Litnet

"Eurotrash, by the Swiss-German author Christian Kracht, is a novel of ideas and what the Germans call Vergangenheitsbewältigung (coming to terms with the past). It is about the grinding burden of having been born into tainted privilege, and the engulfing guilt that comes with that self-realisation."

Starting in 2025, the all-new AVBOB Prize for Best Published Collection of Poetry (by an individual poet) will shine a spotlight on South African poets with a R10 000 prize, honouring their artistic vision, linguistic mastery, and unique contributions to the country’s cultural tapestry.

The annual Literature, Heritage and Ecology Conference hosted by Amazwi South African Museum of Literature aims to foster cooperation and interaction between the humanities and the sciences and so help mitigate the social-ecological crises we face today.

"Frank Anthony’s activism was not just a political endeavour; it was a deeply emotional and personal commitment to the pursuit of freedom and justice ... With each word penned in defiance, each poem recited in solidarity, Anthony poured his heart and soul into the struggle, knowing that the price of freedom was steep, but believing fervently in its worth."

Architect Sir Herbert Baker left an indelible mark on South Africa and much of the British Empire in the first half of the 20th century. This is the first full biography from childhood and was written with full cooperation from his family and with access to his archive and private papers.

As we prepare to celebrate International Day of Education on 24 January, the AVBOB Poetry Project has invited Lisa Julie, poet, performer and literary scholar, to reflect on what it means to write, learn and teach poetically: "The word I like to associate with education is 'nourishment', which connotes sustenance. We typically think of nourishment only in terms of the body. But education is also a constituent of self-preservation."

"The coin is a book on the psychological stream of consciousness of how to survive in a city that permanently treats you as a foreigner while dealing with its socioeconomic micro-aggressions. It is a short, easy-to-read novel that ticks almost all the boxes for a commercial novel, with quality writing of literary fiction."

"My decision to render my own body, sexual desires and erotic imagination present in this text is an attempt at making the personal and the sexual legible as political and theoretical in the thinking that I am doing."

As we move into the busy festive season, aware that this is a challenging time for many, the AVBOB Poetry Project celebrates the work of Stephanie Saunders, a poet whose work gently makes fun of human beings’ desire for power, love and certainty. Her debut collection, Open Stephanie, was published by Peter Slingsby earlier in 2024.

"Map cards for Africa is basically built on three narrative levels: firstly, the story of Ilze Brüggemann’s reconstruction of a postcard collection, which belonged to her grandmother with the same name; secondly, the clarification of terminology regarding postcards, stamps and maps; and thirdly, a lesson in history and geography, mostly in the South African context."

"Polite society is very much concerned with the appearance of things – how things seem to be – and not how things really are. Therefore, polite society is living a non-reality in real time and making the thing that is not real seem real, and that act of alchemy actually makes a lot of violence that everyone has to be silent about, otherwise the illusion will be destroyed."

The late Hugh Hodge, founder and for many years master of ceremonies at Off the Wall (Cape Town’s longest-running poetry platform), was a master of this form. For many years, he sent a haiku via SMS to his friends almost every day. Although as yet unpublished, they are fondly remembered by those who knew and loved Hugh.

"Who would not be angry? One day, you are descended from royalty; the next day, you are a nobody with absolutely no idea who your parents are."

"Almost everyone in the book, including the unreliable narrator, is delusional in their own unique ways. As the causes of delusion are revealed, we see that at the head of the hydra’s hands of delusion is the greatest delusion this country has ever undertaken: apartheid."

"What I didn’t know was that when I arrived in Amsterdam, Breyten was wandering around Hillbrow with a false French passport and the assumed identity of Christian Galaska."

In The truth about Cape slavery, Patric Tariq Mellet argues that modern South Africa – its economy and politics – is shaped and established on the foundation of chattel slavery just like the United States of America. Cape slavery, rather than minor, was a crucial feature of maritime capitalism. This then moved to become the cornerstone of the Cape’s agricultural economy. Read an excerpt here.

The Springboks made history in France in 2023 when they became the only team to win the Webb Ellis Trophy four times. Who can forget how the Boks won by only one point in three games? Released on the anniversary of this milestone, Twice the glory by Lloyd Burnard and Khanyiso Tshwaku investigates how this remarkable victory was achieved.

It is with deep sorrow that the Breytenbach family announces the passing of Breyten Breytenbach earlier today, Sunday 24 November 2024.

As a young journalist, roped into court reporting to cover Jacob Zuma’s 2006 rape trial, Karyn Maughan could not have known that she would be reporting on Zuma’s legal woes for the next two decades – and would herself become his target.