The Bertha’s World Podcast

Sponsored by Hekma Press.

Join Bertha’s World to find your next favourite fiction writer. Discover stories and writers that you may not have heard about (but probably should), and the readers who enjoy them.
It is named after the quirky protagonist in the book Bertha’s Law, whose life story was almost lost to time.
Bertha’s World includes a monthly newsletter, a one-man show, and more…




All episodes will be available on the usual outlets: Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Apple podcasts, etc
Look for the Bertha’s World icon.

Episode 9: Lisha and Pierre. January 2026.

Episode 8: Meet Nate Gillick, author and co-founder of Laterpress self-publishing platform. January 2026. Nate is the author of the Planar Gates series of fantasy fiction. He is also the co-founder of LaterPress, a self-publishing platform with a very different publishing model that is very much author and reader centric.

Episode 7: Discussion with Aimee Armstrong from Staging post / Jacana media publishers. Release 30 December 2025. Aimee is the co-ordinating publisher for Staging Post, which is a self-publishing arm of Jacana Media. We discuss the process and support for authors who select this service.

Episode 6: Meet author Sue Robertson Danells. Release 02 December 2025. Sue has published several books, her latest being The Pledge (2025). I talk to her about her writing journey, her books and future plans.

Episode 5: Meet author Andrew Robert Wilson. Release 25 November 2025. Andrew published his first novel The Fourth Boy in 2025. I talk to him about his background in journalism and scriptwriting and the lead up to writing a fiction book.

Episode 4: The hunter. Release 7 November 2025. Bertha is near the Chyulu Hills in southern Kenya. She has learnt about the planned trophy hunting of a tusker. The life of Bertha has become a lot more serious and unpredictable (even more so than before!) What will she do?

Episode 3: Bertha in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Release 25 October 2025. A much more sinister episode, Bertha is working in a circus-cum-theatre near Goma on Lake Kivu in the DRC. This episode recounts her plot to free Alceste (a chimpanzee) and escape from the menacing Mathieu.

Episode 2: How did Bertha get the money?! Release 13 October 2025. A comical episode, you will hear how Bertha got the money to do all the things she did. She has travelled to the western cape in South Africa and in a bid to rescue trafficked animals becomes entangled with the gangster Jerome (aka Spares). See how she spontaneously swindled the swindlers! And hear about some of the unique characteristics of the region like it’s language and peoples.

Episode 1 (trailer): About Bertha Release 30 September 2025 Hear about Bertha’s remarkable life as she travels around Africa, hatching plans to free the animals she encounters, forming profound friendships, and contending with dangerous characters. Her story was almost undiscovered until I came across it in the late 2010s and was inspired to write my first fiction book Bertha’s Law. In the spirit of (almost) undiscovered stories led to the birth of this podcast series.