J. H. Thompson

JH Thompson is a Johannesburg-based freelance writer and author. An Unpopular War is her first book. After mulling over the idea for almost two years, her husband, Jeremy, fed up with her procrastination, said he would give her the first story if she wrote it down immediately. That opened the gates and she began interviewing friends that were called up for National Service (the government discouraged the use of the word conscription). They in turn passed her on to others they felt she should interview. The book was nominated for the 2007 SA Booksellers' Award. It was translated in to Afrikaans as Dit Was Oorlog and both books are best sellers. She was invited to the 2007 Pan Asian-African Literature festival in Korea to speak on her book and reconciliation.

Under her married name of Mansfield, she co-authored two multiple award winning cook books; Zhoozsh! and Zhoozsh! Faking It with hubby Jeremy. Between them the books won the Gourmand Awards for Best Cook Book in South Africa, Third Best Cook Book in the World 2008 and South Africa's Best Easy Recipe Cook Book 2011. Zhoozsh! also won Random House Struik Best Seller of the Year 2008.

An Unpopular War and Zhoozsh! made the Exclusive Books Top 10 Best Seller List for their respective years.

She is a former game ranger, one of the first female rangers in the country, and a keen traveler. She has backpacked across Canada, ridden her motorbike across Africa and taken her 1961 Landrover through Africa in the early 1980s when it was almost impossible for a South African to do so. This meant all items that showed she was from South Africa had to be removed, labels on tins of food, made in RSA stamps on the tyres and all her papers were re-issued in Zimbabwe. Her favourite places are the African Bushveld and Vietnam. She plans to travel to Mongolia and Antarctica.

She is an ardent conservationist, recycler, vegetarian, animal lover and believes overpopulation is the base cause of all environmental problems.