Jon Elkon – the Truth

Past and Present

I was born in Apartheid South Africa and came to the UK as a refugee. After a period of homelessness I did an HND in Marketing and worked in that lying business for years (timber, pop music, hotels and Wall St Journal).Eventually, bored to frustration, I returned to my lifelong obsession: writing, and produced a satirical novel about growing up in Apartheid South Africa. My first novel, Umfaan’s Heroes, had great reviews – Hilary Mantel, Margaret Forster, amongst many others. I had plenty of press and radio fame, so I left Marketing and became a teacher. My second novel, Laszlo’s Millions, was published two years later.

I have since republished Umfaan’s Heroes and Laszlo’s Millions in paperback and Kindle, and they are both available at all good online bookshops. Laszlo’s Millions has been thoroughly revised and I think it’s one of the best books I have ever written. London in 1970: drugs! Spies! Psychopaths! Intense joy, catastrophic sorrow.

In 2014 I was bored again. Boredom breeds a novel.  I wrote Sally’s Road. It was a response to losing my favourite aunt to that killer disease. Full of lots of wry humour: Sally vs Cancer, Sally wins. I self-published. It is about a woman who steals, kills and rapes in her battle against cancer. Wouldn’t you?

I have just finished a novel which exploded out of me like a multicoloured accident at a fireworks factory, about a psychopathic castrato….more soon! Tentatively titled Ragazzo, it’s going to make voracious readers sit up and beg. (Did you enjoy Susskind’s ‘Perfume’? You wait…)

The Future

I am working on a screenplay for an 8-part series (‘Cassie’s Game’) with a screenwriter who has a film in production. It’s going to Kill Eve.

The next novel could be a sequel to Ragazzo; OR I may finish my 80’s novel about a gay vigilante out for revenge against the killers of his best friend. Thinking…

Meanwhile, check for new short stories, poetry, writing hits and tips and writing competitions on this very website!