Engler to launch novel in the Bay
ONE of the Bay’s most creative writers surfs back into town this week to launch his third novel at the GFI Gallery in Park Drive.
Hagen Engler’s book In The Maid’s Room is the latest from the former Port Elizabeth talent and comedian Gino Fabbri will emcee the launch on Wednesday evening.
In The Maid’s Room already has had great reviews from fellow former surf writer Clayton Truscott, and Sunday Times humour columnist Ndumiso Ngcobo.
Engler at one time worked at The Herald and Weekend Post and has woven many city memories into the novel. Although his parents still live here, he and his wife Nomfundo and toddler daughter are based in Johannesburg. Engler edited the late glossy lad mag, FHM, for several years.
It’s the 10th book that Engler has co-written, ghost-written and edited and, as with his previous book Marrying Black Girls for Guys Who Aren’t Black, sounds as if it has echoes of his own life in it.
After all, the publicity blurb for In The Maid’s Room describes Engler as “the former editor of a doomed consumer magazine, a white guy from PE and no longer the big deal he used to be”, while Disco Dave in the novel is “a South African hipster on the Port Elizabeth social scene. such as it is.
“His dreams of media moguldom evaporate before his eyes as the scene becomes overwhelmingly blacker and his understanding of it more tenuous.” Disco also “finds a black girlfriend, but even that doesn’t stop it.” Is Disco Dave our hero Hagen? “Yes and no,” says the author. “The book is inspired by people, places and events in PE, my own experiences but also by rumours, myths, legends, tales I heard second or third-hand, and stuff I made up while typing away.
“The book is a bird's nest of interwoven PE stories, so it could only be launched in PE, that unique haven of peace and eccentricity,” Engler said. The launch will include a “chat with suave, mysterious me, some music and spoken-word performance, and goodness knows what else!”
That could be interesting as Engler’s musical ear extends further than his prose. He used to be the copywriter and “voice” of the Jedi Rollers – a Port Elizabeth band in the 1990s – and now plays guitar and sings for The Near Misses.
The launch is on Wednesday at 5.30 for 6pm at GFI in Park Drive. In The Maid’s Room is published by Jacana and retails for R220.
ý RSVP to fogartys@global.co.za or call (041) 368-1425.