KNYSNA NEWS - Local artisan writer PJ Gronum has reason to be very pleased. Sales of his historical creative non-fiction series, The founders of Knysna and the mystical bloodline, recently passed the 3 000 mark.
For Gronum this is rather special. "With the exception of Margaret Parkes' Knysna, the forgotten port, no other Knysna history literature works have ever done as well as these," he says.
The series consists of four books. It was first published in 2021, and by the end of the year, sales had passed the 2 500 mark. Now, they have officially crossed 3 000.
Gronum was born in Belfast, Mpumalanga, but before his first birthday, his family moved to Knysna, which he has called home for the past 40 years.
He's an alumnus of Knysna Primary School and Knysna High School, ultimately matriculating from Oakdale Agricultural High School in 2000.
Gronum completed a BTech degree in marketing at Nelson Mandela University in 2004.
The man behind the books
While his journey as a writer only really kicked off and blossomed a bit later in life, Gronum's journey with literature has been much more extensive.
"From as early as 12 years of age I was pushed forward by my peers to do any form of public speaking as they always said that I have a way with words'," Gronum remembers.
"I suppose I've always enjoyed the use of an extensive range of vocabulary, so combined with a passion to be creative and a hell of an imagination, I was writing well from a young age. I enjoyed both language studies at school and tertiary level and did well in them."
His first form of writing recognition came when in 1999 he was nominated for the KKNK Youth Writer Award for his short story, Die Strandloper.
But his writing career kicked off only recently. "Apart from always trying to apply a creative flair to my written work in a marketing career, I didn't write anything substantial until The tale of Thomas Horn in 2016," Gronum says.
"This was the first of four books I set out to write, of a series of creative non-fiction short stories entitled The founders of Knysna and the mystical bloodline."
Since then he has embarked on a five- to six-year journey to tell the tales of those who first sought to settle in Knysna and establish a town between the years of 1800 and 1905.
When speaking about his passion for Knysna history, Gronum states, "I recall a childhood fascination with pictures of the great sailing ships and steamships which portray such an iconic backdrop to the old harbour's story."
The Masons
That Knysna history bug bit and in 2012 it grew bigger than Gronum himself expected.
"In July of 2012, I first laid my eyes on Knysna's highly guarded Masonic archives. The hand-written minute books and notes from meetings and projects dating back to the 1850s absolutely blew my mind," he says.
"I saw names that I had seen many streets in Knysna named after, names such as Rex, Duthie, Metelerkamp, Sass, Horn and Bain, appearing as gentlemen who were present at Masonic meetings in the 1800s; discussing and planning matters that were at the heart of Knysna's existence!"
This spurred Gronum on. "I felt inspired to write their story and all the action, romance, ventures, and adventures of their lives," he says.
"Combining the abundance of information available to me in their Knysna archives room, a lot of time spent in the Cape Town archives, and investing in a student membership of the UCT archive with the extensive research work of renowned Knysna historians Margaret Parkes, Martin Hatchuel, Philip Cavaney, and Ian Uys, I could eventually put together quite an entertaining series of creative non-fiction short stories."
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