Litnet

"Mythscape – the desire for interpreting reality through native mythology – as a narrative form is becoming common in books of our era. This is understandable in the case of African literature, since our continent’s sense of self and development of organic narrative structure was interrupted – almost truncated – by the occidental colonial project."

Hoe om jou pad uit troebel water te vind is een van die temas wat Martin Steyn in sy eerste roman sedert 2018 ondersoek. Donker water is oudergewoonte uitmuntende misdaadfiksie en ’n boek waarvoor Steyn se aanhangers lank reeds wag. Sluit aan by Martin Steyn en Jonathan Amid by Oude Leeskamer in Stellenbosch op Woensdag 18 September om 15:30.

The Caine Prize for African Writing is delighted to announce this year’s winner.

Charl-Pierre Naudé delivers a talk titled "The dual roles of precision and re-imagination in literary translation" relating to The equality of shadows, his English translation of his debut novel Die ongelooflike onskuld van Dirkie Verwey. The seminar will be in English and will take place in the Yellow Molteno room (5th floor, Arts and Social Sciences building) at Stellenbosch University on 19 September at 13:10.

"The weekend of the Open Book Festival forced me to think a lot about life and death. And about heaven. This year, the brilliant scholar, writer and feminist Pumla Dineo Gqola officially opened the festival on Thursday evening at The Book Lounge, and called it her 'slice of heaven'. For many of us regulars, that is precisely what the Open Book weekend is: a slice of literary heaven."

You are invited to the book launch of The equality of shadows by Charl-Pierre Naudé at Oude Leeskamer in Stellenbosch on 18 September from 11:00 to 12:30.

The themes in this flash anthology range from grief to hope; from love to unrequired love, divorce and murder (in a few different forms); from personal sacrifice to personal reflection. The stories vary from a fable to science fiction, and include a flashback to 1994 and South Africa’s first democratic election, fires, swimming in the sea, supernatural beings, the horrors of institutionalised elderly care and much more.

Mphuthumi Ntabeni read Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde and interviewed them about the novel while attending the Open Book Festival in Cape Town. The two authors discuss the spirit of Lagos and other cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town, the invisibility of working classes, the tension between African and Western belief systems, and the lives of fictional characters.

"Unute lyk, soos in die grafiese verhale, fisies soos Reeves. Maar die filosofiese beskouing oor moraliteit en verganklikheid, dit is Miéville op sy manjifieke beste. Saam sorg hulle vir ’n kragtoer en ’n leeservaring wat my lank gaan bybly."

Jonathan Amid will be in conversation with Siphiwe Gloria Ndluvu on her African gothic novel The creation of half-broken people at Oude Leeskamer on 12 September at 18:00 as part of the Skrywersaand series of book discussions.

"Reading about this aspect of Cape history formed part of the inspiration for a recent short story of mine, a work of flash fiction, which is about a young woman and her grandmother, and their different approaches to doing laundry, particularly their underwear. While ostensibly about panties (as the story is titled), it is also about our country’s long and difficult history, about ourselves and about memory."

Actor and musician Ian Roberts is something of a South African icon, renowned for his roles as the rugged Boer fighter Sloet Steenkamp in the TV series Arende and as Boet in the immortal and immensely popular Castrol advertisements. In this book he looks back on his long and illustrious career in which he became known for having a flair for languages and acting from the gut.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is now open and we will be accepting entries until 1 November 2024. Now in its thirteenth year, the prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2 000–5 000 words). In addition to English, submissions are accepted in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, French, Greek, Malay, Maltese, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil, and Turkish. Stories that have been translated into English from any language are also accepted and the translator of any story that wins (regional or overall) also receives prize money.

"What makes this festival so special is how the community have come out and supported us."

"On behalf of the Ingrid Jonker Prize Committee, I wish to announce ... the winner for 2024 ..."

Act and advance! is Pedro’s contribution to filling the void about the events that led to the protests at UWC. He follows in detail the lead-up to the developments at the university, the actions and activities of the students and their outcomes.

We invite you to join us for a warmhearted gathering of poets from 6 to 8 September 2024. Themed “Towards a wonderful world”, the festival seeks to instill a sense of hope and beauty, through poetry, into our turbulent world. As with all our previous festivals, the caliber of work will be exemplary and you’ll again hear Die Mengelmoes Digters – Theresa Carstens, Diana Ferrus, Fiona Fertyn, Gaireyah Fredericks, Naidene Lottering, Sophia Oliphant and Jadrick Pedro.

"Percival is the kind of writer that first disarms the reader with humour before painting the horrors of American life, on which modern Western culture is premised. Humour is the modus operandi of his narrative style. His books are tragicomedies with depth."

Clarence Ford will be in conversation with Patric Tariq Mellet about his new book, The truth about Cape slavery, on Monday, 2 September 2024 at 17:30 for 18:00 at Exclusive Books, Cavendish Square, Cape Town.

Peter Friedland served as a member of Nelson Mandela’s medical team and helped to monitor his hearing. They built a rapport over the years and their conversations regularly veered towards politics. As an ENT specialist, Peter regularly treated victims of violent crime. When his daughters were exposed to a robbery, he had to make a life-changing decision. This book examines the powerful forces that push people away from South Africa and those that pull them back in. It is never as simple as merely staying or going – it is an emotional tug of war that continues until something snaps.