A PASSION FOR NARRATIVES

WORDS ASHLING MCCARTHY

Storytelling has been part of my life since I was a child. My father loved to tell us bedtime stories about his childhood growing up in Ireland. They were about the secret lives of fairies and leprechauns and the antics of the bunnies and birds he’d come across while walking to school.

I’ve always been creative. I started my career as a graphic designer and then became a craft developer in rural Zululand. It was through this latter experience that I went on to study anthropology and eventually start a non-profit, I Learn to Live

– Ngifundela Ukuphila. Our mission is to raise up loving, creative, problem-solving, community-changing children and youth by providing them with skills to thrive in life and exposing them to education programmes, experiences, and advice to develop these skills.

I’d had some very unique experiences through my work and wanted to share those stories as my outlook on life had fundamentally shifted through meeting and living with people outside of my culture. Then, as a family, we experienced the horrors of rhino poaching at a game reserve, and I knew that these stories needed to be told as well. I really believe that creativity, regardless of the medium, can encourage conversations around social change. www.ashlingmccarthy.co.za

Down at Jika Jika Tavern and The Leopard in the Lala are part of my wildlife crime series, The Poacher’s Moon Crime Series. My intention is to use the freedom that fiction allows to explore the challenging and complex topic of wildlife crime. The diverse cast of characters allows for a better understanding of why people become involved in what truly is a terrible act – the decimation of beautiful creatures to the point of extinction.

I am in the early stages of planning the third book in The Poacher’s Moon Crime Series (title unknown!). I have a WhatsApp group with myself and am constantly sending myself notes, articles, videos, and all manner of inspiration that will help develop the plot and characters. What I have most enjoyed about writing a series is that the characters have become friends – I think about them often and am very invested in who they are and their challenges, love lives, and friendships. I think a great deal about what it means to be a South African author, and the importance of telling stories that are South African, especially the stories of local women.