William Charlton-Perkins

South African–born William Charlton-Perkins has worked variously as a journalist, columnist, copywriter and publicist over the past four decades. While his focus and forté have always been in the performing arts, he has also worked at the Natal Parks Board, producing feature articles for Getaway and various other magazines, writing a centennial book for Struik Publishers on the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, and contributing eight pieces to Off the Beaten Track – Day Drives in Southern Africa, published by Readers Digest. He has produced a number of plays under the banner of his company, Copy Dog Productions; The Mercury Newspaper in Durban carried his bi-monthly Classical Notes column for more than three decades.

William is widely recognised as one of South Africa’s eminent opera connoisseurs, having played a major role in setting the standard for the publicity and review of opera over the decades. His experience has been recognised internationally, amongst others by the London-based company, Opera Rara. 

He grew up with his three siblings in the Natal Midlands, in a home that brimmed with their parents’ passion for gardening and the arts – passions he inherited. An ex-marathon runner, with 10 ultra marathons to his credit, William is an English Literature Honours graduate (University of Natal) and a lapsed amateur pianist who has regarded Mozart as his musical deity since childhood. So, it is perhaps inevitable that Meetings with Mozart should be his debut novel. 

William lives within a magical garden in the coastal town of Knysna with four dogs, where he approaches his ‘senior’ years with as little reverence as possible.