No pressure. Bietjie bietjie maak ‘n boek.

When are you writing a book? Or someone must do a research on your experiences. As a young person I want to know more. Hlologelo Malatji

Where is the book Ntate (Sir, father)? Morabo Morojele

You need to write the book. Karima Brown

You have to collate your writings into a book. Patricia Sidley

Stephen, write a book, please! Beverley Ann Mitchell

Second that! Veli Riba

I third that. What a riveting story! Frances ‘Franki’ Hills

I agree with Beverley. Write a book, please! Nazeema Mohamed

You write incredibly. You should publish. Patrick Cockayne

Completely captured by your life and your writing. Hoping for that book in my lifetime. Tracy Jean-Pierre

I also feel that your stories are so simply written and very educational. We need to have the in a book from. Shirley Pelesa

There are shining, faceted jewels of integrity. I hope that you are saving them somewhere so that they can be strung together in a publication. Cathy Winter

Stephen, you are a wonderful writer. I think you should collect your posts in a book. They should not vanish because they are special and tell unique tales. Thank you and please keep writing like this. Your experiences and gift of writing an engaging story is a combo that can help make generations get a sense of those times and conditions. Very valuable and scarce. Phambili! (Forward!) Lynn Danzig

Who needs a book, when you’ve got Facebook, free of charge? Besides, a book is a daunting task. Maybe posthumously, along with some small-nyana (small) skeletons. Stephen Marais.

Facebook doesn’t pay royalties, or win you Booker Prizes. Muneer Richards

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen Marais was born in 1956 in Stellenbosch and went to school there up until matric in 1974. Then he went to the Michaelis School of Fine Arts at UCT for 4 years but did not qualify. In 1979 instead of reporting for military service he went to Lesotho where he lived in a village in the mountains for a year. After that he lived for a year in Rhodes village in the Northern Cape before joining the Environmental and Development Agency in 1981 to live in a village in the Mount Fletcher district of the former Transkei. He lived and worked there from 1981 until early 1986. In March 1983 he was recruited into MK in Maseru by a friend. In March 1986 he was detained by the Security Police and kept in solitary confinement and interrogation mostly in John Vorster Square. In October 1986 he was sentenced to 10 years on terrorism charges and spent the next 4 years in Pretoria Security Prison until his release in October 1990. In 1989 Khethiwe and Steve got married in the prison garage and in 1991 they started an African language translator service in response to a need from the ANC, Cosatu and various NGOs. They are both still involved in the provision of language services.