Litnet

"Breaking a rainbow, building a nation is painful reading. The book documents the disillusionment of young people with South Africa."

"I did not buy a caravan; but I realised that a book is like a caravan, a home away from home, taking you to unexpected places. It seemed only natural to name the publishing house I was dreaming of Caravan Books. My friend, Alex Smith, recommended 'Press' instead of 'Books', and the 'K' was my own idea."

"Writing in English, Afrikaans and German, Snyckers explores the possibilities of translation and creative expansion."

"Vir hierdie eerste fees het ons woordsmede wat in die Wes-Kaap woon, genooi om deel te neem. Dis 'n lekker wye verskeidenheid van interessante mense: Deon Meyer, Rudie van Rensburg, Karin Brynard, Chanette Paul, Irna van Zyl, Julian Jansen, Sally Andrew, Joanne Hichens, Michéle Rowe en veel meer."

The Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlists for the Alan Paton Award for non-fiction, and the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize, have been announced.

"A captain’s journey details a fascinating time in the history of South African soccer, with the sport making the shift from semi-professional to professional."

"Lacuna is the story of Lucy Lurie, a fictional woman who shares a name with one of the main characters in Disgrace (published exactly two decades ago in 1999). It is a feminist ‘reply’, for want of a better word, to JM Coetzee’s most famous — or infamous (depending on one’s reading) — novel."

"Despite the ambitious title of this book, and the feeling it left of not being detailed enough, The rise and decline of the Afrikaners is still very much worth the read."

"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.