The Storyteller Pod
Book Club

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Pull up a chair, pour yourself a coffee, and join a table of storytellers who love to read.

A free, monthly gathering for writers, screenwriters, and animation creatives who want to actually read — or re-read — the books about our craft and our industry that we all keep meaning to finish.

We meet once a month for an informal, welcoming chat. No lectures. No pressure. Just a bunch of writers pulling questions and thoughts “from the hat” and seeing where the conversation takes us — sometimes deep into story theory, sometimes off the rails (in the best way).

Why?
Because reading alone is fine... but reading with writer-friends is better.
Because some books are meant to be chewed on in good company.
Because growth doesn’t just come from finishing the book — it comes from talking, laughing, wondering aloud, and being reminded that you’re not doing this alone.

We’re reading the ones you’ve been meaning to get to, and the ones worth coming back to.
And whether you’ve read cover to cover or barely cracked the spine — you still belong in the room.

Writers who read together, grow together.
Come sit at our table.


Your Host:
Natasje van Niekerk

Natasje van Niekerk is an international award-winning screenwriter and story editor for animated series. Her experience in TV and film extends to live action, with almost 20 years experience across many genres.
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I’m a screenwriter, just like you — obsessed with the craft and forever adding “must-read” books to the pile on my bedside table. But when it comes to "books of the craft": Some I’ve read a dozen times, others I don't get around to, so they're waiting their turn.

The thing is: I don’t want to read them alone. Because it's boring.

I want to read with you. To swap the lines that made us pause, debate the chapters that made us rethink everything, and share the gold nuggets we can use in our own work.

Because I also teach some of these books, I know you take something new away each time you revisit them — especially as you mature as a writer.

My book club-style? Casual. Fun. I pop questions and topics (that we all come up with) into a hat, we pull one out, and just… talk.

Writers who read together, grow together.

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