning 18 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: is Award Winnings African journalist, author, publisher Melinda Ferguson joins 19 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: us this morning. Melinda, very good morning to you. Welcome 20 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: to Weekend. 21 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 2: Breakfast, lovely to hear your voice again, goods. 22 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: Always a great leasure to have you on the show. 23 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: So Swift is a book that comes out of a 24 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: very difficult time. Your partner passes away and then you 25 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:19,959 Speaker 1: start writing tell us about that. 26 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean I'm insane. Matt only died on 27 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 2: the twenty third of November last year, which is just 28 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 2: over four months ago, and I've got a book out already, 29 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 2: which is like you might what happened and why are 30 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 2: you so insane that you would do this? But it 31 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 2: was literally a book I wrote so that I wouldn't die, 32 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 2: you know, like I wrote to keep alite in a 33 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 2: very very very dark time. My partner, my beautiful soulmate, 34 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 2: died incredibly unexpectedly, another one of these unexpected deaths where 35 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 2: I got home, I couldn't get hold of him on 36 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 2: the phone. I wasn't here. I spent a few days away, 37 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 2: and then one on the Sunday, I just rang and 38 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 2: rang his phone. And I always thought, you know, he 39 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 2: didn't really like sit on his phone like me, and 40 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 2: he didn't answer it sometimes and sometimes it wasn't charged. 41 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 2: So I made up stories the whole day. Why wasn't answering. 42 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 2: But in this dark kind of part of my soul, 43 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 2: I started thinking, maybe he's dead, you know, like maybe 44 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 2: that is why he's not answering. But I had rescued 45 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 2: this baby swift and the reason I'd gone to the 46 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 2: mountains with Matt's blessing. I mean, he had put insect 47 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 2: nets in the car. He taught me that the bird 48 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 2: needed to only eat insects like maths, crickets. I mean, 49 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 2: where was I going to get that stuff? You know, 50 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 2: it wasn't like a bird that just ate seed. It 51 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,959 Speaker 2: was a swift and I knew nothing about the swift. 52 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 2: I thought it was a sparrow, you know. It was 53 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 2: a bird that I rescued that had fallen out of 54 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 2: the nest, and I had no clue what to feed it. 55 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 2: When I came back home to Cape Town with this bird, 56 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 2: Matt ran into his kind of rest few action. He 57 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 2: was very good with birds, and he told me to 58 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 2: go to the pet shop and buy crickets termite's worms. 59 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 2: And there I was like feeding this little hardly a 60 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 2: live baby bird with Matt's help getting it to come alive, 61 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 2: which had been quite miraculously. And then I went off 62 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 2: to the mountains to kind of remind the bird where 63 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 2: it came from, because it would need to fly soon, 64 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 2: because it was, you know, getting to that stage. And 65 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 2: while I was away, Matt died. He had a massive 66 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 2: heart attack. I've discovered subsequently. Obviously that came on the 67 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 2: autopsy report. He had no sign of anything wrong with them. 68 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,839 Speaker 2: So when I kissed him goodbye, I'll expected to see 69 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 2: him again. And I came back home and the house 70 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 2: was locked up. It was quite clear that something was 71 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 2: wrong because his keys were in the door and he 72 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 2: wasn't answering. Smashed a window, got into the house and 73 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 2: found my my soulmate dead in bed, and I had 74 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 2: a bird in my hand. Matt was in the bed 75 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 2: no longer breathing, and all I could do with this 76 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 2: bird and go, I've got to keep the bird alive. 77 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 2: Like he was dead. I went into bed state, almost 78 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 2: of catatonia. I just focused on this bird. The police arrived, 79 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 2: the guy's taking his body went like his sister's ex wife. 80 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 2: Everyone was in the heart crying, screaming, and I was 81 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 2: just sitting staring at a bird and feeding it. And 82 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 2: the book is written in the fifteen days that this 83 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 2: thing happens the eight days or the seven days before 84 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 2: Matt dies when I rescued the swift, and then the 85 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 2: eight days hereafter, and then I believed that his soul 86 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 2: was tortured and that it would sit in between, you know, 87 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:52,559 Speaker 2: in that space of not being able to be freed, 88 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 2: and the bird was in my hand. I read up 89 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 2: about this bird. It was believed that this bird arrived 90 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 2: to be the carrier of the soul. In ancient teachings, 91 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 2: some people believed the bird in fact brought death. The 92 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 2: swift was a bringer of death, and they used to 93 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 2: stone this bird in like the Middle Ages, and they 94 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 2: try and get it to go away because they called 95 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 2: it a devil shrieker. And the irony google that the 96 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 2: bird did arrive just before he died. So in a way, 97 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,160 Speaker 2: you did the swift bring his death. But I believed 98 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 2: the bird was given to me so that it would 99 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 2: carry his soul. And that's what the book's about. 