Author talks about his books and shares his life story
He is currently working on his memoir titled Children’s Ashes, which is a true story about his family.
A Boksburg resident, Michael Lockley, has succeeded against all odds in becoming an author of several books, including one for children.
The self-published author lived near Chris Hani’s house in Dawn Park for eight years before moving to Parkrand in 1993.
He published his first small collection of poetry called Reflections of an Aging Man in 2015 on Amazon. He wrote a 60-page book from personal experience, as well as his observation of life.
The author also recently published two more editions of the Reflections of an Aging Man.
“I have published five books in total, Reflections of an Aging Man, Reflections Squared, and Reflections Cubed, a three book (trilogy) of poetry and lyrics, Don’t Judge a Book, and Wag Tails and Dog Tales, which is a children’s picture book set to rhyme teaching chldren the need to respect love and care for dogs.
“I’m working on my memoir titled Our Children’s Ashes-Three Teaspoons, which is a true story about my family and the tragedies we have faced, but also the fun and happy times we have had and will continue to have. It’s aimed at telling people that there is always hope.”
He is also penning a couple of novels, and two of them are called: Hugging Oak Trees, and the story is about an old-age home; the other one is called The House Sitter, which he is planning to publish by early August.
Lockley fell in love with writing at an early age and in school, his collection of stories and poems used to earn him remarkably high marks.
“I always had a passion for expressing myself in words. There is a saying that goes: a picture paints a thousand words, but I say words paint a thousand pictures. I’m passionate about poetry and lyrics and writing generally.
“Writing has been an escape for me, but it’s also been an opportunity for healing because my poetry is often around faith, loss and around general observation in life. I also feel that through my writing, I can also express hope, faith and love to others,” said Lockley.
His published books are available from him in PDF format. They are also available on Amazon Kindle and the e-book platform of amazon. The author has a YouTube channel Michael Lockley and Facebook page called Michael Sherwood.
Ten per cent profit of every book sold goes to The Muscular Dystrophy Foundation of South Africa (MDFSA).
Though Lockley’s poetry career has flourished over the years, he didn’t give up his involvement with the Anglican parish of Boksburg where he had held several offices and is currently a lay minister.
Lockley is happily married to Lianne and said he loved their time together. “We share good memories and yes we still laugh and find a reason for living.”
The couple lost both their children within eight days of each other in December 2018. Their son, Stuart, had cerebral palsy and he died of brain hemorrhage. His sister Kirsten, came all the way from London ro burry her brother, but she also died the day before her brother’s funeral.
“We believe from a broken heart. We cannot even put words together to formulate questions to try to get answers. My faith has seen me through our terrible double tragedy,” said Lockley.
His wife suffers from debilitating myotonic dystrophy, which over the years has taken away almost all her mobility and her sight. “I love and care for her. We celebrated 40 years of marriage last year.”
