Litnet

We are delighted to announce the 2025 Island Prize longlist for a debut novel by an African writer. The Island Prize is an annual competition held by Holland House Books. It offers both a small monetary reward and assistance in navigating the difficult world of the publishing industry, such as working on the winning manuscript with the author and assisting them in approaching agents and publishers.

The Commonwealth short story prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from any of the Commonwealth’s 56 Member States.

"If we mourn what needs to be mourned, we may find enough empathy to understand the legitimacy of calls for setting things in order that are based on natural justice. Only then, perhaps, we shall stop being angry with each other and begin healing from our historical traumas, and, per chance, even celebrate our history as part of our collective identity instead of as something that embarrasses us."

How do we know who we are? Upending the reader’s expectations of a memoir, Whyle then explores the violence and madness of apartheid society as the narrator passes through boarding school and university and takes his first steps to become a writer. ... At the end of history, on the shores of a blue bay, the voices of the past can be heard as we await the arrival of the barbarians – or the baboons, whoever comes first.

"But the main reason I do it is to see the joy on children’s faces. ... That unadulterated smaaail is because you’ve just gifted a young child a book. Entrance is free!"

"Vir Suid-Afrikaners bied 21 Voices ’n spieël vir hul eie verlede en ’n uitdaging vir die hede. Dit vra: Hoe kan ons, wat internasionale steun tydens apartheid ontvang het, nou solidêr wees met ander?"

Historical inequality affects entrepreneurship too. Knowledge and resources are still concentrated. Raymond Ledwaba is the founder and CEO of ITTHYNK Gaming and the co-founder of Diski Nine9. He successfully migrated from a career in banking to a life of entrepreneurship. Having not been exposed to a start-up environment, this was a plunge into the unknown. Read an excerpt here.

Do you sometimes worry that you have to choose a single career, discarding the bits of you that do not serve it? Read the useful tips Chantal Stewart has shared for sustaining creativity in the midst of a busy working life and let them feed your own creative fires.

Penny Haw is bekend vir boeke wat sterk, interessante en onafhanklike vroue uitbeeld, met ’n ruim verkenning van die onderlinge verbondenheid van alles wat lewe. Dit is ons plesier om haar op 9 April in Jannie se Leeskamer te verwelkom vir die bekendstelling van haar derde historiese roman, Follow me to Africa. Sluit by ons aan vir hierdie bekroonde skrywer se gesprek met Eva Mazza.

"While apartheid in South Africa may have been banished, 'apartheid' – separateness – is seeking to stretch its hideous tendrils around the globe. We seem to be retreating into spaces too small, surrounding ourselves with those who are seemingly similar."

"Will you now share your space with all the great writers you so admired and loved."

You are invited to an exclusive launch of The lucky ones by Alistair Mackay at The Book Lounge in Cape Town on 8 April 2025. You’ll be able to get your hands on a copy before anyone else. Plus, you can get your book signed by the author, who will be in discussion with Kelly Smith.

"The loss of spaces designed to cultivate and encourage free expression is arguably the main reason for the decline of the spoken word community as a transformational literary force. But how did slam end up monopolising the spoken word scene?"

In 1913, a secretive American millionaire, who lived on the top floor of the famous Carlton Hotel, had a crazy idea: to make movies in Johannesburg. Hollywood on the Veld is the never-been-told-before story of the rise and fall of the strangest and most unique movie empire ever.

"This was my first time ever attending a book festival conducted in all the official languages of the Western Cape (English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, but mostly Xhosa). The main objectives of the Ibuyambo Book Festival are to revitalise, preserve and promote indigenous languages of the Western Cape. It made me extremely proud."

How the three independent asset managers of Coronation, Investec (later Ninety One) and Allan Gray, dubbed the CIA, came to dominate and continue to dominate the South African asset management industry, particularly the pension fund market.

"Toni Viva Muñoz’s debut nonfiction children’s book for nine- to 11-year-old readers tackles a big issue with as much poise and enchantment for its intended young readers, as for conveying the gut-punching complexities of life on the border to adult readers."

"Books on the Bay this weekend in Simonstown was a pretty special literary festival. Run with great vigour, insight and love by Darryl David, David Attwell and Karin Cronje, it brought together 30 South African and international writers and matched them with expert interviewers."

Anet Ahern will be in conversation with Stephen Cranston at the book launch of The Mavericks on 19 March at Exclusive Books, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.

"Only Pinter, winner of the Nobel Prize, can match this all-round skill set – but Pinter operated in London, with possibly 50 theatres in walking distance from his home. Fugard operated from Port Elizabeth."