ANIRA PATHER

Being the eldest of three children, growing up in the sleepy town of KwaDukuza (Stanger), I was fortunate to be blessed with parents and grandparents who always encouraged lateral thinking and individuality. 

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For as long as I can remember, I have always immersed myself in reading and writing, whilst often being told by others that I lived inside my own head.  For me, the pleasure of reading and “seeing” characters come to life in my head was a joy unto itself.  I loved writing at school – poems, short stories and plays (my absolute favourite).  

I had always wanted to write a book, but the rat race of life somehow took over and that dream was pushed to a far corner of my mind.  A friend of mine convinced me that I should follow my dream, that it was not too late and that I should never live with regrets…and that’s how Trials by Fire came to be. The rest, as they say, is history

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It was my first book and took me 16 months to write, from start to finish, whilst holding down my full-time day job (I am a Finance professional, working within the Legal Tech environment).  It was published in May 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown.  For this, I received the Silver Quill award for advancing Durban as a UNESCO City of Literature and was also selected as recommended reading by the Gauteng Department of Basic Education. .  In 2021 I was awarded the Woman of Inspiration Award for my contribution to the literary world.

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In 2022, my second novel The Land of my Father, was published and launched at the Durban International Book Fair.  A quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr has always resonated deeply within me, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”  With this quote always on my mind, I wanted my books to portray a certain message to the reader; a message whereby social injustices are brought to the fore and addressed, and I wanted people to know that, as unoriginal as it may sound, there is light at the end of the tunnel and people can rise above their circumstances.  One of the themes of The Land of my Father is that of human trafficking.  Current statistics show that there are 40.3 million people across the globe who are currently victims of modern-day slavery, and yet, we know so little about it. I hope to bring about awareness to this very real, but often ignored, threat to society.  I also didn’t want the history of our country to be lost or confined to textbooks, with people forgetting where we were, how far we have come and how much further we still need to go.

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I'm currently working on a sequel to The Land of my Father.  For now, I'm calling it Promises and Lies.  My writing blog, The Words Whisperer (click on Blog at the top for my ramblings), is sometimes neglected, but feel free to mosey along and wade through my head!

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So, whether you're a writer, a reader, or just someone who has stumbled through the looking glass...welcome! Sit back, relax...Live in your rainbow, read in mine!

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