Jo-Anne Richards is a South African journalist and author.

Biography

Jo-Anne Richards grew up in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

, South Africa, and was educated at Collegiate Girls' high school. Her first books that she read were ''The Boy Next Door'' and ''The Island of Adventure''. She graduated from

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

in 1979, followed by an Honours degree in Journalism and Linguistics. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

, where she was a lecturer in journalism for 15 years. Richards worked full-time for four South African newspapers – ''

The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', the ''Sunday Express'', the ''

Cape Times The ''Cape Times'' is an English-language morning newspaper owned by Independent News & Media SA and published in Cape Town, South Africa. the newspaper had a daily readership of 261 000 and a circulation of 34 523. By the fourth quarter of ...

'' and ''Evening Post'' – reporting, sub-editing and news-editing. She has written features and supplements for numerous South African magazines and newspapers, including ''

Fair Lady ''Fair Lady'' is often considered as the sister publication to the Afrikaans ''Sarie''. With their offices in Cape Town, this title is one of the most popular female reads in South Africa. History and profile ''Fair Lady'' was established in 1965 ...

'', ''Elle'', ''Diversions'', ''True Love'', the ''Sunday Times Magazine'', ''The Star'' and the ''

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cultu ...

''. Richards rose to prominence with her first novel, ''The Innocence of Roast Chicken'' (1996), which became a bestseller in her native country and was short-listed for the M-Net Book Prize and nominated for the Impac International Dublin Literary Award. Richards wrote on concepts such as striving and slacking in a dead book proposal in the mid 1990s. She lives in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, where she teaches creative writing. Richards was once married to poet Mark Swift. She was National Chair of the South Africa

Turner's Syndrome Turner syndrome (TS), also known as 45,X, or 45,X0, is a genetic condition in which a female is partially or completely missing an X chromosome. Signs and symptoms vary among those affected. Often, a short and webbed neck, low-set ears, low hair ...

Support Group.

Novels

* ''The Innocence of Roast Chicken'' (1996) * ''Touching the Lighthouse'' (1997) * ''Sad at the Edges'' (2003) * ''My Brother's Book'' (2008) * ''The Imagined Child'' (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Jo-Anne South African journalists 20th-century South African women writers 21st-century South African women writers Living people People from Gqeberha Writers from the Eastern Cape Rhodes University alumni 20th-century South African novelists 21st-century South African novelists Year of birth missing (living people) Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand