Anne Landsman

Anne Landsman (born 14 April 1959) is a novelist. She was born in Worcester, South Africa, the daughter of a country doctor, and is a graduate of the University of Cape Town and Columbia University. Until 2001, she lectured at The New School university in New York, where she still lives with her husband, architect James Wagman,and children Quotes No one will recognise themselves,' she laughs, 'but there are little things, little facts, that might sound familiar.' It's ironic that she has drawn on life so close to her childhood home, when her dreams were always about the world beyond the Brandwacht Mountains that encapsulate life in the Boland I always felt quite alienated, growing up as a dark-haired Jewish child in a world of blue-eyed, blonde Afrikaners. I felt different. I suppose I was also a bit lonely—my sister is eight years older than me and my brother six years older.' On hot afternoons her mother would take her to the public library where she would sit with the octogenarians who were reading Georgette Heyer novels. Landsman's parents were the children of Lithuanian Jews who had settled in South Africa around 1910, and she was inevitably drawn to Jewish literature. 'By the time I was eight, I'd already I read Leon Uris's Exodus.' 'I really didn't know if it was any good,' she recalls. However, the novel's use of magic realism, the exotic setting and the original narrative style drew the attention of Publishers' Weekly, the bible of the industry, which carried a glowing preview. Word spread and warm reviews appeared all over the United States. Quality Paperback Book Club chose it as one of its selections and soon it was picked up by Penguin paperbacks. Granta, the prestigious British publisher, bought it for the UK, and Jonathan Ball bought the publication rights for South Africa and asked Landsman to come out for the launch of the book this month External links Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Novelists from South Africa