South African author Zukiswa Wanner has a degree in journalism from Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu, Hawaii. She has written for newspapers and magazines that include the Sunday Independent, Oprah, Elle, Juice and Afropolitan.
Her debut novel The Madams (Oshun Books, 2006) explored race relations while her second novel, Behind Every Successful Man (Kwela Books, 2008) looks at what happens when husband and wife roles are reversed. Both novels are set in post-apartheid South Africa.

Back to the basics, what’s your family dynamic? I am a single mom to a four year old son (soon to be five).
Domestic goddess or working outside the home? I am very much a domestic goddess but that’s because my work as a writer is flexible enough to allow me to work when I want to.
What do you do? I am a writer. A poor one who is trying to make the profession work to pay the bills.
What do you love most about your life? I love the flexibility of it and the enriching people I meet in the course of my work (writers rock and readers rock even more!)
What has your child or your children added to your life? Laughter and love. Every morning from spring until autumn when I go with him to creche, he picks me a flower without fail. He also makes me realise how petty things I may have considered important before him appear.
How do you keep it together physically, emotionally and otherwise? I escape in reading and of course writing. I also allow myself time out from my son and he weirdly understands this. I go out with my girls once a week and on Saturday mornings because he likes cartoons and I like to lie in, he wakes me up for cereal then watches cartoons while I sleep. We then spend the rest of the day at the park, hitting the zoo, or sometimes, we catch a movie.
Are there times when you feel like you are close to the ledge and if so, how do you keep from falling or jumping? I am lucky to stay right close to a sports field. Every time I feel I am losing it, I go down there and scream. Of course people may sometimes look at me and think ‘psycho’ but nothing beats scream therapy for me.
What is your secret terrible mom confession? It’s no secret. I always tell my friends and family that if I knew what I know now about how being a parent consumes you and forces you to think of someone other than yourself primarily, I would not do much as I love my boy.
What is your favorite mom moment? My son can’t read yet but when I put him to bed after reading him a bed time story, he tells me to leave the light on because ‘I want to read.’ He also has this habit of waking up from his bed at weekends and coming to sleep in my bed at five in the morning. The moment his head hits the pillow he falls asleep again. I told him he is killing any possibilities of my having a boyfriend to which he responded, ‘why do you want a boyfriend?’
What is your secret weapon or superhero power? Laughter. I laugh at myself and laugh at him and it generally makes the world seem brighter and everything not so serious.
Any words of wisdom for moms out there? If you are doing your best and still your child turns out not very well, never blame yourself. It’s the reason we pay tuition. To find someone else to blame (Primarily their peers and teachers). But if this should absolutely fail, then there is always the father’s relatives to blame.