How Zibusisozethu came to write what she likes

It took the whole world coming to a standstill for journalist, Zibusisozethu Sithole to finally come to an empowered decision to write what she likes.

The author, who recently had her book, I Do…Don’t I?, launched at Melville-based bookstore, Book Circle Capital, shares on her journey towards becoming a published author.
“I started writing romance (and fiction) after the pandemic. I was out of a job, with the hits the journalism industry took and I was constantly anxious. I wanted to do something that brought me joy as I hadn’t been happy at work for years before this. I took the entire world being brought to a stand still as a sign.”

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For her, writing love stories has been therapeutic and through it she has learned a lot about herself – what she wants and how to express that in her work and in my everyday interactions.

As a young girl, what profession Sithole saw herself ending up as an adult would change. A constant, however, was that it always involved writing of some sort as it was one of the few things she felt she was good at. Writing short stories and comics she would trade would with her brother. One of the first impactful books she read was a one by Dainne Case named Love, David. “The books we had read in school until that point had all been about life everywhere, but in Africa. Love, David told a story about the township which I could relate to, I knew people who lived like that, it was something I saw daily and until that point it was a reality not acknowledged at our little school. Seeing that book at school, reading it seriously and being tested on it told me that the story was important, South African stories and a their stories are important.”

Her latest novel was a sequel to her debut novel, The thing with Zola. The book starts with Zola a young ambitious woman trying to find her feet when the life she had been building in Germany falls apart. She finds herself back home in Vosloorus and like many South Africans she is unemployed. While she comes to terms with her new reality, the end of her German romance, making a shift in her career and dealing with suddenly having to live with her mother and sister again, Zola gets swept up in a love triangle.

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Sithole hopes readers of her books find it inspiring to read of Zola – a typical South African woman whose life is no different many like her. “To see her in a soft and frivolous romance. In the second book we get to watch her grown into that love soften and become more vulnerable and open to being loved. Which is a natural progression for the character and the story. We all deserve love, we might have to grow to full experience it, but we definitely do not need to suffer for love.”

Now living the reality of having two published books on bookshelves is something that can never get old as s it both excites and frightens her all at once. While the fear of her work being misunderstood drives her to constantly sharpen her skills.

Having her book sold at Book Circle Capital, a book store that focuses heavily on the promotion of African literature, is something she notes, absolutely amazing. It was important to her to have her launch within a space she felt safe and supported, “Book Circle Capital attracts readers who appreciate African stories and offers an space for so many different ideas to co-exist,” she said.

To young aspirant writes she ends of by saying by telling you there is a place for every type of story, as they are all important and need to be told.

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