Excuse the pet puns, but if you’re part of the 58% who prefer the company of their furry friends to other humans, you will want to have joined the throng (or should that be litter?) of readers, friends and paw-rents who converged at a Sandton bookstore on Thursday night.
We were there for the launch of razor-sharp-witted Dion Chang’s guide to pet-parenting titled A Pawfect Life. It boasts probably the most enthralling book cover I’ve seen this year, featuring an orange-bespectacled sausage dog in matching orange turtleneck sweater whose eyes command you to pick him up.
Dion, who has built his life’s career on sniffing out the zeitgeist, says his light bulb moment for the book was discovering that South Korea’s largest online retailer had sold more pet strollers than baby strollers in 2023.
Considering the East Asian country punches above its weight in global culture (not forgetting that smartphone brand, this is the nation which has gifted us K-Pop, glass skin and Korean barbeque), it was worth putting a pin on that titbit.
“I started to dig deeper, finding out that on both sides of the world — in America, Japan and China — there are now more households with pets than children under the age of 15,” explained the founder of a trend analysis company and self-described holder of an honorary PhD in cat butlering.
The result of this deep dive is a book brimming with often outlandish bits of trivia which would make you howl (fancy booking your pooch on Bark Air?) and insights from animal behaviour expert Leigh Shenker. She joined Dion in a conversation moderated by Tumelo Mojapelo (who has the very millennialesque job title of “foresight facilitator”).
A Pawfect Life also examines coping with the loss of our fur-ever friends through the perspective of Dion’s most recent addition to his multi-hyphenate career as a pet doula.
While there were sadly no four-legged companions present, this was a night attended by the folk who you would imagine wouldn’t think twice about booking their pets into doggie hotels or pampering their felines with expensive treats. Sorts like the always stylish society grand dame Peta Eggierth-Symes (mommy to the late Great Dane Lady Hamilton), Emma Chen of landmark restaurant Red Chamber in Johannesburg, Billie Zangewa (who creates enchanting tapestries from silk fabric), designer Rahim Rawjee, art specialist Makgati Molebatsi and Dion’s TV producer husband, Chris.
I greeted Jacqui Martheze of Woodrock Animal Rescue, who recently moved mountains to help my mom find her new four-legged companion.
And I congratulated jewellery designer Angela Yeung for becoming the first South African woman in 26 years to scale the treacherous north side of Mount Everest in May.
Staying with literary matters — if Dion is the prophet of pet parenting, then Dr Kopano Matlwa is the bardess to the born-frees.
Her debut novel, Coconut, captured the reality of a generation growing up straddling two worlds, while her latest work, Bosadi, is a poignant and melancholic exploration of the unravelling of dreams.
You might have read about the author, who serves on the Bill Gates Foundation board, in my colleague Aspasia Karras’ Hot Lunch column last week — so let me tell you instead who came out, many in their finery, to listen to the author in conversation with broadcaster Cathy Mohlahlana at the book launch on Tuesday evening in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.
Chic in monotone was Didi Mogashoa, the mindfulness guru who was one of many family members there to support Kopano.
“Thanks to her, I became an aunt when I was only eight years old, but in all fairness, there is a big age gap between her mom and me,” quipped Didi when I point out that she and Kopano look more like sisters.
Among the audience was marketer and author Katie Mohamed, actor Jason Willemse and his wife Nischette, and Elouise Kelly, who heads up another local streaming service, Viu. Meanwhile, joining the queue to get their copies of Bosadi signed included award-winning film producer Bongiwe Selane (of Netflix hit Happiness is a Four Letter Word) and Eza Buku.
I also caught up with Bridget Impey from Jacana Media, who secured the rights to Coconut after Kopano, at the age of 21, won the 2006/07 European Union Literary award.
Bridget says while the publishing house — which has gone on to publish Kopano’s subsequent works, Spilt Milk and Period Pain along with Bosadi — was over the moon about securing the talented young author, her father was emphatic that her literary career shouldn’t encroach on her work as a medical doctor.
“He said, just remember that this is not her day job. Her day job is medicine,” said Bridget.
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