Nataniël’s goddaughter becomes youngest published writer in France

Well-known South African singer and entertainer, Nataniël le Roux’s 9-year-old French goddaughter has just published her first book, making her the youngest published writer in her native country of France.  

She is following in her uncle’s footsteps who is not only very popular for his solo stage act and his lifestyle and cooking TV shows, but he is also an accomplished author himself.

Since 1987 he has released fifteen studio- and two live- albums, staged more than eighty original theatre productions and published twenty-one books.

Giulia Le Roux wrote the book titled Cinq Plumes Perdues (Five Lost Feathers) when she was only 7 and a half years old.

Her father, Erik le Roux (Nataniël’s brother) said Giulia wrote the book at their kitchen table while she was supposed to be doing her homework.

“It immediately captured my imagination and we proceeded to get it published.”

With only 1% of submitted manuscripts getting published in France, it took more than a year to find a publisher for Giulia’s book.

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Juani Scholtz, a young artist from Pretoria illustrated the book aimed at the 5 to 8-year-old children’s market.

Erik says he chose a South African illustrator because he wanted to strengthen the link with his native country. The book was further developed with the help of a publisher in Nantes, the city where Giulia and her family lives.

Erik explains that the family wanted to keep the whole process as close to home as possible and, as a result, the book is also printed in the same region as Nantes.

“I buy my vegetables from local farmers, so we tried to keep to the same logic with the book,” Erik said.

The proud father says he is working on getting his daughter’s book translated to Afrikaans or in any of the other 10 official languages.

“She did a presentation on South Africa at school this semester; she loves the country and I hope South Africa can be proud of her,” Erik said.

*Compiled by Xanet Scheepers