100 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: And so you have this I guess this moment right 101 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: as you describe it, of you walk in and your 102 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: beloved is dead, they've passed away, but you have this 103 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: little bird, and this bird also needs you. It wasn't 104 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: in the best opposition. You were nursing into how to 105 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: get it better, so at some point, as you were 106 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: taking it up to the mountain, it would fly away. 107 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:54,720 Speaker 1: And so it seems that at the same time, not 108 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: only are you contending with death and the loss and 109 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: the grief, but also at the same time you need 110 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: to be holding space for believing genuinely that this little bird, 111 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,159 Speaker 1: the swift, can get better, that it can be okay, 112 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: that you can nurse it and love it even as 113 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: you grieve so much so that then you know it's 114 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 1: okay by itself. And that sounds like quite an interesting, 115 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: I guess paradox. That's kind of like wah, the death, 116 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: the dealing with loss, but also at the same time 117 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,159 Speaker 1: kind of keeping hope for this little little thing to 118 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: stay alive. 119 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,280 Speaker 2: And that's what's so weird about this book is that, like, look, 120 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 2: I wrote it in the first draft, came out in 121 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 2: two weeks out of me. It wasn't like I was writing. 122 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 2: I mean, I've written for memoirs, I've written the Aka book, 123 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,840 Speaker 2: I've written other books Oscar I help can Dee with 124 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 2: Honey with her book being Chris Haney's daughter. I've done 125 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 2: a lot of writing, but I've never been like in 126 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:53,240 Speaker 2: a situation where I was working eighteen hours a day downloading. 127 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,919 Speaker 2: It felt like something had come into me when the 128 00:06:55,920 --> 00:07:00,280 Speaker 2: bird left. I mean, obviously I'm going to give away 129 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 2: because the bird does in fact fly. It does fly 130 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,359 Speaker 2: on the eighth day. I managed to somehow get this 131 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,839 Speaker 2: bird to fly. But googa, it's not even a normal bird. 132 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 2: This bird had to be the right weight, it had 133 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 2: to eat one hundred crickets a day. I got help 134 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 2: from a woman in the UK, and that's another whole 135 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 2: part of the book. A swift activist found me on 136 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 2: old Twitter. I have no idea how, and she just 137 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 2: came into my timeline a few hours after Matt died, 138 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 2: and she came to rescue the swift with me. And 139 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 2: it's like a weird fairy tale that was given to 140 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 2: me that was real life. And so there's this really 141 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 2: kind of weird part of me that is in such 142 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 2: deep grease the loss of my husband. And then another 143 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 2: part of me is thought of so much magical hope 144 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 2: and joy because I managed to get a bird to 145 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 2: fly and my beautiful soulmate's soul to be carried out 146 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 2: with the swift, and I believe that, and I mean 147 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 2: one of the things that happens in the book, I 148 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 2: have a risk. The stories we tell ourselves are everything, 149 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 2: and the stories we tell ourselves how we cope in 150 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 2: this world are everything. So I believe deeply in my 151 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 2: soul that the bird had come to allow me to 152 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 2: allow that to leave. And no one will ever be 153 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 2: able to prove that not true because I believed it, 154 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 2: and I do believe it so deeply in my soul. 155 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 2: And perhaps it is a story I made up feel 156 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 2: better so I could go dark time. I'm not so broken. 157 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 2: But every time I go back to the plant going 158 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 2: above my head, flocks and flocks of them come. Even 159 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 2: at Monte Casino. I was in joe Burg and I 160 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 2: look up in the swift in the sky. So I 161 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 2: feel very held by these birds. And I never even 162 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 2: liked birds. I didn't even know birds Google. I had 163 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 2: no clue. I'm not a bird rescuer like I like 164 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 2: I didn't. I never was interested in birds. Birds kind 165 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 2: of were birds, right. 