Arini Vlotman

Arini Vlotman is a rising voice in contemporary romance powered by the belief that love stories should make you laugh as hard as they make you swoon. A South African PoC author based in Johannesburg, she brings a proudly local spark to international audiences. Her storytelling is filled with sharp humour, emotional gut‑punches, cinematic scenes and heroines who feel like your best friend. Her novels are known for their sharp banter, heartfelt moments, and relatable characters.

Off the page, Arini is a firm believer in community, a speaker and champion of writers, readers and stories that feel authentic, and humorous. You can find her lip-syncing on social media, waxing lyrical on Substack or posting her fur babies everywhere else. Whether she’s speaking on stage, deep in a drafting spiral, or convincing readers that happily‑ever‑afters are absolutely still in fashion, Arini brings humour, heart, and a distinctly South African pulse to everything she creates.

What genre(s) do you write?

Contemporary romcoms

Are there any other social media links, websites, or other places to learn about you that we should add?

Find me on Substack, Instagram or Tiktok under @arini_author

If you are traditionally published, who is your agent? If you are self-published, what publishing software do you prefer/ who is your publisher?

A.J van Belle is my agent

What inspired you to start writing this series?

I wanted an adventure, but I’m not Bilbo Baggins so my options were limited. I decided to turn life in South Africa into a romantic and cinematic experience…

What is one book that profoundly impacted you as a writer, and why?

Matthew Reilly’s Jack West series - not a romance, and not anywhere close to what I write but this series takes the world as we know it, turns it on it’s head, and makes the reader wonder… In one of the books he has a scene set in CPT and as soon as I read it I realised what a good storyteller can do - create a world in the here and now, a place we could literally visit and get thrown in a myth come to life.

What is your favorite hobby outside of writing, and how does it influence your creative process?

This is going to be so cliche but reading has always been my ‘thing’ - riffling in flea markets, exchanging books with friends, fangirling over new (and old) worlds. When I told my friends I’d started writing not a single person was surprised! I also love animals, buying bedding (sooo satisfying) and learning how to do makeup. My husband says my biggest hobby is finding the easiest way to do the hardest thing!

If you could give any advice to a new writer/author, what would it be?

You’ve got to dig deeper than the surface level advice on the internet - it’s a good place to start, but just keep in mind that there’s layers to everything. The more you know, the better equipped you are.

There’s also no formula. Try a little bit of everything until you figure out what works for you because you’ve got nothing to lose.