Sarah Wild

Sarah Wild is a British-South African science journalist and author. In November 2017 she became the first African to win a AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award. Quotes It was a couple of things. 2017 was a difficult year: The journalism industry in my home country, South Africa, basically imploded. While there had been work in 2016, suddenly there was no money to pay for science. We don’t have specialist publications for science, and I refused to take comms work because I consider it to be ethically compromising. That meant that freelancing locally became an exercise in rejection. I had been trying to break into the international market, and had some steady, reputable publications that I wrote for. But that too was fraught because often international publications have very little interest in African science. “Yes, but why should we care?” was the constant refrain. And then I had a really bad editing experience with a publication that I had previously admired. The editor was rude and demoralizing, and it destroyed my confidence in my ability to string a sentence together. In an interview That’s a tough one. I want to tell stories, true stories about people’s lives, and science journalism offers a world of important stories. That is what I have always wanted to do it. But I also have to be realistic. I prefer to freelance internationally these days, rather than trying to eke out an existence locally. It is no longer possible to be a freelance science journalist (who does not do comms work) in South Africa. I am also about to finish my M.Sc. in bioethics, so that I could pivot into a different career if I wanted to. While I’m not ready to pull the plug just yet, I need to be ready for that time if it comes. In an interview I do feel differently about it, mainly about the need to have strong boundaries. There is certain behavior that I will not tolerate from editors — whether it is repeated non-responsiveness, rudeness, repeated delays in paying. That may cost me work, but I think that if freelancers don’t have strong boundaries, they will find themselves being taken advantage of and being run ragged. In an interview Find communities. Freelancers need support too, and whether it is online or finding other journalists in your own city, you need to be able to talk to someone about your difficulties, triumphs, and story ideas. The isolation is as poisonous as too much work or too little. In an interview A restitution effort in South Africa illustrates the challenges to scientists, policymakers, and living descendants as they navigate the complex repercussions of genetic analysis for unethically obtained human remains. There’s this idea that DNA is always accurate and can provide all the answers, and that’s not true,” says biological anthropologist Gibbon. “This is not CSI. In the first effort of its kind, a team at a South African university not only returns human remains to families but also provides a window into the world of ancestral San and Khoe people. The science also helped to arbitrate other claims on the remains. Another group named Stuurman, who lives in the Eastern Cape, a province on the other side of the country, had disputed that the individuals buried in Sutherland had deep roots in the region. However, isotopic bone analysis revealed that the people came from an arid environment like Sutherland, rather than the wetter Eastern Cape. It was very important to have this information to confirm who we are and where we come from,” Alfred Stuurman, one of the family members, said at a press conference last month. “This information shows us that we were from this area and not from the Eastern Cape. The album took shape during a time when I felt quite unrooted for many reasons. Change has never been easy for me to embrace, but last year brought a realisation, it can actually be enjoyed. Moving through uncertainty turned out to be more manageable than expected, leading to a newfound appreciation for moments without complete clarity. That’s why I named it ‘My Body Flows In Gravity’ – because that perfectly captured how I felt then and still feel now. This album needed to come to life. It was born from a mind filled with ideas, inspiration, and a sense of freedom during its creation last autumn. Feeling stuck in daily routines made the process even more meaningful, offering a mental escape and a chance to dream of another world. At first, there was a deep desire to travel somewhere far away, and what could be farther than the moon? The album captures the feeling of drifting away, breaking free from the familiar, and exploring the unknown. But in the end, there’s also something comforting about returning home and finally landing back in reality. Sarah Wild talks about her debut album ‘My Body Flows In Gravity The album is a conceptual work, and I wanted to present different vibes and moods throughout it. The trance track is a collaboration with some good friends of mine; it just happened naturally and it felt right. I enjoy diving into different sounds when I produce, and it was really exciting for me to experiment with various ideas and directions. I’ve learned that it’s really important to not ask too many people for feedback. It’s better to trust your own feeling and rely on a small group of people who are honest enough to tell you when something is just plain bad. Just keep doing what you need to do and try to not let fear hold you back, that’s what I learned last year! Making a living in such an uncertain field can be scary at times and demands a whole new level of commitment. But on the other hand, it gives me so much freedom of choice, and I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else ever again. Last year I became a mother, and after 2 months I started playing again. I was still breastfeeding back then and my boyfriend and I traveled with our kid to several festivals. Most of the time I was extremely hungry. There were quite a few times that I had to feed the baby, then straight after I had to run to the stage while eating a random snack at the same time. It was a challenging situation at times, but we made it possible! External links Category:Women journalists from South Africa Category:Women authors from South Africa Category:Science authors Category:Living people