In Touch with his Inner Child

John van de Ruit

For those of you who weren't able to pick up copies of the Pretoria News or The Star this past month, here's a teaser of my interview with bestselling Spud author John van de Ruit (click through to the IOL link at the end for the full piece).

Many of us can identify with the issues the now-legendary Spud Milton has faced. These vary from the horrors of his maths exams, or the pains of the pre-cellphone and social networking era of waiting by the phone for that special girl (or boy) to call – then worrying when they don’t.

And perhaps that’s where the attraction of John van de Ruit’s series of Spud books lies – that he taps into the magic of nostalgia, and strikes a chord with young and old.

Little did Van de Ruit know when he wrote the first of the Spud novels how his character would step out of the pages and into the imaginations of so many who eagerly followed Spud’s progress.