Litnet

Die South African Book Fair van 2015 is in Johannesburg se Turbinesaal aangebied. Izak de Vries was daar.

"Go Set a Watchman must be seen for what it is, a once discarded manuscript that is historically of enormous literary value as a long-lost cousin of its brilliant relative."

"It is small and intimate and a fabulous way to meet and mingle with famous writers from all over the world!"

"Coetzee illustrates through microcosm (the destruction of one man) the inefficacy and cost of the Vietnam War."

"Book fairs are all about discussion and dialogue, and books are a mirror to society and its issues, so it makes sense that sometimes uncomfortable issues emerge. It is ideal if these can be the impetus for addressing the issues in a meaningful and constructive way."

On literary festivals:  “But in my experience their primary function is to entertain readers. They appeal mainly to regular book buyers, to the people who join book clubs."

Together with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, we at the South African Book Fair 2015 are proud to present “Revisiting Mandela’s Legacy”.

"Michiel Heyns beautifully retains the individual idiolects of characters in the translation, as well as giving careful consideration to Winterbach’s idiosyncratic language use, including Engfrikaans. In this way, It might get loud reveals itself as having the 'capacity to provoke new and singular responses' (Attridge 2004:75) that are accented."

"Who will restore my beautiful dreams to me? Who will restore Shama to me? Who will restore my childhood?"

Over 100 authors, writers, poets, publishers and playwrights will be sharing their experience, talents and knowledge in a three-day book-inspired escapade.

"Even if they are 'only' fiction, at the root of such [historical war - editor's note] novels is a reality where pure evil manifests in human form and, as Donoghue’s narrator notes, the voices of the dead 'clamour to be heard'. This is precisely why the task of imagining these stories bears a great responsibility and should not be undertaken lightly."

"Darryl says I need only comment on why the winner  wins. But when I’ve won competitions I haven’t cared why I won. It’s when I  didn’t that I wanted to know what the judge thought of my entry. So my penance  for taking on this job is I give everyone a comment."

"If we are to listen to one  another, and to one another’s stories, we must be willing to recognise not only  our own wounds but the wounds of others."

"I was once introduced at a literary seminar as an 'Indian' playwright. Swallowing a choice expletive which, regrettably, is my wont at such provocations, I said, as politely as I could, 'I have never heard of Athol Fugard being introduced as a white playwright, or Mbongeni Ngema as a Zulu playwright. Why do you introduce me as an Indian playwright? I wasn’t born in India. I was born right here in South Africa.'"

At the JM Coetzee | Athol Fugard Festival gala awards dinner recently, Darryl David  announced the winners in every category, and he also named each category after a  famous writer who deserved to be honoured. Read his report on the The South Africa Independent Publishers Awards 2015.

Mbulungeni Madiba of UCT in conversation with Gerda Odendaal and Marius Swart, Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, Stellenbosch University. The discussion centred on a chapter in Neville Alexander's book Thoughts on the New South Africa, problematising  the issue of language in the modern South African university. 

"This book is the work of a critic and scholar of commitment and mature wisdom."

"Mark Winkler’s command of the warp and weft of his  plot, his depiction of place, and his powerful and clear delineations of  character, both Nathan’s and the surrounding characters – all make for a strong  read."

"One of your core preoccupations is the ethics of reading, and in writing you an e-mail, this makes me think about what's at stake in the process, of you - so often the writer - becoming my reader; that is to say, this event of 'I-becoming-you'."

"And for all that the Franschhoek Literary Festival is irredeemably disengaged from the lived reality of much of South Africa ..."