166 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: And now now there's the swift and you can't unsee it. 167 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 2: Now I'm a swift activist. It seems like I've become 168 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 2: like part of the swift. Whole idea. And I mean, 169 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 2: the thing is like, these birds are miraculous. They don't 170 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 2: land ever unless they're going to a nest, so they 171 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 2: can fly for two years in the air. They eat 172 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 2: sleep mate. They are the fastest birds and the most 173 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 2: sophisticated aviators kind of in terms of being able to 174 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:35,679 Speaker 2: swoop and speed. Their speed outdoes all other birds in 175 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:38,199 Speaker 2: the whole of the bird kingdom. And I never knew 176 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:38,959 Speaker 2: any of this. 177 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: And so this book, I think is so interesting in 178 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: that often when we think about grief and that sort 179 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,319 Speaker 1: of certainly those early days when you were really really writing, 180 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: we think of it as been quite immobilizing, right, you 181 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: can't do anything. Some people don't eat, some people stop, 182 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,720 Speaker 1: you know, bathing because of just like the weight of 183 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: the grief is here for you. The grief was almost 184 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: like this, this jolt of I have to get this 185 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,600 Speaker 1: all on paper and do it quickly. And I think 186 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:11,560 Speaker 1: that's it was so interesting that. 187 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 2: It was your most energizing time I've ever had in 188 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:17,680 Speaker 2: my life. I mean, how does that make sense? Because 189 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 2: I know exactly what you mean. The darkness of grief 190 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 2: gets hold of people and you like go under darker, darker, 191 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,560 Speaker 2: it's very sad and it's very immobilizing. Yet was me. 192 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 2: I had the most opposite response, a kind of an 193 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,560 Speaker 2: energy that I didn't even have control over. It just 194 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 2: came to me, and then this book was burst. I 195 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:43,200 Speaker 2: also then became the publisher, of course, because it's Poprint 196 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:47,959 Speaker 2: Ride or die Press Melinda Ferguson Books, my own publishing house, 197 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 2: and of course now I had to also take on 198 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 2: the business. But you know what I think is that 199 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 2: because it's been still and I've had so much work 200 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 2: to do, I've just not allowed myself to go down 201 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 2: into that. Although there are times, of course you go there, 202 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 2: but then you have managed to catapult out. 203 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: And so even in your as you kind of detail 204 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 1: your experience of grief, because many of us think of 205 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: like the five stages or seven stages of grief, it's 206 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: kind of like, you know, it's the shock, it's the denial, 207 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:22,240 Speaker 1: it's the bargaining, it's the anger, and then acceptance. But 208 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:26,679 Speaker 1: very seldom does grief follow that very neat sort of order. 209 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 1: And often it's said that people can go through the 210 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: same phase twice. You can experience the denial or the 211 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: anger many many times. For you, what was that experience 212 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: again as you were also trying to keep this little 213 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 1: swift alive, which kind of needs you. It needs you present, 214 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: it needs you, you know, to kind of feed at 215 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:48,560 Speaker 1: the crickets. It needs you to make it. 216 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 2: It needed me like twenty four hours a day. It 217 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 2: was like a newborn baby that was on steroids because 218 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:56,440 Speaker 2: it was growing like every day, like its wings would grow, 219 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 2: it would put on the weight. It suddenly went from 220 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,080 Speaker 2: being like a be draggled little bit maybe that had 221 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 2: no like it looked like it was blind because it 222 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 2: was so deydrated. It had fallen out of the nest 223 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,439 Speaker 2: and had not eaten for eighteen hours when I picked 224 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 2: it up. So to see a transision of this bird 225 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:16,079 Speaker 2: becoming like a really majestic creature in a very short 226 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 2: it was as though I was just being taken on it. 227 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 2: And then when I started writing, all those stages of 228 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 2: grief that you're talking about were kind of moving on 229 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 2: a daily level because the book, once I finished it 230 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 2: became the acceptance. I mean, it became a supreme exit 231 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:39,160 Speaker 2: acceptance very quickly. I mean, he's only been gone for 232 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:44,280 Speaker 2: four months. My book came out last week, and it's 233 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 2: a very strange I've got it contains everything that I 234 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:54,199 Speaker 2: wanted to in a way process and it went into 235 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 2: process because of writing. And I do believe that writing 236 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 2: is the most edible, transformative assess thing you can do 237 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 2: in terms of getting through hard emotion. And that's the 238 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,560 Speaker 2: kind of work I do with writing courses. And suddenly 239 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,199 Speaker 2: I had to put myself through what the teacher I 240 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,839 Speaker 2: had been telling students. I was now saying, seize the 241 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,440 Speaker 2: day and do it, which is what I always tell writers. 