My Story

Hi, I'm Zaskia Zonya Coetzee. I never set out to become a writer — I simply fell in love with words. From about the age of ten, I found comfort in poetry. Whenever life felt too heavy, I'd reach for a notebook and write. Those early poems weren't written for anyone else to read; they were simply where I left my heart.

In 1994, my aunt gave me a journal. She had a beautiful gift with words herself, and without either of us knowing it, that simple gift became the beginning of my writing journey. The very first poem I wrote in it was called “Weeping Willow.” As I grew older, poetry became journaling, and journaling became the way I made sense of life — through some of the hardest seasons I've lived, writing was my safe place, the freedom to untangle thoughts I couldn't always say out loud.

I've never studied creative writing and I don't have a formal degree — just a handful of workshops, taken simply because I wanted to learn how to tell a story a little better. One of them quietly changed my life. We each drew random prompts from a hat — a country, a character, a colour, a personality. What started as a simple exercise became Why Wish?, the very first complete story I ever wrote. My own children fell in love with it while they were still in primary school. My brother illustrated every page by hand, and years later, AI helped me bring fresh colour to his artwork. After winning a Print on Demand competition, it became a real, published book — and I've since translated it into Afrikaans.

My poetry found its home first, though. Baruch, originally self-published in 2012, is a collection written straight from the heart — through prayer, hope, heartbreak, and healing. One of its poems was later chosen for Nikita, a South African poetry anthology giving voice to survivors of abuse and violence. Baruch is available again today, with a refreshed cover, as a digital edition.

A few years ago, three of those poems found an entirely new voice — I turned them into songs and recorded them, nerves and all. Hearing words that had lived quietly on paper for years suddenly come alive through music is something I still can't quite get over.

These days I'm deep in my biggest project yet: my first full-length novel, Die Kersbelofte, a Christmas romance I'm hoping — Lord willing — to release this December.

I've always loved old libraries, worn books, typewriters, the smell of paper, and rainy afternoons. Looking back, maybe I was always meant to write. I just didn't know it yet.

If you've been carrying a story of your own — write it. You never know whose life it might touch.