Moletjie-born storyteller taps into peoples emotions with ‘The Swan’

POLOKWANE – Matshidiso Bella Ramasela Makoea is a talkative entertainer who was born to tell stories. She addresses gender-based violence in her new book, The Swan: Her body was his crime spot.

The 24-year-old from Moletjie explained that growing up, her favourite outdoor activity was playing maskitlana, a game where stones are used to tell stories.

“I was born to tell stories but I always said I wanted to become a lawyer because I love arguing to prove my point,” she laughed. She reads a lot and her aunt, who is a teacher, would bring her books. She shared that she would read and memorise every word.

She realised her writing potential in Gr 6 when a friend who shared the same love for art came up with the idea to write a drama, Fantasy Book, because it involved their daily lives with a twist.

Her love for writing grew and she found herself fill notebooks with stories. The Swan is her first book which she self-published.

“I always wrote happy stories and that eventually became monotonous to me. I told myself that I need to tap into people’s emotions. I want to make them happy, sad and angry. A story of a man abusing his wife came to mind as we live in a country where gender-based violence is rife and many women go through what Lesedi (main character) went through,” she said.

She had to find it within herself to have the right kind of confidence in her work and convince herself that she is good enough to produce a product that would garner the interest of readers. “I love writing with all of my heart but would people love my work? That was the biggest challenge I had to face. People who read my books were mostly friends and family and gave me rave reviews but I thought they tried to sugarcoat things to not hurt my feelings.,” she said.

The book was published on 31 January and she received orders from as far as KwaZulu-Natal, Kimberley and Botswana.

reporter04@nmgroup.co.za