Yusuf Daniels chatted to Polity SA about his new memoir, Living Coloured (Because Black and White were Already Taken).

The book is Daniels’s first-hand account of a childhood lived on the Cape Flats in the Coloured community.

In the interview, Daniels explains the inspiration behind the book, and how he managed to get it published.

The first time he submitted the stories to the media, he got some very bad feedback:

‘She said to me, “Yusuf, do you think you funny? Do you think these stories are good? I’m not even going to send it to my people.”

‘And I felt so bad. And I thought to myself, bugger this. This book thing is not for me.’

But Daniels’s agent sent the same three stories to Jacana Media, and he got his big break. Three weeks later he had a book deal.

Watch the video:

 

Categories Non-fiction South Africa

Tags Biography Interviews Jacana Media Living Coloured Memoir Polity SA Videos Yusuf Daniels