The Story Explorers Club | June 2025
Recap of May's book events and an interview with international YA author Wibke Brueggemann
Highlights from this month’s edition:
- News and updates: Flashback to book events in May
- Author spotlight: YA author Wibke Brueggemann
- On my bookshelf: A wonderfully inclusive local picture book
Note: This newsletter is too long for some email apps, so make sure to click on “View entire message”, “Read in app” or “View in browser” not to miss anything.
Dear Story Explorer,
Welcome – I’m so pleased you’re here! For various reasons, the second half of May was extremely busy, so for this month’s edition of The Story Explorers Club I’m mostly looking back on the exciting things that happened, including all of the book events I was fortunate enough to attend.
While Pride Month is officially celebrated in South Africa in October (to mark the anniversary of SA’s first Pride march, held in October 1990), many local people and organisations also celebrate International Pride Month in June, along with many countries across the world. With the on-going and escalating attacks against LGBTQIA+ people’s rights happening in many counries right now (including in the UK and the US), there is no reason not to celebrate Pride and stand up for equal rights the entire year, so I’m definitely not choosing between June and October! To that end, this month’s Author spotlight features the absolutely brilliant and hilarious YA author Wibke Brueggemann, who has written two excellent queer-inclusive YA romcoms. I am also recommending a gorgeous and inclusive South African picture book that I adore.
As an aside (clearly I can’t resist going on at least one tangent per newsletter about a cause important to me!), I have recently begun wearing both a watermelon pin in solidarity with Palestine and a Pride flag pin to book events, and was recently asked why I choose to wear the Pride pin and whether it means I identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community (the Palestine pin, of course, ought to be obvious – I stand against the on-going genocide of the Palestinian people, as should every decent person with a conscience). In the moment, I didn’t quite know how to articulate my answer, because on some level I feel it doesn’t even have much to do with my own identity – or shouldn’t, anyway – but I later found this post that, I think, sums it up fairly well, and which I have seen expressed in similar terms elsewhere in the past:
![I don’t wear [rainbow emoji] items to tell you who’s in my bed. I wear [rainbow flag, trans flag] so the family across the street knows they’re safe. So the couple in the restaurant knows they aren’t alone. So the boy who sees me notice looking at dresses knows I won’t judge. I wear pride because you make them hide.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rvEW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48461deb-1b73-42fd-9b20-5a763daa530e_996x1253.png "I don’t wear [rainbow emoji] items to tell you who’s in my bed. I wear [rainbow flag, trans flag] so the family across the street knows they’re safe. So the couple in the restaurant knows they aren’t alone. So the boy who sees me notice looking at dresses knows I won’t judge. I wear pride because you make them hide.")
I think that encapsulates it pretty nicely: particularly as a children’s author, I want all kids to know they are always safe being themselves around me.
In any case, thank you for continuing to go on this adventure with me. I love putting together the newsletter every month, and I hope reading it brings you joy as well!
Stay kind and curious,
July giveaway preview: In a recent newsletter I mentioned a Bongi Ballerina-themed giveaway that would be happening in June. Because of various life stuff that has since come up, I have had to postpone this until July, so keep an eye on next month’s newsletter and on my Instagram for details of how to enter and win!
Bongi Ballerina Takes a Bow is available to buy in stores at Exclusive Books, Wordsworth Books, Bargain Books, Readers Warehouse, PNA and most other South African bookstores, as well as online at: Loot, Takealot, Exclusive Books, Wordsworth Books, The Book Box, Graffiti Books, Love Books and The Book Keeper Shop (follow these links to order).
Bongi Ballerina is available to buy in stores and online at various places, including here.
Remember, if your local bookshop doesn’t have copies of either Bongi Ballerina book, you can always ask them to order a copy for you at no extra charge.
Joint winner – The Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa
I am beyond thrilled to announce here that in May my novel was announced as being one of the joint winners of The Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa for 2025, along with Ugandan writer Zabu Wamara. Read the announcement, which contains more details about the competition and about both our winning books, here.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve spent several years working on this manuscript (my earliest notes for it date back to mid-2021, while I began the first draft early in 2022), conducting research and pouring all my energy into the story with no clue as to whether it would ever be good enough to see the light of day. That such a well-regarded prize has selected it as their joint winner from over 160 entries is extremely validating. Hopefully I will be able to give more details in the coming months (or years – the wheels of the publishing industry do turn rather slowly!) about possible publication. For now, I am simply very pleased at this most unexpected and happy outcome!
Book event recap – May 2025
May was a full and busy month, and I was lucky enough to have several great events on the calendar, including a reading at iconic Johannesburg bookstore Love Books, visiting schools, appearing on national radio on Metro FM and a lovely session at the Kingsmead Book Fair!
It’s always somewhat daunting to speak publicly to so many people, but every time I have another opportunity to engage with bright, funny and interesting kids (and in my experience all kids are bright, funny and interesting in their own way), I leave feeling so grateful and happy that I get to have these opportunities. It is certainly why I love writing for children and why I plan to continue doing so, even if I also sometimes write books for adults now!
