A series of tragic incidents in his life have moved SABC journalist Vuyani Green to write and publish a book titled The Road To Thornhill.
Speaking to the Saturday Dispatch yesterday, Green, who is a well-known broadcast journalist, said writing had always been his first love.
“I actually became a television journalist by default. I’ve always been very fond of the written word and storytelling, that’s why I’m a journalist,” he said.
Green is a former Daily Dispatch journalist, who worked at the paper in 1994.
“I also love literature, especially African literature and I trust that my book will make a minor contribution to African stories as it touches on the political history of the Eastern Cape,” he said.
Green said the book symbolised the journey he had travelled over the years and the tragedy he had to navigate along the way.
“From the sudden death of my father in front of me in 1989, the death of my younger brother due to a botched circumcision in 1995, the death of my wife due to leukemia in 2009 and my closest cousin’s tragic death during that church disaster in Nigeria last year,” said Green giving us an account of his personal tragedies. It was while sitting in a taxi from Queenstown to Thornhill in 1995, that he met his late wife, who is the main character in the book.
“So, everytime I travel that road back to my ancestral village of Thornhill I’m reminded of the day I met my late wife – a day that would change my whole life as a bachelor,” he said.
Green added: “It also refers to the journey of my late wife with cancer, how she faced the disease and fought it with courage, faith, love and determination.”
He said writing the book was not easy as it involved opening up old wounds.
“There were moments when I was overwhelmed with emotions. It took me four years to write the book.
“This involved research, speaking to different people and bouncing off my ideas with others,” he said.
However, Green said he could not deny the therapy and healing that came with telling these stories.
“There were moments that made me laugh, sad and filled with mixed emotions. I’m glad that I’ve pulled it off.
“As they say you can’t judge a book by its cover,” Green said.
Tragedies inspire journo’s book
Speaking to the Saturday Dispatch yesterday, Green, who is a well-known broadcast journalist, said writing had always been his first love.
“I actually became a television journalist by default. I’ve always been very fond of the written word and storytelling, that’s why I’m a journalist,” he said.
Green is a former Daily Dispatch journalist, who worked at the paper in 1994.
“I also love literature, especially African literature and I trust that my book will make a minor contribution to African stories as it touches on the political history of the Eastern Cape,” he said.
Green said the book symbolised the journey he had travelled over the years and the tragedy he had to navigate along the way.
“From the sudden death of my father in front of me in 1989, the death of my younger brother due to a botched circumcision in 1995, the death of my wife due to leukemia in 2009 and my closest cousin’s tragic death during that church disaster in Nigeria last year,” said Green giving us an account of his personal tragedies. It was while sitting in a taxi from Queenstown to Thornhill in 1995, that he met his late wife, who is the main character in the book.
“So, everytime I travel that road back to my ancestral village of Thornhill I’m reminded of the day I met my late wife – a day that would change my whole life as a bachelor,” he said.
Green added: “It also refers to the journey of my late wife with cancer, how she faced the disease and fought it with courage, faith, love and determination.”
He said writing the book was not easy as it involved opening up old wounds.
“There were moments when I was overwhelmed with emotions. It took me four years to write the book.
“This involved research, speaking to different people and bouncing off my ideas with others,” he said.
However, Green said he could not deny the therapy and healing that came with telling these stories.
“There were moments that made me laugh, sad and filled with mixed emotions. I’m glad that I’ve pulled it off.
“As they say you can’t judge a book by its cover,” Green said.
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