Riana Mouton’s Biography

Primary school
At age 11 I discovered the magic of writing stories. I discovered the power of the pen. My Afrikaans language teacher, Hettie Myburgh, saw talent and encouraged me to write. She sculpted and cultivated and secured entry for me at an extra-curricular school for gifted children. There I would be initiated into the secrets of the writing craft.

Secondary School
Upon leaving school I would take wing. I would travel extensively in South Africa. Those days a young woman travelling the world on her own was unheard of. I spent a couple of years studying at the Goudstad Teacher’s Training College and, after that, tackled whatever came my way. But it would be in the Lowveld where I would rediscover my love for writing.

After I met my husband (the Angel) and we were married, I returned to my old Western Transvaal. I am completely smitten with its open landscapes, its earthy community and its urban calm. The death of my little girl in 1996 flattened us. With gratitude I dedicated myself to raising my two sons as country boys.

Then followed a stint at a radio station, where I specialised in children’s and actuality programmes. Here the journalist in me surfaced; here I realised that there is a story in every situation. I would write as a freelancer for Die Noordwester, Beeld, Rapport and Huisgenoot, and here I learnt to write in a dynamic creative milieu. I explored more serious news and discovered empathy for the situations unique to different people. Books that touched me deeply would be The boy Called it and I am David—the books that made the penny drop for me about making choices; the books that would make me question life and that would force me to look under the surface.

The author
One fine day, during a visit to a dear friend, Prof. Tom Gouws, he motivated me to write a novel. I started very carefully and not without a measure of fear. But my far-reaching research would start to find a home in the story.

But it wouldn’t be until I attended a real autopsy and heard the confessions of a serial murderer in person that I started wondering... What is it that damages someone so deeply? My search started; I didn’t want to examine the crimes, but the person. At the time I became acquainted with the Commander of the SAPD’s Investigative Psychiatry (?) Unit, Dr. Gerald Labuschagne. He would unlock some doors onto the dark world of the human psyche for me.

AND now...
I write full-time. I am spending a season in Whangaparaoa in New Zealand, where I am researching my next novel.