Books and writers
Information about the latest books and the people behind them
Fresh off the press: The South African air fryer cookbook by Louisa Holst
2022-11-02The South African air fryer cookbook focuses on mouth-watering local favourites such as bobotie, apricot snoek with sweet potato, boerewors with chakalaka, paptert, milk tart and malva pudding.
Press release: The Island Prize | Call for submissions
2022-10-28The Island Prize is a literary prize open to previously unpublished debut African novelists from across the continent to help them reach wider audiences and break into the UK publishing scene.
Kaleidoscopic: Shaun de Waal reviews A library to flee by Etienne van Heerden
2022-10-27"I called this novel panoramic, but it is also kaleidoscopic, so pregnant is it with fractured reflections that reconfigure themselves at each quick shake."
Press release: Call for Short. Sharp. Stories
2022-10-27We invite you to write a story of between 3 000 to 5 000 words.
Cape Town launch: A library to flee by Etienne van Heerden
2022-10-27You are invited to attend the Cape Town launch of Etienne van Heerden’s A library to flee on 9 November 2022. David Attwell will be in conversation with Van Heerden and the translator of the novel, Henrietta Rose-Innes.
An illuminated darkness: Presentation to Jacques Coetzee
2022-10-26On 9 October 2022 the Ingrid Jonker Prize was presented to Jacques Coetzee for his collection An illuminated darkness (uHlanga Press). This is the presentation read to Coetzee at the event during the annual Tuin van Digters poetry festival at the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington.
On some women writers
2022-10-21"But who was the mysterious MAB who, on a visit to Rhodesia, had paid 4/6 to a second-hand bookdealer in Salisbury – either The Treasure Trove or The Book Exchange, according to my informants – and ‘passed it on with warm affection’?"
A library to flee by Etienne van Heerden: reader impression
2022-10-13"To have taken such inflammable issues, and to have presented them so inoffensively yet so clearly, is a clear pointer to Van Heerden’s remarkable skills as a writer. In Library, he plunges headfirst into fiction with social issues to discuss, and succeeds beyond his hopes, I’m sure. He has amused us, frightened us, titillated us and informed us."
Press release: Editing your own poetry with AVBOB poetry
2022-10-13Before entering the AVBOB Poetry Competition, we trust these suggestions will help you sharpen your poems! Submit up to 10 poems in all 11 official languages. Entries close on 30 November 2022.
For the connoisseur, a review of Notes on Falling by Bronwyn Law-Viljoen
2022-10-13"The reader is required to assemble and make sense of disparate story fragments and construct meaning in much the same way Thalia tries to make sense of her quest. It’s fascinating, absorbing, challenging and well researched."
Milner – last of the empire-builders by Richard Steyn: a book review
2022-10-12"Neither is Steyn professing to write academically, he writes for readers who read for pleasure but who want to be informed. The fact remains the book is an important text and adds richly to South African historiography for an understanding of an era."
Fresh off the press: Mr Entertainment: The story of Taliep Petersen by Paula Fourie
2022-10-11Mr Entertainment evokes not just Taliep’s life, but also the music and entertainment worlds of the 1950s to 2000s and their diverse and irrepressible cultural traditions.
Press release: Waiting and exhilaration – Kelwyn Sole on birding and poems
2022-10-10This month, as the world celebrates World Migratory Bird Day, the AVBOB Poetry Project celebrates a brilliant, challenging new collection by Kelwyn Sole, an award-winning poet and keen bird watcher, with a particular love of pelagic birding.
Bargain Books competition: You could win a copy of the latest novel by Karen M McManus
2022-10-06Bargain Books is giving away a copy of Nothing more to tell by Karen M McManus. You could be the lucky winner, enter now!
Bargain Books competition: You could win a copy of The bullet that missed by Richard Osman
2022-10-06Bargain Books is giving away a copy of The bullet that missed by Richard Osman. You could be the lucky winner, enter now!
Pre-order your copy now! The ANC billionaires by Pieter du Toit
2022-10-03Do not miss out. Pre-order your copy at Bargain Books. Pieter du Toit investigates whether secret deals were struck between capital and the liberation movement to ensure the status quo remains in terms of economic policy.
First sip: Bamboozled by Melinda Ferguson
2022-09-29"Of course, on a greater soul-journey level, he is teaching me about abandonment, forcing me to deal with my deep childhood terror of facing the idea of 'the end' – of mortality. Of sharing my life with another. He is also training me to be alone. I am teaching him about communication, trust and forgiveness."
The Etienne van Heerden Veldsoirée through my lens
2022-09-29Festival director Darryl David shares his pictures of the Etienne van Heerden Veldsoirée which took place from 23 to 25 September 2022 in Cradock.
Press release: 2022 AVBOB Poetry Gala
2022-09-29Eleven talented poets – one for each official language of South Africa – were announced as the overall winners of the 2022 AVBOB Poetry Competition at a gala prize-giving at the Pretoria Country Club on Wednesday 21 September 2022. Here are the winners.
Commendatio for UJ Prize for Literary Translation 2022: SJ Naudé’s Dol heuning / Mad honey
2022-09-28SJ Naudé was awarded the UJ Prize for Literary Translation for his translation of Dol heuning into Mad honey. Read the commendatio by Michiel Heyns here.
