Monday, May 22, 2017

Africa Online Book Fair- Interview with Aziza Eden Walker


The Africa Online Book Fair: Romance Authors & Books is a weekend event, featuring 12 authors and 1 interview with an aspiring romance author. Each day will have a certain amount of authors that will showcase their books and who they are.

The online book fair takes place on Facebook. Here's a link to the event page. https://www.facebook.com/events/372063406523550/

Readers, you can come and go as you please since you don’t have to pay a ticket to enter or register. So come and meet your next favorite author! We’ll have discounted and free books, play games, you can win Amazon Gift Cards. Get a little bit closer to authors you want to chat with in real time and generally see what Africa’s got to offer for your romance taste buds.

There will be a Scavenger Hunt that you can enter and stand a chance to win a prize. You’ll have to go to every author’s post (“booth”) at the event and hunt for the number each author has “hidden” in one of their posts. At the end of the weekend you need to add up the amount and inbox co-host Kathy Bosman with your answer and she’ll draw a winner.

We are also running a sign up for our Newsletters competition that will start running with the Africa Online Book Fair blog tour from 17 to 31 May. You could win a 20$ Amazon Gift Card.

Sign up for as many newsletter as you want, each one is an entry: https://goo.gl/forms/uwdyuFB76kb67rqh2

The Winner will be announced after the fair.

Attending the online book fair and how it works is straightforward, especially for readers who’ve attended Facebook book parties. But also for readers who use the social network site daily.

All you need to do is go to our Event and click 'Going'. It's that easy!

The online book fair is for romance authors who are from Africa and authors who write romances set in Africa.

And don't forget to invite your friends! Also join the group if you want updates on future book fairs from us.

Hope you have lots of fun and discover awesome reads.

Interview with Author Eden Walker
Eden stopped by to to chat with us a bit and hopefully get you excited for the book fair!

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am a 46-year-old full-time writer who lives in the Western Cape of South Africa. I’m based in a small conservation village, where I live with my partner, my son, and my three adult step-kids (we used to have a Mini Schnauzer, but he went to the Great Supper in the Sky). I’ve worked as an actress and a psychologist, but I also studied English and as a child I was always writing. So when I had my son 6 years ago I took my chance to commit to being a career writer. It works well with being available to him and working from home. He’s also writing a book …

I love to cook and get in the sea with my child. I’m into meditation, dancing and running. I’m also a huge Marian Keyes fan. I’ve published poetry and short stories under a different name but writing romance is my passion.

2. What do you enjoy about being an author?
Writing. Writing is the most fun you can have with your clothes on, in my opinion. I love not knowing what will happen in a story I’m working on. It’s like a game of Cluedo, where you’re figuring out what’s going on. The characters are revealing themselves and their story to me, and that’s magic. It really doesn’t feel like work. It’s an absolute treat.

I guess quiet time in my own head is important to me. Being in that world I’m creating. Then again, sometimes when I’m driving or in the shower I will suddenly realise something: My God, he’s cheating on her! (I didn’t know that). So my books are with me throughout the day and I love that; it’s a much more positive thing to put energy into than, say, worrying about the economy. Though I do that too!

3. What type of romance stories do you write? And why?
Hot, humorous and heartfelt. I do series where secondary characters in one book will get their own romance in the next. The over-arching theme is strong women in sensual situations. My heroines know what they want and the sex they have is assertive, expressive and freeing. I guess the reason for this is that powerful women (or women who come into their own power during the story) interest and entertain me. For me the sex has to turn the reader on, else what’s the point?

Invariably my characters are human and fallible, which brings me to another of my criteria – humour. I need my stories to be funny as well as passionate (for my own sake). I want to laugh.  Love is always a part of it, even if I’m writing erotica. The setting can vary. And the heroes are all sorts of different types, from the most rugged to the most sophisticated, to the anti-hero. Next year I’ll be bringing you a romance where the hero is the nanny! A very hunky one of course. OK, you got me – the real reason I write romance is so I can spend soooooooo much time with the hero!

4. Favorite place in Africa? 
It would have to be Cape Town. I mean, what’s not to like? It has everything.







5. Why do you think African romance authors and stories set on the continent are important?

The stories here have an edge. They offer something different and, to my mind, more exciting. It’s not just the vibrant, drop-dead gorgeous people and the breathtaking settings -   it’s also the background of struggle, suffering and survival that puts energy into our lives and stories. We are a continent of people transforming ourselves while holding on to where we came from and honouring that. I love the way different cultures co-exist and intermingle here, and in my books.

6. Do you think romance stories set in Africa & Africans vital to the publishing industry? If yes/no, why do you say so?
Of course. Where have we been all this time? Who wants to read about Americans being wooed by millionaires in Spain? That’s not real for us. Which is not to say we don’t do fantasy. We have our own version of that. I love African stories where the hero stops at the Spaza shop or has to visit his Gogo first before his hot date (and then turns out to be a millionaire). And all the amazing local food …

7. What traditional food do you love, that one can only find in Africa? 

Bobotie. Food is a big part of my books, so I’ll have to put it an upcoming one. I’m a vegetarian (like Andile in The Seeing Place), so I make a mean one with lentils. Those almond slivers, the turmeric, the blatjang … mmm.










4 comments :

  1. Wonderful interview. It looks like you write the kind of books I like to read- "The over-arching theme is strong women in sensual situations." I loved Cape Town when I went to visit. Such a beautiful city.

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  2. Hey Aziza

    Awesome to meet you and put a face to a name, and get to know a little about you and your writing.

    Ah Bobotie, love the smell when its cooking, I really should make some one of these nights with mince instead of the standard Spaghetti Bolognese or Meatballs.

    See you online at the weekend!

    Bye 4 now
    T.M. Clark

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  3. Amazing interview. I'm currently reading " The seeing Place", and loving it so far! Great job...

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