Linzi Glass, Author of The Year the Gypsies Came

Linzi Glass' debut novel proves an utterly compelling classic-in-waiting. Set against the backdrop of Apartheid South Africa, The Year the Gypsies Came seamlessly intertwines the story of a fragmented and dysfunctional family with that of a fragmented and dysfunctional society. The Year the Gypsies Came is a beautiful, lyrical novel that will enthrall teenagers and adults alike.

Glass's incredible talent for storytelling takes us into the lonely, isolated world of twelve year old Emily Iris as she silently begs for attention from her self absorbed mother and distracted father. From time to time, her parents invite house guests to diffuse the tension in their unhappy home. One spring a "gypsy family" - an Australian wildlife photographer, his wife and two boys - comes to stay. Emily and her beloved sister Sarah find friendship and adventure with the boys, but when tragedy strikes - their lives are changed forever.

As Emily struggles to find happiness, she often turns to Buza, the family's old Zulu night watchman, for comfort. His lovingly told African folktales offer pearls of wisdom to Emily (and to the reader). These beautiful and exotic tales enrich an already amazing story - you can almost hear Buza's raspy old voice whispering to Emily as night falls! Ironically, Buza is the wisest of the characters, yet has the least amount of power and honor in the unjust world of apartheid.

ETC: What inspired you to write The Year the Gypsies Came?

Glass: This story came to me almost 10 years ago in a moment of quiet contemplation. It was about 2am and I couldn't sleep. The original words tumbled out of me in a thirteen-page short story called Gypsies that I finished by daybreak.

ETC: What was it like growing up in South Africa in the late 1960s?

Glass: I have been living in the United States since I was a young adult, but I still think often of the land of my birth, South Africa, and know that its very soil is part of my soul.

It always pained me to have grown up in a country where there were so clearly the haves and have-nots and skin color was all that determined which camp one fell into. I was fortunate enough to have been born into a family of the "haves." As such, I thought often, even as a child, growing up in a liberal white household, that healing and closing the giant cracks between black and white would be the ultimate triumph for such a fragmented and yet so noble a land.

ETC: There is great depth and lucidity in the characters you have created, are the Iris's based on a real family?

Glass: As writers, I think we draw from our own personal lives when creating characters, but it is the seeds of emotional truth rather than the exact replica of personalities that one builds a fictional character from in a novel. While there are some aspects of my own family in that of the family in the novel, I am blessed to have wonderful parents and two fabulous sisters, who are all, thankfully, alive and well!

ETC: The Year the Gypsies Came is an incredibly striking debut, can you give us any clues on what to expect next from you?

Glass: My next book, with the working title "Ruby Red," is also set in South Africa and covers a period of time in 1976 -- the year of the Soweto Riots. It is told though the eyes of 17 year old Ruby, a young girl who lives in a household where her liberal parents defy the laws of apartheid. The theme of acceptance transcends all aspects of this novel: "They lifted the veil of ignorance from my eyes at a tender age and let me see that the world we lived in was wrong. That people should not live in separate areas or ride in separate buses or be treated differently because of the color of their skin. But in lifting the veil from my young eyes they created another kind of division. They separated me from all my peers. I lived in a secret world that existed behind our large iron gates where black people in 1976 apartheid South Africa were treated as equals."

At 5' 0" tall, Linzi Glass is a little dynamo teeming with energy, creativity and a keen social awareness. An accomplished writer, entrepreneur, businesswoman, philanthropist, and single mother, Ms. Glass embodies the best attributes of today's modern woman - multi-faceted, compassionate and truly talented. Linzi co-founded a successful online clothing business with her sister, has published many articles and poems, and now her lyrically written debut novel, The Year the Gypsies Came is poised to be a runaway hit and critical darling.

Linzi grew up in a white liberal home in Johannesburg, South Africa during the reign of apartheid. Her father was an educator and decided to move the family out of the country when she was twelve because he could no longer tolerate living in a country where he did not agree with the politics. Soon after the family headed to England, but after her father suffered a heart attack, they returned to South Africa, and later immigrated to the United States where they settled in Los Angeles. Linzi was writing poetry and short stories by then and she got her first taste of success as a writer when some of her poems were published.

While continuing to write, Linzi pursued a career in the entertainment industry handling motion picture and television rights for books for a major talent and literary agency. She became very involved in the UCLA Extension Writers Program and wrote children's stories for a time.

During this time, Linzi was married and took on the role of stepmother to three children. When her youngest stepson was diagnosed with leukemia, she quit work and dedicated the next year to caring for him. Unfortunately, he was unable to beat the disease. Soon after Jeffrey died, Linzi welcomed her daughter Jordan into the world.

She and her husband began a charity called, "The Jeffrey Katz Bone Marrow Transplant Fund for Children" that to date has helped hundreds of children all over the world who have needed funding for transplants or ancillary costs.

Linzi continued writing articles, plays, screenplays and short stories - and had a number of articles published. It was late one night when a short story named "Gypsies" came to her, and "simply poured out." Her writing teacher at the time encouraged her to make the story into a novel, which she finally did; but at the time there no interest so she tucked the manuscript away for close to 8 years.

But her dream of publishing a novel would not die, and so she dusted off her old copy of The Year the Gypsies Came, a stunning, heartfelt novel that, thankfully, made its way out of that bottom drawer. "I'm 46. Having Gypsies published in the second half of my life is truly a dream come true. For me, Gypsies is all about not giving up on your dream."

Linzi, her teenage daughter Jordan and "The Zoo" - 7 cats, 3 dogs and an occasional foster dog or two -- live in Santa Monica, CA.