I also managed to fit in attending Antjie Krog’s launch of her latest book at Love Books, which was so wonderful – what a privilege to be in the presence of a living legend and to hear her wisdom and insight first hand! As one might expect, she spoke so warmly and thoughtfully, and what I really appreciated was how she often took her time answering a question and didn’t just rush into giving a response. It takes such presence and quiet self-confidence to do this, and it is something I’d love to try and work towards for my own public appearances – though I imagine for anyone except Antjie Krog it likely takes a lifetime to get to that point!
I’m thrilled to feature a conversation with Wibke Brueggemann this month. Wibke writes the funniest and most heartwarming stories for teens, including Love is for Losers (2020) and Cupid’s Revenge (2023), and I adored her thoughts and insights about writing, comedy and language. Enjoy!
More about Wibke: Wibke (she/her) grew up in northern Germany and the southern United States. She studied acting at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London but ended up becoming a writer (and call centre agent).
Wibke considers herself a Jack of all trades. However, she does have a Master of Arts in Writing for Young People from Bath Spa University, where she was the recipient of the Bath Spa University Writing Award.
Wibke enjoys travelling, looking at art and caring for her carnivorous plants.
Her novels Love is for Losers and Cupid’s Revenge are published by Macmillan Children’s Books in the UK, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the US. They have been translated into many languages, some of which Wibke speaks.
Her name is pronounced: Vibka.
KP: Could you tell us a little bit about your background as an author and how you came to write for young people? What sparked your interest in writing books for teens?
WB: I’ve always enjoyed writing. I’ve been keeping a diary since I was maybe ten (I still have them all… hilarious!). I was a musical theatre child in my teens and then trained as an actor after I did my A-levels. I loved all that, still do, but there’s a freedom in writing that you can never have as an actor. When you write stories, you get to become every single character on the page. How extraordinary is that?
“When you write stories, you get to become every single character on the page. How extraordinary is that?”
Writing for teens wasn’t a conscious choice I made. It just so happened that the stories I wanted to tell fell into that age range. When I did my very first creative writing course at Bournemouth Arts University, it was my teacher who said to me: “Oh, this is YA.” I had no idea what that was, but I quickly made it my business to read everything on the shelf. And I felt right at home.
KP: What is your creative process like? Are you a plotter or a pantser? Where and when do you do your best writing?
WB: Oh, I’m a pantser. Not by choice, I just am. I have no problem writing 2,000–5,000 random words a day. But the moment I try to add any sort of structure prior to putting pen on paper (literally), it all goes to hell in a handbasket, and I can’t write anything at all.
I do my best creative work in the mornings. I can do editorial stuff at other times, but I don’t normally think of anything fresh or interesting late in the day.
KP: I so vividly remember attending a reading of your MA group at Bath Spa University in 2018, and the absolutely wonderful and hilarious reading you gave of what I believe was one of your short stories. You had the entire audience in stitches. Your two YA novels are also infused with comedy. How do you approach writing comedy, particularly for teens? What would you say are some major influences on your comedic sensibilities?
WB: When I moved to the UK, there were two things I watched on TV that resonated with me like nothing else ever had: the shows Absolutely Fabulous and Green Wing.
The characters in these shows are so grotesque and ridiculous, the concepts bizarre, I had never seen anything like it, and I was screaming with laughter. I grew up in Germany, a country where humour doesn’t really exist, and people can’t laugh about themselves, and I was positively mesmerized and completely hooked by this outrageous hilarity.
As per the humour I then ended up writing, you know that expression: “It’s funny because it’s true”? Well, people think I’m funny, but I’m not trying to be. I just say it as it is. I once went to a grief support group, and when my friend asked me how it was, I told her I was never going back because it was too sad, and everyone was whinging. She laughed. It was funny, because it was true.
KP: Your YA novel Cupid’s Revenge largely takes place backstage at a theatre production, providing the backdrop for lots of theatrical high-jinks. What was the inspiration for this setting and was any of it based on your own experience?
WB: Yes, very much so. The drama of a crowd of performers is, well, special...
But unlike Tilly, the protagonist of that story, I grew up in a family that could not have been any less creative if it had actively tried, and I thought it would be really fun to write the opposite. So here, Tilly is the only person in her family who is NOT naturally an artist or musician. It was a lot of fun to look at all those creative weirdos through her eyes, actually.
KP: Your writing for teens is wonderfully and unapologetically queer-inclusive and sex-positive. Why are these facets important to you to include in your fiction, especially as you are writing for young people?
WB: For me, it’s always been important to be inclusive. In my life and in my work.
I never have and never will understand people who have problems with people who are not straight, which is why I am on a mission to write people who are not just queer, but also somehow “other” into my stories without making a big song and dance about it. And young people totally get it. They are living it. They are so much better than us in that respect.
And in my opinion, you’re either for equality, or you’re not. There’s really no grey area.
