Jan Hurst-Nicholson has been reliably informed that website biographies are usually written in the third person, giving them the air of being penned by an authoritative third party (allowing the author carte-blanche to embellish without the restraints of false modesty) Born in the UK, Jan emigrated from Liverpool to South Africa in the 1970s. Her experiences moving to a new continent were the inspiration for her humorous novel, "But Can You Drink The Water?' which was a semi-finalist (top 50 out of 5000) in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and a runner-up in the Peter Pook humorous novel competition.  Jan worked in the R&D department of a large bakery for several years, and this gave her the idea for "The Breadwinners" a family saga spanning 60 years and set in Durban.  Jan has also published a YA/teen novel, Mystery at Ocean Drive, which was a runner-up in the 2010 Citizen/Pan MacMillan YA novel award. Jan's latest novel  "With the Headmaster's Approval" won the best Chick Lit/Women’s Lit category in the 2015 eFestival of Words  Her first children's book was "Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the missing canary eggs" published by Gecko Books, and was one of Bookchat's 1993 South African Books of the Year. This was followed by "Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the kidnapped mouse" which was selected as one of the 2013 Kart Kids Book Award winners. 'Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the bottled bat' is awaiting publication. These are humorous, animal, detective stories set in a nature reserve. "Bheki and the Magic Light", which tells of a bullied herd boy who becomes a hero, was published by Penguin SA and is now also available as an e-book. 'Jake,' was published by Cambridge University Press. 'The Race (an inspiring story for left-handers)' is her latest children's book. It also has advice for parents and teachers.  Jan's writing also appears in Edge Words (20 stories from the Cheshire Prize for Literature 2006) published by University of Chester, Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Soul 101 best stories On Being a Parent; Summer Shorts, My Funny Major Medical and Tales2Inspire, The Crystal Collection.  

School prefect.
Oh, do they mean writing achievements?

‘Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the missing canary eggs’ was one of Bookchat’s 1993 South African Books of the Year.

'Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the kidnapped mouse' was selected as one of the 2013 Kart Kid Book Award winners.

‘But Can You Drink The Water?’ was runner-up in the Peter Pook humorous novel competition UK. Semi-finalist (top 50 out of 5000) in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

Mystery at Ocean Drive, was runner-up in the 2010 Citizen/Pan MacMillan YA novel award,

'With the Headmaster's Approval' won the best Chick Lit/Women's Lit category in the 2015 eFestival of Words.