Hamilton Wende is a talented author, who is passionate about telling stories and has shown versatility throughout his life as a storyteller.
As an author, Wende donated one copy of every book he’s ever written to the Parkview Library because it’s important to instil the spirit of reading in children. Only 56 years of age, Wende has reached out to children by writing children’s books.
“Children frequent the Parkview Library quite a lot, so I donated the books to them. Besides, you do not make a lot of money from being an author; you should not expect to make a living out of it; it is rather a passion,” said Wende.
Born in America, Wende is a well-travelled writer and has set foot in most countries around the universe and his book titled, True North: African Roads Less Travelled published in 1995 is the highlight of his experience in war-driven countries.
“I have written on a variety of topics. My first book was about my work as a young journalist while travelling in countries like Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique and Rwanda. I was a very hard-core war correspondent for a long time,” he recalled.
He continued as a fearless and cutting-edge journalist and has since switched to being a freelance producer and storyteller. Wende explained how the first edition of Arabella: The Moon and the Magic Mongongo Nut built up nine years ago.
“I started writing Arabella as a story for my stepchildren when we were renovating our house. They were sleeping in sleeping bags and we were eating food we would have to cook in a microwave because we had no kitchen at that time and I thought I could turn it into a story for children.”
Wende said he was given the opportunity to pick the language he would like to learn and the option was limited to IsiXhosa and French. “I thought since I live in an African country, I should choose IsiXhosa, though I am not fluent I can hear and speak the language.”
After high school, Wende enrolled in a building science course in the 80s at Wits University. After realising that he hated it, he found his feet and began studying English, drama and film.
At the moment, Wende is still taking a breather after his recently-published book that was released at the end of May and over all these years, he begins slowly, with fragments of ideas.
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