As for being sex-positive, well, I’m genuinely annoyed by people being prudish about sex and co. Please can we just talk about it? Can we name body parts, can we talk about sexuality, likes, dislikes, trends, whatever, periods, etc., etc., and please, can we stop whispering about it like it’s some weirdy beardy ancient holy thing that mustn’t be named?
“Young people need to feel comfortable making the choices they are making. And we need to give them the tools to understand what it is they want.”
Young people need to feel comfortable making the choices they are making. And we need to give them the tools to understand what it is they want.
KP: Like me, you are a bilingual (multilingual?) writer who doesn't write in your home language. Do you write in your home language at all, and do you think writing in a second language affects – positively or negatively – your writing or your creative process at all? Would you ever write a book in German?
WB: I’m really fascinated by language, actually, and I have a whole lot of thoughts on the subject. Maybe I’ll write a paper one day…
In my case, my mother tongue is German, but German is not my first language. When I trip over, or hit my head, or experience road rage, I will swear in English, before I make a conscious decision about language.
I can only be my true self when I can express myself in English. When I have to speak German, when I’m with my family, for example, or when I’m out and about in a German-speaking country, that is merely a version of myself, and I don’t think any form of true artistic, creative, or human expression can happen when you’re not able to be or feel like yourself.
I’ve tried writing in German, but the voices in my head don’t speak to me in that language, and so when I write things down, nothing flows, everything sounds forced and stilted. I keep telling myself that one day, I’ll write in German, but why? Writing’s hard enough already.
Also, I have to speak a lot of German in my job, and even that annoys me more than it should, so, yeah, I think I’ll stick to English.
KP: I can relate so much to this. While Afrikaans is certainly my home language, or my mother tongue, I find that I now most easily express myself in English, which is why I write pretty much only in English, and generally struggle to write anything more creative than a shopping list in Afrikaans!
What have you been reading lately, for young people or otherwise, that you would recommend to readers?
WB: I read mostly non-fiction, actually. I like people who have niche-knowledge. I loved Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton and The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts. At the moment, I’m reading The House of Hidden Meanings, RuPaul’s memoir, which is, unsurprisingly, riveting.
Having said that, I’m a sucker for Star Trek, and I will read any Star Trek novel. In fact, my absolute to-die-for, dream writing gig would be to write for the Star Trek franchise.
KP: Do you have any advice for aspiring authors for young people?
WB: The best advice I can offer is to make sure that you are earning money in a job you’re good at, that you don’t hate, and that doesn’t make you cry. That way, if you don’t become a bestselling author, at least you’re not homeless. Apart from that, read, read, read. Read everything. Read everyone. And write. No one’s gonna write it for you.
Follow Wibke on Instagram here. Wibke’s wonderful YA novels, Love is for Losers and Cupid’s Revenge, can be bought online and in all good bookstores.
Books I’ve recently read and enjoyed
Picture book (ages 3+): Big Shoes to Fill by Upile uThixo Bongco, illustrated by Zinelda McDonald (2024, Pan Macmillan South Africa). Zinzo lives with his kind and loving Ta’mkhulu while his two dads live far away in the big city. But when the other children at school learn about Zinzo’s unconventional family they are not kind to him at first. This is a gorgeous picture book with an understated yet powerful message about resilience and acceptance. [Spoiler alert!] The ending, when Zinzo makes a friend who has no dads, compared to his two, and offers to share his, is so touching and lovely, it made me tear up the first time I read it.
Upile uThixo Bongco, author of Big Shoes to Fill, doing a brilliant dramatic reading of the book at the Kingsmead Book Fair, where I was lucky enough to meet her! Zinelda McDonald’s illustration work is always fantastic (such as in Refiloe Moahloli’s We Are One, You Are Loved and Let’s Play, and Bianca Flanders’s Pumpkin series), but I feel she has outdone herself here with these vibrant and empathetic illustrations that perfectly complement the story. I can’t recommend this book highly enough, and hope to see many more such authentically inclusive local stories for children in the future.
A round-up of things I’ve recently read, enjoyed or felt inspired by
South African author Sisonke Msimang (whose memoir Always Another Country I read several years ago and can highly recommend) wrote this piece well worth reading on her Substack called “On Trump and the invention of white victims in South Africa”, as well as a great follow-up for The Intercept on how South Africans turned the situation with the recent Afrikaner “refugees” to the US into a source of comedy.
Beloved children’s author Michael Rosen, who has written about his experience of nearly dying of Covid-19 in 2020 before, recently wrote this wonderful poem called “My island of strangers” in response to the UK prime minister warning that immigration could turn Britain into “an island of strangers”.
In another recent example of the utter absurdity and pointlessness of GenAI, you might have seen that the newspaper The Chicago Sun-Times recently published a summer 2025 recommended reading list that contained mostly books that do not exist. Now James Folta at LitHub has published a list of real recommendations – of books that actually exist – based on some of the AI-generated recommendations on the original list.
Do you or the young Story Explorer in your life have a question you’d like to ask Kristien about her books or about being an author?
Click on the link below to submit your question, and Kristien will answer one reader question per newsletter.
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Until next month – thank you for reading!
