Today we’d like to introduce you to Judith Krummeck.
Hi Judith, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Mine is a two-part, before-and-after story, with a few cul de sacs along the way. I was born in South Africa, spent my childhood in Namibia, came of age in Cape Town, and lived the last years of my African life in Johannesburg.
This was all happening against the backdrop of the apartheid regime, and even as I was living my day to day life, I was longing to be able to leave the country. But, as a fifth generation South African, I did not have the right the claim any other citizenship. Meeting and marrying an American gave me that gift.
We arrived with no home and no job. I answered an ad for an announcer at WBJC, and that’s how I ended up where I am today. Along the way, I completed an MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts so that I could write about the extraordinary experience of reinventing myself in a new country.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road. Picking yourself up in your native country and moving two hemispheres—north and west—is challenging to say the least. The United States and Baltimore City have been generous to me, but I am only as old as the twenty-seven years I have lived here, and I am always having to try to fold in the African years that went before. It is certainly a privilege to be able to claim two countries, but it’s also true that sometimes I feel as if I truly belong to neither.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
One of the cut-de-sacs of my life was graduating from the University of Cape Town with a degree in drama and history of art, acting professionally for six years, and then finding that it wasn’t for me; I was too timid and introverted. By good fortune, I fell into broadcasting, and served as arts editor and radio drama director for SAfm at the South African Broadcasting Corporation, while also hosting live symphony concerts for SABC-TV.
When I was in the process of immigrating to the States, I had a pipe dream about being a classical music DJ somewhere on the Northeast Coast. It still seems incredible that this is exactly what happened, as I am the evening drive time host for Maryland’s classical music station, WBJC. In this capacity, I compile and present five hours of classical music Monday through Friday from 3 to 8 PM; I read three newscasts on the hour at the peak of drive time; and I host a monthly segment called BookNotes about the world of books.
BookNotes is a natural extension of my writing life. The graduating thesis for my MFA was a memoir-in-essays called Beyond the Baobab, which I wrote, designed, and published. Since then, I have also traditionally published a biographical memoir called Old New Worlds about the intersection of the immigrant stories of my second great-grandmother and my own, and I published my first novel, The Deceived Ones, a reimagining of Shakes[eare’s Twelfth Night, in May 2024. While broadcasting is very much my vocation, writing is my avocation.
What’s next?
It is rather wondrous that I have been at WBJC for over a quarter of a century. I am in no hurry to leave—it was, and remains, a dream job—but at some point I would love to be able to devote all my creative energy to writing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://judithkrummeck.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jkrummeck/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judith.krummeck.7/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-krummeck-14806a231/
- Other: https://www.threads.net/@jkrummeck?hl=en