242 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 2: Don't just sit there thinking right right. And I went 243 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,080 Speaker 2: and had to take my own advice, which I threw 244 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 2: away very easily at people, and I just I didn't 245 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 2: have a choice. I went into a tunnel of creativity 246 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 2: and I came out with a book, and then I edited, 247 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 2: and then I started getting, you know, all the business 248 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 2: of the book together. But it was really a very 249 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 2: swift birth, a swift delivery, and now afset with a 250 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 2: book called swift right. 251 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: And so even I guess engaging your own work in 252 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: that way because as a writer you have the benefit 253 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: of often you write the work and then you hand 254 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 1: it over to an editor, and then you publisher looks 255 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:57,959 Speaker 1: at it, and then it comes back whereas here you 256 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:01,200 Speaker 1: were involved in almost every stage of production with this 257 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,839 Speaker 1: particular book, and a book so I guess vulnerable and 258 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 1: tender and still quite raw for you. So how did you, 259 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: I guess, manage that process and that you really didn't 260 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: have distance from the story. You wrote it, you edited it, 261 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: you published it, you were. 262 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 2: Kind of I'm so glad you've asked me this, because 263 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 2: for me, that's a real miracle because the broken author 264 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 2: me the one who was like crying and not able 265 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 2: to actually breathe properly because after he died, it felt 266 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 2: like my body had been pulled to pieces and part 267 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 2: of my arm was off and my leg was off 268 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 2: because he was such an integral part of my life. 269 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 2: And then suddenly the wounded author now has to deliver 270 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 2: a book that's written in enormous pain also humor, by 271 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 2: the way, I mean, when you read it, I don't 272 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 2: think you've managed to get the copy it because it 273 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 2: was the Easter weekend and we were trying to send 274 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 2: it to you. But basically, what I had inside me 275 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 2: was such a kind of confusing dual role that I 276 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 2: had to then almost like say shut up to the 277 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 2: author and the publisher. Then became just like the brutal mistress, 278 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,880 Speaker 2: mistress of the book. And I do have a brutality 279 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 2: in me that is able to say, what if feeling 280 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 2: put it aside, this is now you're going to print. 281 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 2: I have that business like experience because I've also done 282 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 2: about one hundred and twenty books in my career, so 283 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 2: I do have, thank God, an experience of getting the 284 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 2: book the business together. So I think that brutality where 285 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 2: I just had to actually leave the bleeding author who 286 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 2: was still in tears, and then just take the book 287 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:44,000 Speaker 2: and say right print, get the editor, get the prepred borrower. 288 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 2: I suppose in a weird way, it showed me just 289 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 2: how strong I am. And that's been such a like 290 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 2: an affirmation for myself. Say, though you just lost your husband, 291 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:56,720 Speaker 2: you managed to produce a book. 292 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, and so the book is out. Where do we 293 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:02,880 Speaker 1: find swift if we're looking. 294 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 2: For a copy. I'm almost all exclusive books. I reckon, 295 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 2: have a take a lot, got a bargain books, Wordsworth 296 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 2: Book Lounge in Cape Town, Love Books and Joe Berg 297 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 2: like all the stores. If they don't have it, you 298 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:19,080 Speaker 2: tell me and I'll get on. I'll get on to them. 299 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: Great Melindas, thank you so so much for your time 300 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: this morning. So it's a pleasure chatting to you. 301 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 2: Thanks book, Thank you very much. 302 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: That's award winning South African journalist. She's also a publisher. 303 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: She's an author. Her latest book, Swift, is now out. 304 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: Melinda Ferguson joining us this morning.