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PenAfrican: Straddling borders, crafting nation: On Morafe by Khumisho Moguerane

Mphuthumi Ntabeni Books and writers 2025-10-20

"Morafe: Person, family and nation in colonial Bechuanaland, 1880s-1950s is a landmark achievement. Khumisho Moguerane has written a history that matters for our time by filling the lacunae in southern African historiography."

A vocal start in the build-up to the 2026 municipal elections: President Ramaphosa and mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis up the ante

Chris Heymans Opinion 2025-10-20

"These issues are not unique to Johannesburg, Cape Town and the other big cities (metros), but are very relevant in all municipalities."

Press release: Local PEN centres implore the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture to support and engage with arts festivals

PEN Afrikaans Feeste 2025-10-17

"As associations representing writers who contribute to and are dependent on the arts and culture eco-system that these festivals serve, we see the arbitrary and sudden withdrawal of government support as damaging and ill advised."

Revisiting Orpheus McAdoo: Paula Fourie interviews David Kramer

Paula Fourie, David Kramer Interviews 2025-10-17

"The moment it starts feeling like a lecture, you’ve lost the audience. The key is to create compelling characters who want something and who drive the story forward. If the drama is truthful and the characters are engaging, the history or the message comes through naturally."

A review and rethinking of Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat

Jessica Smith Lifestyle and entertainment 2025-10-16

"It is always evident when directors have properly supported their cast in realising and portraying fully formed characters. This production is one in which it shows."

Elders gesien: "I’d like to swim in the Afrikaans language"

Ingrid Glorie Boeke en skrywers 2025-10-15

JM Coetzee: "I am a lighter – a more light-hearted – and a better person in Afrikaans."

The stars

Salomé Borngräber New writing 2025-10-09

"They could tell us of legends
of times long past
Of love, life and laughter
echoed in a universe vast..."

Almasi: A new era in African theatre?

Philani A Nyoni Books and writers 2025-10-09

"It was a pleasant reminder that there is an entire world out there that believes in African stories enough to give us two weeks to hammer out our plots and characters, vivify our paper worlds and bring them fully to life."

Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees 2025 press release: SboNdaba Dance returns home with In search of our humanity

LitNet Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees 2025-10-08

After a triumphant national tour, SboNdaba Dance returns to the Western Cape with its acclaimed production In search of our humanity. This homecoming performance at the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees offers local audiences a rare chance to experience the company’s powerful artistry and storytelling. Praised for its striking choreography and evocative soundscapes, the production showcases the raw physicality of SboNdaba’s dancers.

Fresh off the press: Malema: Money. Power. Patronage. by Micah Reddy and Pauli van Wyk

LitNet Books and writers 2025-10-08

Over the past two decades, Malema has leveraged his growing political clout to bankroll his party and amass a personal fortune. In this revealing book, investigative journalists Micah Reddy and Pauli van Wyk follow the money, demonstrating how Malema built his fiefdom. 

Grahamstown

Zandile Mnisi New writing 2025-10-02

"A town not in a hurry.
Architecture whispers
like a scene from a Victorian film."

China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) and its impact on Africa

Fanie Herman Opinion 2025-10-01

"China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) is designed to enhance China’s geostrategic position through coalition-building with partners that align with Chinese principles regarding international security and domestic law enforcement. Introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2022, the GSI represents one among several initiatives intended to reshape global governance structures in a manner favourable to China’s resurgence as a major power."

Cake sitting to ward off AI

Minnie Desaivre Opinion 2025-09-30

"All I saw was this one word: Rejected. My eyes blurred, and I couldn’t even read further to see why."

Reader’s impression: A blow to the head by Andries du Toit

Dawn Garisch Books and writers 2025-09-29

"Things are not what they seem, and this book gave me more insights about the conundrums we face as a society in a gentler way than receiving a blow to the head."

Press release: Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo wins the 2025 Best of Caine Award

LitNet Books and writers 2025-09-29

The Caine Prize for African Writing is delighted to announce that Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo has been awarded the 2025 Best of Caine Award for her short story, "Hitting Budapest". Marking the Prize’s 25th anniversary, the Best of Caine Award is an honorary prize celebrating the most outstanding winning story from the Prize’s 25 year history.

Press release: South African Literary Awards Celebrate 20 Years of Honouring the Nation’s Storytellers During Heritage Month

LitNet Books and writers 2025-09-25

The South African Literary Awards (SALA) proudly mark their 20th anniversary in 2025, a historic milestone that coincides with South Africa’s Heritage Month this September.

I am from

Jana Deyzel New writing 2025-09-25

"I am from extraordinary ancestral cloth, woven from true love and kindness.
Childhood laughter a song I still hear."

Short.Sharp.Stories anthology, Power: interview with Antoinette Ntuli, author of "The scent of pap and skop"

Vuyokazi Ngemntu, Antoinette Ntuli Books and writers 2025-09-23

"I would describe my story as magical realism, because I am integrating fantastical elements into a realistic setting to help me reflect upon economic and cultural power."

"Coming home, to an outpost of the Middle World": Remembering Breyten at the Ghent Centre for Afrikaans and the Study of South Africa

Yves T'Sjoen, Breyten Breytenbach Books and writers 2025-09-22

"In other words, we are experiencing a new constriction, a new closing down of possibilities, and once again, I believe, younger writers and younger poets and younger troublemakers and younger Middle World-people must rise up and start fighting to open that path."

The Routes of Sound 2025: Brett Bailey tells LitNet’s readers why they shouldn’t miss the show

Brett Bailey Lifestyle and entertainment 2025-09-22

For those drawn to storytelling through song, this promises an evocative, enriching night of lyrical exploration with some wonderful poetic voices. Listen to a recording of Brett Bailey, elaborating on the fascinating performances coming up at Spier. 

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