As the daughter of award-winning South African poet and art academic, Leon Strydom, Anna Emm grew up surrounded by literature and theatre. She wrote her first book at the age of four, by dictating it to her kindergarten teacher. After school Anna studied at the Boland College of Education and, at the age of 21, got her first teaching job in Cape Town. She taught Grade 2 classes for four years, but describes herself as a terrible teacher, because she'd spent most days secretly reading stories to the students instead of teaching them anything. But it was here that she could really see the value of stories because, on an almost exclusive diet of stories, not only did the children in her class excel in their academic work, but their self-confidence, vocabulary and creativity far surpassed that of their peers. They appeared happier and more relaxed, and they could show a level of empathy towards others that was far beyond their years. This was enough evidence to finally convince Anna to bid teaching goodbye and focus on her writing.In 2006 she founded her own production company through which she would go on to write and produce more than 3000 original children's stories, most of which were recorded and distributed in audio format. Many local celebrities lend their voices to Anna's children's stories over the years. In 2015, her company won the Afrigrowth Award for Small Business of the Year. By the time Anna closed the business in 2020, her children's stories had become a household name in South Africa.Besides proving herself an industrious entrepreneur, Anna is also a prolific cross-genre writer. Up to date she has self-published 5 children's books, 17 young adult books, 2 collections of short stories, 21 romance novels, 4 suspense novels, and 38 novellas. She also wrote and produced 4 plays and 12 children's theatre plays.As a child her greatest fear was that she would stop writing. So she didn't.
