Goggas! flutters from musical stage to children’s book

South African-born writer Gill Katz is launching her new children’s book, goggas! The SA Jewish Report spoke to her about it.

How would you describe what you do?

I’m happily retired, living with my husband in a 55+ community in a sleepy little city near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We left South Africa 12 years ago. I spend my time painting and sculpting, which are two hobbies I love. One of our three children, Jonathan, his wife, and our two grandsons live very near, so we delight in spending time with them.

What inspired you to write goggas!, which you originally wrote as a musical? How did you go about it and why?

I wrote goggas! in the 1980s as a musical for Emmarentia Primary School, after declaring to the headmaster that it was time to put on an original South African musical.

My three children attended Emmarentia Primary, and since I was a dreadful tuckshop mommy and even worse parent-teachers association member, my offering of a school musical was accepted by the brave principal.

I chose the theme of “goggas”/insects because I’ve always had a fascination with their incredibly organised lives. I spent many hours researching insects at the University of the Witwatersrand’s entomology department, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I named the heroine of my story Lady Caroline – a tribute to my dear best friend, who sadly passed away soon after my husband and I emigrated. It was her very talented brother, Andrew McGibbon, who sadly also passed away, who invited me into his studio way up in the hills in Krugersdorp to create the many songs we composed. This music was recorded onto cassette tapes and used in the musical for the children to sing to. Great fun!

How did you turn the musical into a book, and why?

A year before we left South Africa, I ended my career as publisher of Netcare’s Be Patient! Magazine. It had been a fabulous experience, but I felt I needed to spend more time writing for children. I had mused about writing goggas! the novel, for years, and one day decided just to do it. With the help of two wonderful friends, Bev Goldman and Ivy Hesp, I finished the book and brought it to America with a view to publishing it. I succeeded in doing that this year.

You have written other books before this. What were they, and how do they differ?

This was my fourth book. My first book was How did I begin? which I wrote with music and lyrics. I teamed up with Des and Dawn Lindberg and together, we launched a book with a story, illustrations by Dawn, and attached was an audio cassette, later a CD.

I then wrote Kids Rule – OK! which also had an attached CD. This book focused on safety rules for children, and the audio was read by Bruce Miller in English, and Anneline Kriel in Afrikaans. Miller also sang two songs which I wrote. The book was in a colouring book format. It was produced and recorded by EMI.

The third book is The Very Greedy Piggy, which I wrote in 2021. It’s a book for three to 10-year-olds. It was published by the same company (Kindle Publishers) as goggas! It’s a rhyming story about a farmer and his badly behaved pig.

What’s the difference in the process of writing a children’s book of fiction versus a factual book?

The difference is enormous! I can’t even begin to answer that.

What age group is this book for, and what do you hope your little readers will get from it?

Goggas! is suitable for all ages. It can be read to the very young – I would say three-year-olds, and older children can read it on their own. It would appeal mainly to seven to 12-year-olds.

What’s the appeal in writing for children, both music and print?

I believe it has to be a story that grabs the child’s attention on page one. The illustrations and music are the decorations, but the story has to be exciting, fun to read, and educational where possible. If goggas! had been written in apartheid-era South Africa, it would probably have been banned, since the hero is a black ant, and the heroine – and love interest – is a white English butterfly from Buckingham Palace gardens.

What did you love most about writing this book?

I loved it because my three kids were at an age where I could read them the story as I wrote it and get an idea of where I was heading.

What kind of response have you had?

The book has just been born. So far, I’ve had wonderful responses, and I’m musing the creation of another goggas! By the way, goggas! the musical was performed by The National Children’s Theatre two years running, winning two Naledi awards, and is going to be produced again in 2026.