Writer Christien Neser has spent two decades giving a voice to children who don’t fit neatly into society’s expectations.
When the publication met her at Crossroads School in Victory Park, she was surrounded by eager young faces, reading aloud and urging parents to make daily story time a family ritual.

Though she has worked as a speech therapist for most of her life, it is writing that has allowed her to take her therapy out of her consultation room and give it to every child through story. Her novels, which feature autistic children, people who stutter, and others with various challenges, aim to destigmatise difference by turning ‘the awkward child’ into a hero readers naturally love.

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Her nonfiction work, created with specialists, guides parents and teachers through supporting children with barriers to learning.

But Neser’s mission now stretches far beyond writing. She highlighted statistics in the country which show that 20% of children enter Grade 1 having never had a story read to them. To her knowledge, this is also said to be the percentage of children who, by Grade 4, cannot read with comprehension.

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That’s why she’s working in rural and urban outreach programmes, teaching caregivers, some of whom cannot read, to share stories through pictures, imagination, and connection. “You can tell a story without reading a single word,” she insisted. “What matters is the bond, the vocabulary, the joy.”

Her message is simple yet urgent: “A parent, a child, a story – that’s how you change a nation.”

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