Books and writers

Information about the latest books and the people behind them

First sip: The first-generation founder by Raymond Ledwaba

LitNet LitNet Eerste Slukkie | First Sip 2025-04-01

Historical inequality affects entrepreneurship too. Knowledge and resources are still concentrated. Raymond Ledwaba is the founder and CEO of ITTHYNK Gaming and the co-founder of Diski Nine9. He successfully migrated from a career in banking to a life of entrepreneurship. Having not been exposed to a start-up environment, this was a plunge into the unknown. Read an excerpt here.

Press release: AVBOB Poetry Project – a parallel life

LitNet Books and writers 2025-03-31

Do you sometimes worry that you have to choose a single career, discarding the bits of you that do not serve it? Read the useful tips Chantal Stewart has shared for sustaining creativity in the midst of a busy working life and let them feed your own creative fires.

Uitnodiging: Boekbekendstelling van Follow me to Africa deur Penny Haw, 9 April 2025, 10:30 | Oude Leeskamer

LitNet Boeke en skrywers 2025-03-28

Penny Haw is bekend vir boeke wat sterk, interessante en onafhanklike vroue uitbeeld, met ’n ruim verkenning van die onderlinge verbondenheid van alles wat lewe. Dit is ons plesier om haar op 9 April in Jannie se Leeskamer te verwelkom vir die bekendstelling van haar derde historiese roman, Follow me to Africa. Sluit by ons aan vir hierdie bekroonde skrywer se gesprek met Eva Mazza.

21 Voices: Why the Palestinian struggle is a global matter, a reader’s impression

Sarah Oosthuizen Books and writers 2025-03-28

"While apartheid in South Africa may have been banished, 'apartheid' – separateness – is seeking to stretch its hideous tendrils around the globe. We seem to be retreating into spaces too small, surrounding ourselves with those who are seemingly similar."

Seen elsewhere: Johann de Lange, eternally dedicated and devoted

Leon de Lange In memoriam 2025-03-28

"Will you now share your space with all the great writers you so admired and loved."

Invitation: Book launch of The lucky ones by Alistair Mackay at The Book Lounge on 8 April 2025

LitNet Books and writers 2025-03-27

You are invited to an exclusive launch of The lucky ones by Alistair Mackay at The Book Lounge in Cape Town on 8 April 2025. You’ll be able to get your hands on a copy before anyone else. Plus, you can get your book signed by the author, who will be in discussion with Kelly Smith.

The "slammification" of the spoken word movement: Good or bad news for South African literature?

Raphael d'Abdon Books and writers 2025-03-27

"The loss of spaces designed to cultivate and encourage free expression is arguably the main reason for the decline of the spoken word community as a transformational literary force. But how did slam end up monopolising the spoken word scene?"

Fresh off the press: Hollywood on the Veld

LitNet Books and writers 2025-03-27

In 1913, a secretive American millionaire, who lived on the top floor of the famous Carlton Hotel, had a crazy idea: to make movies in Johannesburg. Hollywood on the Veld is the never-been-told-before story of the rise and fall of the strangest and most unique movie empire ever.

PenAfrican: Ibuyambo Book Festival

Mphuthumi Ntabeni Books and writers 2025-03-25

"This was my first time ever attending a book festival conducted in all the official languages of the Western Cape (English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, but mostly Xhosa). The main objectives of the Ibuyambo Book Festival are to revitalise, preserve and promote indigenous languages of the Western Cape. It made me extremely proud."

Fresh off the press: The Mavericks by Stephen Cranston

LitNet Books and writers 2025-03-18

How the three independent asset managers of Coronation, Investec (later Ninety One) and Allan Gray, dubbed the CIA, came to dominate and continue to dominate the South African asset management industry, particularly the pension fund market.

El Bowie Bakery by Toni Viva Muñoz: a reader’s impression

Adean van Dyk Books and writers 2025-03-18

"Toni Viva Muñoz’s debut nonfiction children’s book for nine- to 11-year-old readers tackles a big issue with as much poise and enchantment for its intended young readers, as for conveying the gut-punching complexities of life on the border to adult readers."

Periscope: An overview of the Books on the Bay festival 2025

Diane Awerbuck Books and writers 2025-03-17

"Books on the Bay this weekend in Simonstown was a pretty special literary festival. Run with great vigour, insight and love by Darryl David, David Attwell and Karin Cronje, it brought together 30 South African and international writers and matched them with expert interviewers."

Invitation: Book launch of The Mavericks by Stephen Cranston on 19 March 2025 in Cape Town

LitNet Books and writers 2025-03-12

Anet Ahern will be in conversation with Stephen Cranston at the book launch of The Mavericks on 19 March at Exclusive Books, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.

Goodbye, my friend – you can go now – you’ve done it all

Rory Riordan In memoriam 2025-03-11

"Only Pinter, winner of the Nobel Prize, can match this all-round skill set – but Pinter operated in London, with possibly 50 theatres in walking distance from his home. Fugard operated from Port Elizabeth."

Quiet time with the President by Peter Friedland: a book review

Sally Cranswick Books and writers 2025-03-11

"Quiet time with the president is a memoir that shows a country unfolding through the lens of a frontline medical worker and the decisions he felt forced to make during an important time in history."

Cliff-hanger: A thousand eyes on you by Mia Arderne – a book review

Cliffordene Norton Books and writers 2025-03-11

"I wanted to love A thousand eyes on you, but it tries to be too many things at once, and in doing so becomes a kaleidoscope of almosts."

Press release: John Kani’s tribute to Athol Fugard 

LitNet In memoriam 2025-03-11

"Athol believed in me and my anger and I believed in him and his cool temperament and that the use of words is a more powerful weapon of change."

Press release: A tribute to Athol Fugard from the Market Theatre Foundation

LitNet In memoriam 2025-03-10

As an artist, his words carried the weight of history and the depth of lived experience. As a playwright, his legacy continues to inspire generations of playwrights who strive to tell stories with courage and conviction.

“Wrong Fugard”

Anthony Akerman Books and writers 2025-03-10

"Athol was spending increasingly longer periods working away from South Africa, but he always returned home to write. He told me he couldn’t write anywhere else. He had to be at home."

I live in the slums by Can Xue: a reader’s impression

Zalman Davis Books and writers 2025-03-10

"Can Xue’s writing operates on the logic of dreams, and as such, the experience of reading I live in the slums is one of continuous disorientation."

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