Jonathan Ball Publishers and Lift collaborated to arrange the launch in the spirit of the month of love, as Watson’s new book aptly involves the story of an air traffic controller who meets a pilot, culminating in a fake dating pact, with their communications resulting in the unexpected.
Jo Watson is an award-winning author of over ten books, with her book, Love To Hate You becoming an overnight bestseller, reaching #9 on the Amazon UK charts. To date, her stories have accumulated more than 60 million reads on the platform with over 119,000 followers.
“We’re proud to celebrate our local talent, so when we were approached to launch a book with Jo at 36 000ft, our immediate response was ‘let’s do it!’. Providing a platform to Jo, an award-winning South African author, was only a pleasure, as we continue to collaborate and support SA artists and creatives. We’re passionate about uplifting local talent where we can, as well as providing our travellers with an elevated experience, which they have come to know and love Lift for," says Jonathan Ayache, Lift CEO.
Lift has hosted several inflight performances much to the delight of their travellers. Cape Town Opera performed on board a flight during their national tour of Mozart's, Le Nozze di Figaro. Artist Divine Mahara launched his first album at 36,000 ft with the first ever Lift Silent Disco, and the airline had Schalk Bezuidenhout do a comedy skit onboard one of the flights. Most recently Zolani Mahola, "The One Who Sings", joined Lift to treat travellers to their second Silent Disco performance in the sky.
A graduate of the South African arts and media school AFDA, Watson has also worked as a scriptwriter, director, producer, and copywriter before deciding to publish her stories. Her stories have been translated into seven different languages.
