Diversity Rules Magazine

4 Diversity Rules Magazine September 2016 Jani Allan is re- membered as South Africa's first celebrity journalist. She joined the Sun- day Times in 1980. Soon, she had the highest readership on the newspaper which had a circulation of some four mil- lion. Jani was raised in Johannesburg's privileged northern suburbs and read Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand. As well as her writing career she was a concert pianist, exhibiting artist, fashion model, high school teacher and part-time closed circuit TV producer. She married Gordon Schachat, co-founder of African Bank and one of South Africa's most pre- eminent art collectors. In 1987 she was named the 'most admired' person in South Africa in a Gallup poll that was commissioned by her newspaper. e following year she moved from the champagne social circuit to the only arena that had real importance – the political one. As the pulse-taker of the politico, psyche-analyst of the powerful, herFace to Face profile column saw her interviewing the likes of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Pik Botha, Magnus Malan and Beyers Naudé. Most recently Allan has contributed to several South African titles such as the Daily Maverick, Big Issue, Fair Lady and Dekat. Diversity Rules Magazine welcomes Jani Allan. JRK: Can you tell us a bit about your background, where you are from and all that other good stuff? JA: e circumstances of my birth are shrouded in mystery. I was given away like a puppy and could fit in a shoebox. My adoptive father was a Scot. He was an evolved soul to have chosen me. He left Edinburgh for South Africa where he was chief sub-editor of e Star in Johannesburg. My childhood was a parade of gym khanas and piano recitals. My mother was an antiques dealer. She had horreur de vacui – horror of empty spaces. Persian carpets were layered upon each other at our Bryanston home. JRK: Your new book entitled, "Jani Confidential" was released in 2015. Can you tell us a bit about the book and why you wrote it? JA: Bridget Impey from Jacana Media called me from the Frankfurt Book Fair and said 'It is time for your memoirs.' Such an invitation is impossible to refuse. I have had a tumultuous life. Glamour, wealth, achievement, fame… and then my apartment was bombed and kis- met came hurtling towards me at full-throttle. I am now living in a blaze of obscurity in a mink and manure river town in New Jersey. You can't make this stuff up. Besides, I have no relatives and neither do I have children – well not the two-legged kind – so the book is 'spoor – evidence that I existed. JRK: You are doing a one woman show at e Ra- ven in New Hope, PA based upon your book. Can you tell us about that and how that came to be? What other venues will you be taking the show to? JA: Sandra Prinsloo, one of the most respected ac- tresses in South Africa approached me when I was on the book tour last year with the idea of doing a one- woman show based on the book. ere's a producer and director tapped for the production 'Jani'. is year at a couple of book readings, Steven from the Raven reached out to me. I am still marinating on the production. Someone also wants me to do something at the Bucks County Playhouse. But you know hot it is. After a couple of glasses of Veuve people promise one anything. We will see. JRK: You have been known to say that the two greatest tragedies in your life are that you weren't born gay or Jewish. How about gay AND Jewish? A Chat With Jani Allan Giving a Voice to the Voiceless By Jim Koury, Editor/Publisher

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