Skip to content

GLAM Book Chat: Mark Verbaan

GLAMOUR recently caught up with Mark Verbaan about his memoir Incognito: The Memoirs of Ben Trovato, in which he reveals that he is, in fact, Ben Trovato. To find out more about the book, read through our review!

Read on to find out why he chose the pseudonym, why he’s revealing his real name now and his future plans.

GLAMOUR: You recently revealed your real name in

Mark: I’d had enough of that Ben Trovato character claiming all the credit for my hard work. I’m tired of being Clark Kent. I want to be Superman for a bit. Well, maybe not Superman, but certainly Spiderman. Besides, I’m a journalist. And if there’s one thing we can’t keep, it’s a secret. The self-discipline I’ve had to exercise over the last 10 years to keep my identity secret has nearly killed me. I have been to parties where the conversation turned to my latest column and I’ve had to sit there and listen to people quoting me and speculating about Trovato’s real identity. I would have to play along or risk being asked, “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you find Trovato funny?”

GLAMOUR: Did you always think, after choosing to use a pseudonym, that you would one day reveal your name or was it a recent decision?

Mark: That didn’t really cross my mind when I started out. I created the pseudonym when I began writing letters to the rich and powerful in 2001. I got the idea from The Henry Root Letters, written by a British author in the 1980s. His real name was William Donaldson. I thought Ben Trovato’s ‘career’ would end after the first volume of satirical letters and their replies were published as The Ben Trovato Files. But two more volumes were published. I also started writing a column for the Cape Times as Ben Trovato. With the name becoming more recognised, I wrote a bunch of books as Trovato. The more ‘famous’ Trovato became, the less sense it made to reveal my true identity. So, no, I never planned to ‘out’ myself. It was a very recent decision and was probably a good move insofar as my mental health is concerned. However, given what I’ve written about some people in my memoir, it might be a terrible move insofar as my physical health is concerned.

GLAMOUR: 

Mark: I was doing research for a script and came across a saying by an Italian philosopher: “Se non ė vero ė  ben trovato’. It means, “It might not be true, but it’s a good story.” Ben Trovato seemed like the perfect nom de guerre, even though I knew there was a risk that anyone googling the name might suspect something was up.

GLAMOUR: After carefully hiding your real name for such a long time, were you hesitant to write a book that would tell not only your name but your life story (drugs, jail time and all)?

Mark: Sure, I was hesitant. But not for very long. I have always found hesitation to be heavily overrated. I tend more towards a brief weighing up of the odds, followed by plunging laughingly into the flames, often regardless of the odds. The thing with this though is that a lot of people genuinely believed that Ben Trovato was a real person with a wife called Brenda, a dysfunctional son called Clive and a hard-drinking neighbour by the name of Ted. These were characters that have appeared in my books and columns for years, and I wasn’t sure how fans would react to the news that some unknown called Mark Verbaan had made it all up. I should point out, though, that the vast majority of my columns were and are based on real events or, at very least, have a fat kernel of truth in them.

As for writing my life story, well, it wasn’t really meant for publication. When my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer mid-2012, I moved back to Durban from Cape Town where I had been living since 1998. I started jotting down the high and lowlights of my life, mainly as a means of distracting me from the horror unfolding in the house in which I grew up. By the time my mom died six months later, I had 90 000 words down. I considered leaving my name off it, but that made little sense because I was writing about real people and real events and if I had kept it as the memoirs of Ben Trovato, it would have come across as a weird, delusional work of quasi-fiction. Which might have been okay, but I don’t think a publisher would have gone for it.

GLAMOUR: As a writer you’ve made a name for yourself as one of SA’s ultimate entertainers. Now that people know who you are, do you feel like you have to be hilarious in person as well?

Mark: So far, I’ve seen little evidence that my ‘coming out’ has put me on anyone’s A-list. Which is fine with me. In this country, writers aren’t celebrities. And perhaps that’s how it should be. I’m not a stand up comedian so I wouldn’t really know how to be hilarious in person. But if you’re looking for inappropriate comments and cutting one-liners guaranteed to ruin a dinner party, I’m your man.

GLAMOUR: Many people see writing as a cathartic activity. What is it for you?

Mark: For me, it’s more a case of, “if I don’t do this I’m going to have to go out and get a day job.” It’s the best incentive there is. I’ve had day jobs. This is way better.

GLAMOUR: What motivated you throughout the writing of your memoirs?

Mark: The fear of dying before I could finish.

GLAMOUR: 

Now that you’ve written your memoir, is there anything you wish you’d included – if so, what? Is there anything you wish you could take out and if so, what?

Mark: I would have asked my mother about things that only mothers remember. Mothers are the repositories of family facts and memories. By the time I thought of asking mine, it was too late. Her condition prevented it and so many things were lost forever.

GLAMOUR: What can we expect next from Mark Verbaan/Ben Trovato?

Mark: As the one who currently pays the rent, Ben will have to keep writing columns and maybe do another funny book or two. Mark will go surfing as often as possible and write a best-selling novel that will be translated into 28 languages. Or end up in a homeless shelter.

Gallery image 0Gallery image 1Gallery image 2

Share this article: