Eight questions for the interested and interesting: Nadia Davids

When JM Coetzee gives a book a cover shout-out, you take notice. That’s the case with Cape Fever, the much talked-about new novel from South African playwright and novelist Nadia Davids.

It’s just landed at Currency and we’re excited because, in case you missed it, the 2024 Caine Prize winner has built a reputation for work that is politically sharp, emotionally exacting and rather brilliant. We put our usual questions to her, all the way over in LA.

What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year. And why?

I loved Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder. It’s a creative biography about Eileen O’Shaughnessy, George Orwell’s little-known, seldom talked-about wife. She was also a writer, brilliantly clever and astonishingly brave (she joined Orwell in Spain during his fight against fascism).

She was also formative to his political and creative life, but her significance has been written out of history by his biographers and (unforgivably) by Orwell himself. Funder addresses that omission and the result is dazzling, genre-blending biography that merges meticulous archival research with O’Shaughnessy’s imagined interior world. I loved it as much for the feminist reparative work it does as for its exquisite (at a sentence level) text.

How do you keep fit?

Regrettably, I have no structured practice. I know this is foolish, but I find exercise deathly dull. I do try to walk as much as possible. I can’t claim to be charging along at an especially brisk pace, but I am moving – that’s got to count for something?

Week-night, lowkey restaurant go-to?

In Cape Town, it was Anatoli’s for warmth and nostalgic joy. I’d been going there since I was a child and had never not felt a thrill at seeing those big wooden trays come out. In Los Angeles, where I live at the moment, Holbox; it serves Yucatan-style seafood, and it is some of the most delicious cuisine I’ve ever had.

What is the one artwork you’ll always love, and why?

Picasso’s Child with a Dove. One of my mother’s closest friends had a print of it up in her house, and when I was little, I’d stare at it for ages. I thought it was the most beautiful painting in the world (still do). It moved me before I understood what being moved meant.

Do you have a hobby?

Worrying? (Ha!)

I don’t have a specific hobby but because I’m in my head all day long, I try to use my hands at least once a day and do something tactile and grounding: baking, cooking or whatever little crafty project I’ve got going – as a result there’s a pile-up of marbled paper, painted seashells, cardstock, unfinished knitting projects. I’m not really focused on the finished thing, it’s all about the unwinding pleasure of it all.

The one unusual item you can’t live without?

Loop earplugs. I’m a light sleeper and those little earplugs have really improved the quality of my sleep.

Who was your high school celeb crush?

Ethan Hawke – but maybe I was just taking my cue from Uma Thurman.

Three songs that you’d take to a desert island?

Digable Planets – Where I’m From; Miriam Makeba – Malaika; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 – mostly so that I could get to the Ode to Joy bit.

ALSO READ:

• Eight questions for the interested and interesting: Elaine Castillo
• Currency’s guide to great books to read right now
• Cold cases, warm heart

_{Top image: supplied.}