Dianne Hofmeyr

Dianne Louise Hofmeyr, née Townsend was born in Somerset West and grew up in Gordons Bay in the Western Cape. She attended Cape Town Teachers Training College and majored in art, psychology and English. She was an art teacher for twenty years at various schools. Dianne lived in Stellenbosch, Pretoria and Sandton before she and her husband moved to London. Her hobbies include film, theatre, photography and design. She has been writing for children for just over ten years. As a child she loved words ..."especially those with an almost musical incantation which evoked exotic images, even if I didn’t understand them ...
Words like indigo, lapis lazuli, lozenge". She says she was often read to as a child and as a teenager she was seldom without a book. Authors she admires now are Carson McCullers, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatjie, Isabel Allende, Peter Carey, Doris Lessing and E. Annie Proulx. She was prompted to begin writing herself when she saw an advertisement asking for youth manuscripts for the Sanlam Competition. She decided to write about a young girl growing up in Gordons Bay. It was a totally therapeutic experience and from then on she was hooked.
Over the years, Dianne has won the following awards : 1988 : The Sanlam Silver Award for Youth Literature 1990 : The Sanlam Gold Award for Youth Literature (A Red kite in a pale sky) 1993 : The Maskew Miller Longman Young Africa Award (Blue Train to the moon) 1994 : The Sanlam Gold Award for Youth Literature (Boikie you better believe it) 1995 : The M-Net Book Prize 1996 : The IBBY honours youth novel for South Africa
She considers Red kite in a pale sky to be her most successful book. "Young readers relate to the drama of the story and the fact that it is based on a real situation ... the Natal floods of a few yeard ago. There seems to be an emotional connection with the story and the characters, with the sibling rivalry and the need for the hero to break free of family ties". Many of her teenage novels are prescribed on school lists. When whales go free, is also successful because the drama of it appeals to children and they enjoy books about animals. Blue train to the moon, is the subject of love and being H.I.V. positive. Its diary format encourages less enthusiastic readers. "A writer often takes a flaw in human nature as the starting point of a story. The character carries a burden. This was the case in Boikie you better believe it. "As a writer you are free to observe the world as created ... but you shouldn’t resort to tidying up reality! I couldn’t have begun to tidy up Boikie’s father!". Dianne believes it is difficult to summarise a single theme in one of her books. She says ... "writing has to do with drawing on the sub-conscious. The subconscious is fed by what you are doing... reading, watching a movie, listening to music, drawing, dreaming. Layers develop as you write. Its like putting down a photographic image in developing liquid." Her stories generally deal with conflict, both inner and physical. The endings are a "come to realise", rather than cataclysmic. "Children can be empowered by developing conflict resolution skills, but I don’t set out specifically to achieve this". Teenage novels often provide a mirror to reflect on what the world has to offer".

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Hofmeyr’s books either start with an idea or image or else with a character. "I’m hopeless with plot". She believes her art training helps her think visually. She doesn’t begin a book until she has a notebook filled with bits and peices, odd sentences, newspaper clippings, descriptions, anecdotes, magazine pictures of possible characters, what they might wear, stories written down that people tell her, all in no particular order. "But no plot! The book is in my head. I allow an idea to ‘infuse’ for a while...rather than yoghurt...it grows! The notebook is my crutch. When I do start writing, the process is not quite so daunting".

Extensive travel and a love of photography have been the source of many articles for magazines. She has visited Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, many parts of the United States as well as Europe, and in Africa: Senegal, Tunisia, Kenya, Egypt, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

The legends of other countries, the textures of them, the colours, smells and sounds become springboards for younger children’s picture books, many which are illustrated by Jude Daly. "All the words don’t necessarily go into the final text of a picture book, but they help conjure up images for the illustrator. Later the artwork does the talking and the words almost become redundant. I think it’s wonderful to work directly with an illustrator. There is an amazing energy and cross-pollination of ideas".

Problems facing writers of children’s books in South Africa according to Hofmeyr include the fact that there are very few role models in children’s literature in South Africa. It is so new that there is no tradition, although this gives writers a freedom and gives a raw energy to books that is not found in other children’s books. However, financially writers and illustrators are badly off because of the small print-runs and the fact that there is no up-front payment. Also South Africa has a low literacy level and a poor book buying public, so unless a book is co-produced overseas it is hard to earn a living from writing.

"It’s a pity the book selling industry in South Africa doesn’t take selling children’s books more seriously. The right book with the right promotion can do extraordinarly well..Children's literature in South Africa is still the Cinderella of the industry. Marketing and advertising is expensive when the returns are so low. But the enormous success of J K Rowlings' Harry Potter has helped highlight and recognise that children still enjoy reading. The right marketing approach with the right book can achieve success. If the gap between author and publisher is bridged, better opportunities will arise for marketing. Authors need to drag and drop their publishers onto the Web to encourage them to promote their books. Its sad that South African bookshops still fill their shelves with so many imports. Where are the piles of South African books? Where are the posters of South African writing?

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Books published by Dianne Hofmeyer include:

1987: A sudden summer. Tafelberg (teenage novel)

1988: When whales go free. Tafelberg (teenage novel)

1990: A red kite in a pale sky. Tafelberg (teenage novel)

1991: The magical mulberry blanket. Tafelberg (picture book)

1993: Hic hic hiccups. Cambridge University Press (picture book)

1993: The yellow balloon. Tafelberg (picture book)

1993: Blue train to the moon. Maskew Miller Longman (teenage novel)

1994: Boikie you better believe it. Tafelberg (teenage novel)

1995: Do the whales still sing?. Dial, New York (picture book)

1995: Mama Mabena’s magic . Cambridge University Press (picture book)

1997: The stone. Francis Lincoln, London (picture book)

2001. The Star Bearer: an Egyptian creation myth. Francis Lincoln, London & Farrar, Straus Giroux, New York (Picture book)

2001: The Waterbearer. Cape Town: Tafelberg

Some educational titles:

1996: A spoon for Granny Lily. Varia

1996: Floating Fran. Varia

1997: Where the wind blows. Varia

1997: Crocodiles are fierce. Varia

1997: Lights off Cape Town. Varia

1997: The good luck wedding. Heinemann

1997: The flick flack zig zag circus. Heinemann

1997: An ordinary journey. Kagiso

2001: A spoon for Granny Lily, Floating Fran and Lights off Cape Town
in the series, Reading Technology. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman

Stories in collections, eg.

1991: "Where the dark ocean rolls", in Storyland. Tafelberg

1993: "The yellow balloon" and "Thelma, the three rackets" and "The magic
moment club", in Stories South of the sun. Tafelberg

1995: "The magic man", in Crossing Over. Kwela (adult)