Author Interview with John Manning for Struik Nature

I recently attended another great book launch with Struik Nature, at the Conservatory in Kirstenbosch Gardens. What a beautiful venue, and perfect for the launch of John Manning’s latest botanical book, Proteas of the Fynbos.

This book is absolutely packed with over 150 species of protea, each with their own colour photograph and description and so many useful details: when they flower, where to find them, their conservation status and more. It is the ultimate field guide to proteas of the Cape Floral Kingdom, and it richly illustrated, with several colour photographs for each entry. This book will fit into your day pack, so perfect as an identification guide for an excursion on Table Mountain or a hike in Cape Point.

However, for most novice wildlife explorers, like myself, there is a lot of magic in the introduction: It is absolutely packed with protea information presented in a very easily digestible way. If you do nothing else, read the introduction before heading out on a hike… you will discover things about proteas that you never imagined. Information about their germination, their origins, their adaptions and their pollination – from moths to mice!!! It is a wonderful read and very worthwhile addition to the Struik Nature Family of Nature Guides.

I thought with a new release and an addition to the fynbos Collection that it would be the perfect time to have an author interview… so here you go: Meet the prolific author behind the Cape Fynbos Series and several other books about plants and wildflowers of South Africa.

1. Tell us a little bit about your “book journey.” How did you become a published author?

I have always been interested in books, especially natural history identification guides. I am also a plant illustrator. The combination of the two in the form of photographic wildflowers guides was a natural step that started with my first wildflower guide to the West Coast in 1996. Things have progressed since then.



2. Was illustrating and photography part of your journey as a writer, or part of your journey as a botanist.

It was initially part of my journey as a botanist and later as a writer.



3. Who or what do you think had the biggest impact on you becoming a writer of plant books?

My career as a plant taxonomist, which required identification tools and involved extensive field work. Practising as a plant taxonomist means developing a knowledge of how species differ from one another as well as how individual species vary in the wild. This knowledge informs the development of field guides.

4. Tell us about your work style: Are you compelled to write when inspiration strikes or disciplined, or do you just squeeze it in whenever you can?

I mull over a project for a while until I feel motivated to start writing. Writing becomes easier with practice, but starting it is the critical step. Once I get into a project I focus on it to the exclusion of anything else.



5. Where do you work best? On the couch at a desk? While you are at it, tell us about your dream workday.

While you are at it, tell us about your dream workday. I work best at my desk. My dream workday is a weekend at the office when there are no interruptions of any kind.



6. I really enjoyed the history snippets that you shared at your book launch. What is a good source of information about plant history?

There is no single source. I pick up things over time through reading. There are so many old and original publications available online that it is now relatively simple to locate old literature as long as you known how to go about it. The main thing is always to look up the original sources.



7. What made researching for this book great, did you get to do any interesting interviews or visit any unusual places?

The best thing was learning about the Protea family. It was not a family that I had studied in any detail, and so I learned a lot. Mainly I researched and answered the questions that I thought the general reader would find interesting.

This book was published by Struik Nature.This is not a sponsored post and opinions expressed are entirely our own.