E-mail us a comment on this writer. (Comments may be edited and used on this website.) About the author Born in Diep River, Cape Town, Rayda Jacobs sent her first story to Springbok Radio at the age of 12. Her first novel, Eyes of the Sky, was published in 1996 when she returned to South Africa from Canada where she had lived for 27 years. It was awarded the Herman Charles Bosman prize for English Fiction. Her second novel, The Slave Book, was published in 1998, followed three years later by Sachs Street. Confessions of a Gambler, her fourth novel, won the Sunday Times Literary Award for Fiction as well as the Herman Charles Bosman Award in 2004. She is also the author of Postcards from South Africa (2004) and The Mecca Diaries (2005). Keenly interested in culture and religion, Rayda Jacobs has hosted numerous radio programmes and contributed to newspapers and magazines. As filmmaker, she has produced and directed five documentaries. Confessions of a Gambler (2003), awarded the Sunday Times Literary Award and the Herman Charles Bosman Prize, was filmed and released in 2008, scripted and directed by Rayda and starring herself in the lead role. Rayda Jacobs’s published work includes:    •   The Middle Children, Second Story (Canada), 1994    •   Eyes of the Sky, Kwela, 1996 (also translated into German)    •   The Slave Book, Kwela, 1998 (also translated into German)    •   Sachs Street, Kwela, 2001    •   Confessions of a Gambler, Kwela, 2003 (also translated into Norwegian)    •   Postcards from South Africa, Juta, 2004    •   The Mecca Diaries, Juta, 2005    •   My Father’s Orchid, Umuzi, 2006    •   Masquerade, Umuzi, 2008 From Rayda Jacobs “My readers are mostly women although a lot of men have told me that since Confessions of a Gambler, they now read my books. Women love to read about themselves – their foibles, their losses, their tragedies, the men in their lives, their children. They are not interested in politics. In my books they are always sure to find something they can cry about or laugh along with. The women in my books are mostly strong, even the ones who don’t appear to be so." The sense of place for Capetonians is very dearly held - Jacobs conveys that sense by bringing its sights, smells and people to life, but also evoking, very powerfully, the horror that haunts that beauty under apartheid. – Leslie Marx, “Rayda Jacobs: An overview”, 2002. I do not normally do this kind of thing, but after reading several of Rayda Jacobs’ books I feel the need to write to you. I find her books compelling. In an age where anything Muslim is viewed as scary I have learned a great deal about the Muslim psyche [from her books]. Whilst I still retain my Catholic belief I have found a respect and admiration for Islam. This was heightened by reading The Mecca Diaries. To go on Hajj is truly a journey of faith. – Robin Searle (via website) Rayda Jacobs on the writing of Masquerade: "It was never my intention to write my memoirs at this stage. After the publication of Confessions of a Gambler, however, and all the hoopla and hype around it, especially as it pertained to the main character in the book and whether the story is a true one or not, I looked into my heart long and hard – who was I? – and thought it better to write it now." home   writers   books   contact   buy   rights all content © Umuzi, Random House Struik this website designed and maintained by Guanaco.co.za