Litnet

Shaka Rising: A Legend of the Warrior Prince has been named a 2019 Honor Book by the Children’s Africana Book Awards. Luke Molver, the illustrator and co-author, will attend the award ceremony at the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in Washington, DC.

The book will be launched in Cape Town on 16 May and James-Brent Styan will be in conversation with the author.

"Carsten Rasch’s Between rock & a hard place is a worthy and immensely readable addition to the canon."

"Identity is explored racially, sexually, physically, culturally and linguistically. The reader observes how the major characters navigate these issues, as they respond to the events that challenge them and bring these issues to light."

The book will be launched in Johannesburg on 9 May and Peter Bruce will be in conversation with the author.

"It is a mature and impressive novel, and one which many readers are likely to revisit in their memories or by rereading the text."

"I would recommend reading it for your own understanding of how sexuality and sexual expression are not uniform across communities, and that it’s alright that we are not a homogeneous species."

Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule’s Web of Capture was recently launched at the CapeTalk (and Kfm) studios, Cape Town. Myburgh was interviewed by Adriaan Basson.

"The Bill erodes copyright protection. It makes it impossible for creators of academic work to protect their legitimate interests, such as being remunerated for their work and having their work’s integrity respected."

Hermann Giliomee's The rise and demise of the Afrikaners was recently launched at Exclusive Books Stellenbosch. Giliomee was interviewed by Albert Grundlingh.

"This literary festival, perhaps the most relaxed of the scores that take place in Australia every year, sprawls across a park in the city centre. It’s hard to resist its charm. And, this year, it’s pleasing to note that, over and above the Coetzee-Van Niekerk hour, there is a strong African presence."

National reading-for-enjoyment campaign, Nal’ibali, is launching a loyalty programme for South Africans committed to making a difference in children’s reading development. Known as FUNda Sonke, isiXhosa for ‘everyone read’, the programme seeks to grow and support the campaign’s network of more than 17 000 literacy volunteers, known as FUNda Leaders, nationwide.

"The biographical nature of both poetry and painting in Breyten Breytenbach’s work is less an indulgence than a subjective witnessing of both personal and world history."

"In the coming months, libraries will be running workshops to aid you in honing your writing skills. All of this will culminate on the 15^th of June when you will be able to submit your piece for consideration at participating libraries. The finalists' pieces will then be included in the #WritingmyCity anthology which will be launched at Open Book Festival 2019!" 

Due to public request, the South African Literary Awards (SALA) Call for Submissions is extended to 30^th April 2019.

"In Secret keeper, Hammerton manages to capture the essentials of most adult lives – love, loss, loneliness, anxiety, ageing and death – and leaves us pondering our own mortality, and that deep longing not to feel our insignificance 'at night' when we are all alone under the 'black sky, stars,/ the milky way'."

On Wednesday, 27 March 2019 (13h00–15h00) at Stellenbosch University, linguist Menán du Plessis will talk about her book, Kora: A lost Khoisan Language of the early Cape and the Gariep. Menán van Heerden chats to Menán du Plessis about her book.

Wednesday, 27 March (13h00-15h00): Please do join Stellenbosch University’s Department of General Linguistics as we celebrate the launch of Extraordinary Associate Professor Dr Menán du Plessis’ book entitled Kora: A lost Khoisan Language of the early Cape and the Gariep (Unisa Press in collaboration with South African History Online, 2018).

"Prizes like these highlight the noblest ambition of translation: to humanise."

"I have gone into considerable detail in countering Mr Pienaar’s criticism of my book, because I believe that he deserves a full and thoughtful reply, but also because criticism of this sort vilifies the memory of Dimitri Tsafendas himself."