Moxyland

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing may happen in isolation, but books don’t. I’d like to thank a long list of people who helped make Moxyland what it is, from its original South African incarnation to its assimilation into the Robot Army.

Thanks to Marc Gascoigne and Lee Harris at Angry Robot for their boundless and bounding enthusiasm and easy-going candour – and my agent, Ron Irwin, for getting the book into their hands.

The University of Cape Town’s MA in Creative Writing programme gave me the creative space to start the book and a grant from South Africa’s National Arts Council gave me the financial freedom to finish it. Thanks especially to André Brink, Stephen Watson, Ron Irwin and Jenefer Shute.

Maggie Davey, the publishing director at Jacana read the manuscript on the plane to the Frankfurt Book Fair and by the time she’d landed had decided to give Moxyland its first home. Jacana’s Russell Martin, Bridget Impey, Emily Amos and especially Pete van der Woude (most passionate punter of books and deft ringmaster of book launches) helped make it a critical success in South Africa.

Sam Wilson, Sarah Lotz, Matthew Brown, Tinarie van Wyk Loots, Alex van Tonder, Lindiwe Nkutha, Padraic O Meara and Wynand ‘Munki’ Groenewald were the first readers who helped panel beat the early drafts with their feedback.

I owe much to Helen Moffett, my brilliant luddite editor for midwifing this unwieldy bastard, and Dale Halvorsen, aka Joey Hi-fi, the most inventive cover designer a girl could ask for (twice).

My family and friends provided love and support, both fiscal and psychological.

And lastly to my husband and best friend, Matthew, thank you for everything (most especially our daughter).