south african author

StarShipSofa No 537 Lauren Beukes

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Main Fiction: “Pop Tarts” by Lauren Beukes

Originally appeared in Laugh it Off.

Lauren Beukes is a South African author and scriptwriter. Her books include the black magic noir, Zoo City, which won the Arthur C Clarke Award, The Shining Girls, about a time-travelling serial killer and the survivor who turns the hunt around, which won the University of Johannesburg Prize, and Survivor’s Club, a horror comic with Dale Halvorsen and Ryan Kelly. Her latest book is Slipping: Short Stories, Essays & Other Writing, which includes Pop Tarts and other weirdnesses.

Narrated by: Masali Baduza 

Masali Baduza is an actress based in Cape Town. She studied at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. She has two babies (read: dogs) who make her very happy. Chocolate also makes her very happy. Cheesy pasta too. One day she hopes to run a production company.

Special thanks to Jon Keevy of the Alexander Bar Cape Town theatre and the Sound Foundry studio, where this story was professionally recorded.

Tony at YouTube

StarShipSofa No 461 Lauren Beukes

Main Fiction: “The Green” by Lauren Beukes

Originally published in Armored, edited by John Joseph Adams.

The story will also appear in Lauren’s upcoming short fiction and essay collection, Slipping, published in late November.

Lauren Beukes is an award-winning, internationally best-selling novelist who also writes comics, screenplays, TV shows and  journalism. Her novels, including The Shining GirlsBroken Monsters and Zoo City have been translated into 23 languages and are being developed for film and TV. She’s won the Arthur C Clarke Award, the University of Johannesburg prize, the August Derleth Award for Best Horror, the Strand Critics Choice Award for Best Mystery Novel, the RT Thriller of the Year and the Mbokodo Award. Her work has been praised by Stephen King, George RR Martin, James Ellroy and Gillian Flynn as well as The New York Times, The Guardian and NPR.

She’s also written comics, including Survivor’s Club, an original horror series with Dale Halvorsen and Ryan Kelly, the NYT-best-selling Fables spin-off, Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom with Inaki Miranda, and a Wonder Woman-in-Soweto one-shot for kids, The Trouble With Cats with art by Mike Maihack. When she’s not on tour, or travelling for research, from Detroit to Zagreb, Muskat to Port-au-Prince, she lives in Cape Town, South Africa with her eight year old daughter.

Narrated by: Heather Simmons

Heather Simmons grew up in South Africa and has made her home in the United States. She earned her Ph.D. in biology at Penn State and her research focused on the evolution of plant pathogens. Heather is an active participant in community theatre with radio experience and can be reached for narration requests at hsimmons@iastate.edu.