TGE's Current Read

We have another all-new BONUS episode out today featuring the phenomenal Minna Dubin. Minna is a US-based journalist and author whose essays and articles on motherhood and identity have been featured across all the best known outlets, including the New York Times, The Times, The Philadelphia Enquirer, LitHub, and so much more. Minna is a leading feminist voice on mom rage and she talks to The Grea...

In this BONUS episode of The Great Equalizer / TGE's Current Read, your host Samantha Herbst sits down with award-winning animator Daniel Snaddon. Daniel has worked on several highly acclaimed (and well loved) animations, including Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, and a host of animations based on the beloved books of children's book author Julia Donaldson. Daniel already has two BAFTAs under his be...

"We are closer than ever to the first pregnancy outside of the human body... but are we ready for the radical future of birth?" Host of TGE's Current Read Sam Herbst chats with author and feminist academic Claire Horn about her book, Eve: The Disobedient Future of Birth. Eve is a radical interrogation of the ethics and future of birth, detailing the near-future probability of ectogenesis, AKA arti...

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023, Cecile Pin's debut novel Wandering Souls (4th Estate) has clearly made its mark on the southeast Asian diaspora, with glowing author endorsements from the likes of Ocean Vuong (On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous), RF Kuang (Yellowface) and Helena Lee (East Side Voices), among many others. Inspired by Pin's personal family history, Wandering Souls tel...

On this episode of TGE’s Current Read, Sam touches base with comedy writer Monica Heisey, author of one of Elle Magazine’s most anticipated reads of 2023, Really Good, Actually. This fresh take on break-up comedy fiction chronicles a year in the life of 28-year-old Maggie as she separates from her husband after only 608 days of marriage. Heisey is no stranger to comedy, having contributed to some...

The Invincible Miss Cust details how English Aristocrat Aleen Cust overcame a myriad of obstacles in the late 1800s and early 1900s to become Britain and Ireland's first woman veterinary surgeon, paving the way for aspiring female vets who have sought to follow in her footsteps. As a lover of animals and the outdoors who grew up on a dairy farm, author Penny Haw merged her passion for nature with...

In this episode of TGE’s Current Read, Sam sits down with veteran lifestyle journalist Arlene Prinsloo to chat about her new book, Charlene: In Search of a Princess. This unauthorised biography chronicles the life, to date, of Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene of Monaco.   Prinsloo unpacks the home-grown princess’s early childhood in the suburbs of Benoni, her journey to the Olympics as a comp...

In this episode of TGE’s Current Read, veteran broadcaster and bestselling author Joanne Joseph joins Samanatha Herbst (co-host and founder of parenting podcast The Great Equalizer) to chat about her debut novel, Children of Sugarcane. Set against the backdrop of 19th Century India and the British-owned sugarcane plantations of Natal, Children of Sugarcane paints an intimate and heart-wrenching pi...

Bestselling thriller author Sarah Pearse hit it out of the park with the wildfire success of her first novel, The Sanitorium. The debut landed on several bestseller lists, including the New York Times, and was selected as a Reese’s Book Club pick. In this episode of Current Read, Sarah joins Sam Herbst to chat about getting a call from Reese Witherspoon’s team, writing a bestselling debut during l...

Sara-Jayne Makwala King knew that she had a second book in her, but she did not expect the follow up to her memoir, Killing Karoline, to be about loving someone in active addiction. The Cape Talk presenter chats to Samantha Herbst about her second memoir, Mad Bad Love, and how a book initially meant to be about mental health morphed into so much more. Here's the blurb: Life looks good for Sara-Jay...

On this episode of Current Read, Sam Herbst interviews Prof. Sean Davison, one of the more controversial characters she's ever sat opposite. By South African law, Sean is a convicted murderer three times over but – many would argue – a murderer unworthy of the title, especially when considering motivation and intent. As of June 2022, Davison completed three years of house arrest. Some might consid...

In this episode of Current Read, TGE hosts Sam Herbst and Charlene Armstrong chat to US-based family and marriage therapist Whitney Goodman. Whitney is the mastermind behind hugely popular Instagram account @sitwithwhit, as well as a columnist for Psychology Today. She’s been featured on and in dozens of big name stations and publications including the New York Times, Teen Vogue, New York Magazine...

In this episode of TGE's Current Reads, Sam Herbst is joined by award-winning and internationally best-selling author Lauren Beukes. Most of us would know her for her novels – Moxyland, Zoo City, The Shining Girls, Broken Monsters and, most recently, Afterland, though Lauren also keeps herself busy as a comics writer, a screenwriter, a journalist and a documentary filmmaker. The Shining Girls is t...

‘Children have a unique curiosity for Nature and for this amazing planet we call home.” – HRH The Prince of Wales On this episode of TGE’s Current Read we chat to UK-based author, lecturer, non-fiction storyteller and father of two Christopher Lloyd about his latest children’s book, It’s Up to Us. It's Up to Us forms part of The Prince of Wales’ Terra Carta initiative, bringing children to the tab...

This was a double whammy of firsts for TGE's Current Read. Our first unofficially-official online book club discussing Tina Baker's dark psychological thriller Call Me Mummy featuring none other than the author herself! Join Sam from The Great Equalizer podcast and a few friends that read along as part of a #buddyread for this title. We delve deep into the many themes unpacked in this book (some o...

It's Women's Month and no better time to celebrate inspirational women who have formed the backbone of the new South Africa. In this episode of TGE's Current Read, Sam chats to local children's book author Wendy Maartens about her latest project, Torchbearers. This series of books, aimed at preteens from 11 and up, features the stories of 12 heroic and inspiring women of South Africa who deserve t...

"What if the worst thing that ever happened to you, led you to the best time of your life?" There’s a kindred spirit among self-deprecating moms 😅 Those moms who know they’re not as perfect as they once hoped they’d be but are happy (most days) to get just a passing grade in the parenting department. Well, Sadie Foreman from this favourite feel-good book rec is just such a kindred spirit. Not the...

Historical fiction is the one genre that will get readers Googling post-read to separate fact from fiction. It’s also done way more than school history books to get us thinking about the world and the impact of our actions on people, individuals. Historical fiction is the best way to get invested in (and curious about) another culture, another story, another way of life, another period in time. Ca...