David Hofmeyr

David Hofmeyr was born in South Africa and lives in London and Paris. In 2012 he was a finalist in the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices competition, and in 2013 he graduated with distinction from Bath Spa University with an MA in Writing for Young People. He works as a Planner for Ogilvy & Mather in the UK.

Hofmeyr's first novel is Stone Rider.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. His reply:

Winter's Bone
Daniel Woodrell

Woodrell steeps you in a bleak and twisted landscape with prose that burns. I feasted on his words, reading slowly to prolong the joy. Every page has something to revel in. “Amid the harsh landscape of the Ozark Hills, sixteen-year-old Ree is taking care of her mother and two brothers. Her father has put their house up as bail and if he doesn't show up at court it'll be sold from under them. To save her family she needs to track him down but in a community riven with long-running feuds getting answers isn't easy.” This is a modern day fairy-tale. Ree heads into the woods on a primal quest to save her family and the ogres she encounters on the road are the in-bred redneck meth-burning criminals of the Ozarks. A brutal and gripping story. But there is beauty and majesty. Winter’s Bone throws you into an uncompromising world with raw power. I was with Ree every step of her journey. I’m still with her now.

Butcher's Crossing
John Williams

This is journey into the heart of darkness with a Cormac McCarthy western feel. Set in Kansas and Colorado in the 1870s it follows the story of four men on the trail of buffalo. There are allusions to barbarity everywhere and you know within the first few pages that darkness awaits. Told in clean prose that brings the land – the unending flat prairie of Kansas and the mountainous Colorado to cinematic life. This is a wild west on the brink of change – railroad lines are being laid across the land, the buffalo are being hunted to extinction and the Indians are few and feral. The characters are wonderfully evoked and the lead, Will Andrews, who leaves Harvard to ‘discover’ the west, is the perfect protagonist for this primal journey. They will be reduced to most basic urges and they will dig deep to survive. Genius!

Visit David Hofmeyr's website.

Stone Rider is one of Rachel Paxton-Gillilan's top five YA books for Mad Max fans.

My Book, the Movie: Stone Rider.

The Page 69 Test: Stone Rider.

--Marshal Zeringue