Litnet

"The image is almost too apt, which may be why Jill Lepore, never innocent of the well-placed metaphor, places it at the conceptual centre of We the People, her Pulitzer Prize-winning history of 2026."

"daring the shimmery beams to a race 
as he finds solace in this barren place. "

"What truly stood out, though, is just how inclusive this story is. It celebrates diversity in such a natural and beautiful way. It opens the door for important conversations, and teaches children from an early age that we all experience the world differently, and that’s okay."

"What you are left with, finally, is an accumulation of atmosphere: lives conducted partly in the open and partly in concealment; stories moving across continents and decades; a writer who converts experience into fiction; and a woman who must inhabit the afterlife of that transformation."

Poets or their publishers are invited to submit entries for the Ingrid Jonker Prize for English poetry in 2026.

"Haram is not just about the tension of authenticity, but, moreover, about the limits of sin and redemption. Charles writes about the way in which shame silences and stifles the other."

"Yet, large metros such as Johannesburg, eThekwini and Gqeberha continue to face severe wastewater management challenges, including failing treatment works and pollution. In Emfuleni in Gauteng, longstanding dysfunction in wastewater systems has caused chronic pollution of the Vaal River system and in urban areas, despite several national interventions. These are not isolated cases, but are symptomatic of the wider municipal system. Some municipalities – often supported by stronger technical capacity or regional water boards – perform relatively better, but these remain too few."

Saturday’s workshop is aimed at getting the public to write in their mother tongue. The outcome will determine whether another anthology can be published, as was done in 2025.

"For almost a year, my daughter has been counting down the days to the Michael Jackson biopic. Unlike most people, I am not ashamed to admit that she inherited her love for Michael Jackson from her parents."

"If earlier films sought to explain Winnie, this one insists that explanation will always be inadequate when confronting a character of such magnitude, or a period of such intensity. As a work of rigorous, morally serious documentary filmmaking, it demands moral engagement rather than passive consumption. For anyone interested in South African history, political memory and the ethics of liberation, it is essential viewing."

Amongst the familiar themes that are reappraised, are Smuts’s successes and failures in policies and leadership, domestically and internationally.

"That’s what makes this story unforgettable: It doesn’t ask you to witness history. It asks you to feel what history leaves behind."

"The book leaves residue – unease that outlives the page, compelling readers to dwell in its frictions."

The Suidoosterfees 2026 expands beyond the stage with a rich programme of cultural offerings at Iziko Museums, creating the opportunity for festivalgoers to explore art, history, science and storytelling between performances. From 29 April to 3 May, six Iziko venues across Cape Town open their doors with a diverse array of activities that deepen the festival’s theme Home by inviting audiences to discover where heritage, creativity and belonging intersect.

"This rhythmic style of writing keeps children engaged, and it is a wonderful way to remember the words on the page and retain information, especially the animal facts. Children love to guess the next word when reading in rhyme, and it makes for entertaining and expressive reading aloud."

"This is not a novel that wants you to feel comfortable, and its structure won’t let you, either."

"A culinary icon synonymous with Cape flavour, Dudley has infused the experience with a playful, 'naughty-but-nice' energy inspired by the region’s Cape Malay roots."

"In this callous, dismaying age, it is yet another symptom of our collective amnesia: about our painful journey to becoming a democracy, laced with violence; about the failure of most Afrikaner intellectuals to challenge the apartheid order; and about the pioneering role played by those who did."

"The bittereinder dying of typhoid in a Bloemfontein camp and the black child buried without a name in a Free State field are not statistics in a structural argument; they are the argument. A curriculum that cannot make a schoolchild feel the weight of those deaths in their own chest has failed at its most essential task."

"In these digital, transcontinental and often invisible spaces, I’m learning what it means to engage fully – not just as a publicist, but as a professional, a writer, a reader and a South African working at an American press – in a globally connected, book-loving world."