Litnet

"Clearly, the longing for such a gathering of writers and readers must have been in the salty air for a long time, and hopefully Books on the Bay can still it every Cape autumn from now on."

Eve Fairbanks’s book about post-apartheid South Africa, The inheritors: An intimate portrait of a brave and bewildered nation (Jonathan Ball), was launched on Thursday, 9 March in Bloemfontein. Johann Rossouw interviewed her about her book. Themes such as Girardian mimesis in South Africa, the shared loss of a future, the shared Christian idealism of South Africans and the position of minorities were discussed during this launch.

There is a war being waged against corruption in South African universities’ lecture halls, libraries, boardrooms and offices. Sandile Ntuli attended the Johannesburg launch of Jonathan Jansen’s book, Corrupted: a study of chronic dysfunction in South African universities, and shares his "crib notes" with LitNet’s readers.

"When I was writing the story I was just being a storyteller. And when it comes to different genders, races or ages when writing, I always think of characters as people and that everyone deserves to have their story told."

This groundbreaking and long overdue study will offer a promising way forward for universities to better serve their communities and the country more broadly.

The Open Book Youth Fest is now live on our website! All events are free, but booking is essential.

The company looked too good to be true – promising to turn the mines into a new business. Soon after the acquisition, cracks appeared.

"My boyfriend has never been to South Africa. He has a small farm in western Texas, and I recently gave him Story of an African farm by Olive Schreiner to read, because western Texas reminds me of the Karoo."

"I find that stories often have their own objectives, which I only discover while writing, or sometimes after writing."

You are invited to the book launch in Rosebank on Tuesday, 28 February 2023. Click here for more information.

"This is definitely a novel I would recommend to anyone who wants to read something that embodies traditional South African words, phrases and sayings. It would certainly make an excellent gift for non-South African readers!"

"The value in my books comes from writing about those things people don’t want to talk about. My intent is to get people talking as opposed to measuring. We need to start having robust conversations around those topics that make us uncomfortable."

Frans Rautenbach and Footprint Press cordially invite you to attend this book launch on Tuesday 21 February 2023 at the Book Lounge.

"Both as a writer and as an artist, she could have this device emblazoned on her banner: Frustrate the expectations of the public! Something is suggested, a meaning seems imminent; but there is no closure, the dots are never connected." – Andries Gouws on Ingrid Winterbach.

Banyana Banyana’s Thembi Kgatlana is celebrated worldwide – she represented South Africa in the 2016 Summer Olympics; she was the leading goal scorer and Player of the Tournament at the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations.

"This book is an important literary contribution to the discourse on xenophobia in South Africa. With love at the centre, In the midst of it all demonstrates just how we’re all more alike than what we might think."

The charming village of Franschhoek will again be transformed into a literary hub from Friday 19th – Sunday 21st May 2023, when the Franschhoek Literary Festival celebrates its 16th year since inception.

When Thoko and her mom moves from the city to a plantation in Mpumalanga, she is totally out of her comfort zone. There is no mall in sight and she has to take a taxi with the other kids from the plantation to school.

The Philida Literary Award is awarded annually to a writer mid-career for an oeuvre of between three to five books of any genre. Here is the announcement of this year’s winner.

"The enthusiasm for the project from the local community, sponsors and writers is palpable. 'The goodwill of the community has been astounding, with the Simon’s Town Civic Association providing the start-up funding,' Attwell told me. And as his co-organiser, Darryl David, mentioned in his CapeTalk interview: 'Book festivals and scenery go hand in hand, and it doesn’t get better than Simon’s Town.'"