Litnet

"Despite the criticism that it received, Lawfare is one of the most interesting and stimulating books that I have read in a long time. It is a book that makes important legal cases from the past accessible in a language easy to understand for the average person."

"I would definitely suggest that those who are too scared of going low-carb would do well with Creed’s book."

"North Facing is one of a recent stable of coming-of-age books set in South Africa where moral issues are revisited in later life."

"The recent English translation, in 2018, forms part of the admirable work done by the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research based at the University of the Western Cape, and the two translators are Seleka Tembane and Lucy Ndlovu."

The 9th Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival took place from 6 to 9 June this year in Cradock. Amy Coetzer documented the new display on Cradock writers in the Great Fish River Museum (part of the literary walking tour), book launches, talks, performance poetry and music performances and letters from Olive Schreiner.

"There is enough variation to keep the book interesting, and I have to conclude that Green as the sky is blue is a thoroughly enjoyable book. The book also had a nice feel of Zen Buddhism to it, in the way that Simon concludes that some things are just beyond expression, that it is what it is and that one must flow with life and not always resist by overtly abstract reasoning." 

Join The Book Lounge and The Fugard Theatre for the ninth Open Book Festival which takes place from 4 to 8 September this year.

Kwela and Love Books invite you to the Johannesburg launch of Holding the fort by Toni Strasburg on 18 June, and on 25 June in Cape Town.

"It is about a woman by the name of Lucy Lurie (clearly inspired by Coetzee’s character of the same name), who is trying to recover from a gang rape. What makes her situation more unbearable is that a male writer, John Coetzee, has written a bestselling book about her experience. She feels as though it was her story to tell."

"Indeed, it is hard to think of South African political poetry without the name of James Matthews. He was firmly identified with local expressions of Black Consciousness in the early 1970s, and his poetry shaped our generation’s understanding of the injustices, brutality and inhumanity that apartheid visited upon our communities across the country."

"Leon de Kock’s well-judged biography presents us with a complex portrait of a great writer beset by a fundamental loneliness. All the sex, all the affairs and all the marriages were a frequently misguided attempt to end this loneliness."

There’s only a few more weeks to submit your Cape Town stories to enter the Cape Town Library Book: Writing my City competition. The final deadline for submissions is 15 June.

Amazwi South African Museum of Literature is proud to announce the 2019 Eastern Cape Literature Festival, which will take place at the new Amazwi museum complex in Makhanda from 3-7 July 2019.

The Jacana Literary Foundation, in partnership with the Other Foundation, is proud to announce the 2019 recipient of the Gerald Kraak Prize. Congratulations to OluTimehin Adegbeye, whose essay, "Mothers and Men", made her this year’s worthy winner.

On Wednesday 22 May Ena Jansen’s book Like family was launched at the Book Lounge in Cape Town.  The book deals with the contact zone between the domestic worker and the family she works for. Jansen chose to share the stage with Sindiwe Magona and Myrtle Witbooi.

"We all want our books to sell well and to reach the widest possible audience. Being invited to Franschhoek is an invaluable leg-up for any writer’s career. May the festival continue to go from strength to strength."

Here is the programme of the 9th Schreiner Karoo Writers' Festival – which takes place in Cradock from the 6th to the 9th of June 2019.

The Franschhoek Literary Festival took place from 17 - 19 May 2019. Izak de Vries was the paparazzo on behalf of LitNet.

"I highly recommend this valuable text, the worth and interest of which I hope the above review has given some indication."

"A person my colour is by no means easy, but it is important. Apart from the ill-conceived introduction, which ought to have been a reflection at the end, the narrative is stylish and gripping."