Background
Zadok was born in South Africa in 1972 to a South African mother and an Israeli father and grew up in Kensington a white middle-class suburb of Johannesburg.
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Rachel Zadok
Edit ProfileEducation
She later studied Fine Art and worked as a freelance graphic designer. She graduated with a Certificate in Novel Writing from City University, London.
Career
lieutenant was in London that Zadok began writing Gem Squash Tokoloshe, a first novel set in her native South Africa. "The book is really about belief and the influence society has on children," she said in a November 2005 British Broadcasting Corporation interview. In 2004, Zadok entered the "How to Get Published" competition on Channel 4"s Richard & Judy Show, reaching the final five of 46,000 entrants.
Pan Macmillan subsequently offered her a publishing contract.
The Whitbread Judges announced that: “Gem Squash Tokoloshe impressed us with its powerful evocation of a child"s-eye view of rural South Africa. Rachel Zadok sets the private drama of a collapsing household against the backdrop of a changing nation and creates a tangible atmosphere of menace.”
In The Guardian of 18 November 2005 Zadok commented: "I feel like I can"t run away from it and live somewhere else.
I"ve got to pay my dues, give back to the country that gave me so much.."
Zadok has spoken of her wish to set up a project for Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome orphans in her native South Africa. In 2011, she launched Short Story Day Africa, an initiative to highlight African short fiction.
She published her second novel, Sister-Sister, with South African publisher Kwela Books in 2013.
Achievements
Views
Quotations: "The book is really about belief and the influence society has on children,".
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Born
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Nationality
South Africa
Awards
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John Llewellyn Rhys Prize; Caine Prize
he John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom.; The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language.he John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom.; The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language.