Karin Schimke Talks to Deon Meyer at the Launch of 7 Days at Kalk Bay Books

by Claire on Oct 24th, 2012

On Monday night, a throng of eager fans made their way to Kalk Bay, waiting in the traffic in order to fill Kalk Bay Books to the rafters. They arrived in droves for the launch of Deon Meyer’s latest novel, 7 Days. This favourite author was joined by the Cape Times book editor, Karin Schimke, who congratulated him on publishing his eighth book. With her no-nonsense candour and delightful unpretentiousness, Schimke asked a series of questions that had the audience roaring with laughter all evening.

In reply to Schimke’s disarming question “Did you ever think you’d be famous?”, he looked dumbfounded. “Me, famous?” he asked. “Yes,” she said. “Look at all these people.”

Meyer said he was sure they had only come for the free wine and seemed rather relieved at his lack of recognisability in the supermarkets. “Only in book circles do people know my name. Most don’t recognise my face.” The audience was thrilled by the exchange.

Schimke quizzed Meyer on a range of fascinating topics, including the most recent languages into which his works have been translated – Icelandic and Mandarin. These latest translations takes the number of languages in which Meyer’s work has been translated up to 27. When asked about his popularity, apart from South Africa, he spoke about France as the number one country in terms of sales. He is also doing very well in the UK, US and Germany. “Holland has also really taken off,” he said.

Meyer, who finds it difficult to read fiction while he is writing it, nevertheless enjoys reading Afrikaans writers Karin Brynard, Etienne van Heerden and Marlene van Niekerk – who he believes deserves the Nobel prize for literature!

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Liesl Jobson tweeted from the launch using #livebooks:

@karinschimke & @meyerdeon chatting @kalkbaybooks. #livebooks @jonathanballpub twitter.com/LieslJobson/st…

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@karinschimke reads from 7 Days. Bookseller is arrested & says “The Internet happened, Amazon & Kindle!” #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon has small place in Karoo where he goes for time out, but doesn’t read as much as he wants to. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@karinschimke, Cape Times book editor: “Unputdownable” and “page-turner” is horrid cliche, but this book is exactly that. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon: Short chapter style is mechanism to keep reader going. Get in late. Come out early. I write for reader inside of me. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon we need more SA crime writers. Our crime fiction is really good. Bit like Scandinavian, was obscure. Now hot thing. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon: Build your brand & readership slowly. Big sales don’t happen overnight. First novel printed 1200, sold 600 & pulped. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon: The character gets to say things that you, the author, can’t say aloud. Vaughan Cupido gets to offend everybody. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon feels for SAPS. Spent time with Hawks. Passion & dedication in hunting down bad guys. I see extreme professionalism. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon: SAPS does far more right than they do wrong but police get a bad rap in the media because bad news sells. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon: I couldn’t have written the Brett Kebble or Annie Dewani story. Real life is too improbable to be fiction. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon writes in Afrikaans, then translates into English. Proud of Afrikaans. Contributes to health of the language. #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012

@meyerdeon: So many book tours mean you write on planes, trains, hotel rooms, airports. Bennie is a well travelled detective! #livebooks

— Liesl Jobson (@LieslJobson) October 22, 2012