Litnet

"Why are coalition agreements increasingly being interpreted and resolved by judges, rather than through political exchange and resolutions? Why do procurement decisions often end in court, rather than in securing better services as part of sound local governance?"

"Ek vertel in dié boek ook ’n staaltjie uit ons kinderjare: hoe ek op agtjarige ouderdom ... na die plaaslike Weense Volksschule aan die oorskuif was sonder dat ek Duits kon praat, en ontdek het dat die woorde vir 'olifant' in al drie tale amper dieselfde was. Daaruit het ek geleer dat taal nie net ’n plek vir verskil is nie, maar ook van gemeenskaplikheid – beide werklik, in ’n gedeelde woordeskat, en iets denkbeeldigs, in die gevoel van geborgenheid wat sulke raakpunte skep."

"I am keen to explain where Nolan’s reading of the story went wrong, for hopefully his movie will lead to a renewed reading of the Greek myths."

"You want to add to the overall story, rather than just show exactly what is being described in the text. One of the main differences with the graphic novel is that you have more room for nuance. A moment can be expanded over a number of panels. We can work through a thought or a feeling with the characters in real time."

"Let us hope that South Africa House, like Parliament in Cape Town, is rapidly repaired and reverts once more to being a worthy and respected place, under whose roof many more indabas of benefit to Britain and South Africa can take place on authentic mutual terms."

"Palestinofication is for everyone, even those who wholeheartedly disagree with my position. I hope those in support find comfort, and I hope those who are neutral become enlightened."

"Before we hit the ground by Selali Fiamanya is a literary novel about migration, grief, memory, belonging and return. The narrative opens with a Ghanaian family in Scotland packing up a house after the death of their son, Elom. Rather than using bereavement as melodrama, Fiamanya presents grief as something embedded in ordinary life routines – the wiping of kitchen tiles, packing Tupperware, preserving photographs and deciding what belongs in storage, memory and the bin. The emotional restraint is one of the novel’s greatest strengths."

"chanting
a gospel of hymns
on the beat of (gun)fire"

You are invited to this conversation on the 27th of August 2026. Herewith more information.

The committee of the Ingrid Jonker Prize gladly announces the winner of this year’s prize.

"True creativity has never been about providing easy answers and ready-made platitudes, and even less about reducing the complexity of our world and experience to a set of ever-palatable 'truths'."

"But the most curious thing for us about Harare (especially since so many of our number were scholars of southern African liberation movements) was the lack of visible history in its streets. It’s not a city that wears its heritage on its sleeve the way Johannesburg does: There are no blue plaques and almost no monuments or museums that tell the story of Zimbabwe’s history."

"People may live in the same town and participate in the same institutions while experiencing Stellenbosch very differently. Historical repair, therefore, concerns the continuing effects of injustice on social relations, opportunities, spaces, institutions and people’s sense of belonging."

As with Van Graan’s previous works in this vein, Family meeting combines drama, comedy, song and poetry.

Mike van Graan’s Superfan, a solo comedy drama featuring Cape Talk’s John Maytham and inspired by the role that Springbok rugby plays in the country, will run in the new, intimate Antique Theatre and Bar from 19 August to 12 September 2026. 

"South Africa’s recurring Afrophobic violence, meanwhile, is too often explained solely through the language of prejudice. That explanation is necessary, but insufficient."

"Perhaps that is why reading Homer after university felt less like discovering a foreign classic than recognising a distant relative for me. I was not entering an unfamiliar world. I was returning to one I had known all along."

"Every boy develops at his own pace, so our responsibility is to create an environment where healthy vocal technique and long-term development always take priority."

"casting upon (y)our darkest depths
the wisdom of the grave
and the damnation of daylight"

The following collections of poetry were selected by the judges to be on the shortlist of the Ingrid Jonker Prize 2026.