Books and writers
Information about the latest books and the people behind them
Ten questions: Daniel Jardim on Retreat – The Joy of Conscious Eating
2015-02-05 "Live lots. Laugh lots. Play with your food."
Review: WWI and the People of South Africa by Bill Nasson
2015-01-06 "The war affected South Africa in many different ways, as is expertly shown by Nasson in this gripping text. Nasson’s gift is to be able to put across sometimes heavy concepts in a way highly accessible to readers who want to know more about complex issues."
Book review: The World’s Great Question: Olive Schreiner’s South African Letters 1889–1920
2015-01-05 "Thank Mr Ghandi [sic] for the invitation to the meeting but you know I hate war. It is against my religion – whether it is Englishmen travelling thousands of miles to go & kill Indians in India or Indians travelling thousands of miles to kill white men whom they have never seen in Europe."
Review: The Hunchback Missionary by Elsa Joubert
2014-12-15 "It is a complex, difficult, often impenetrable and ultimately graceful journey that sweeps us across a brutal frontier and offers glimpses of an antique and elusive South African God."
Breyten Breytenbach receives honorary doctorate from Ghent University
2014-12-10 "On 3 December 2014, Ghent University (UGent) presented an institutional honorary doctorate to the South African poet, painter, novelist, playwright, essayist and freedom activist Breyten Breytenbach."
Review: In a burning sea by Marlise Joubert
2014-12-10 "And whatever translation does not achieve ... it does allow for a reimagining of Afrikaans poetry and successfully presents an indication of the scope of the creativity and leitmotifs in contemporary Afrikaans poetry."
One Man vs "One Man"
2014-12-04 James Woodhouse, publisher at Kwela, tells Naomi Meyer about a literary coincidence – some real life crime fiction.
Review like nobody's watching
2014-12-02 Within South Africa's claustrophobic literary scene everybody is too afraid to write bad book reviews. Fiona Snyckers tells Naomi Meyer what needs to be done.
Review: Tales of the Metric System by Imraan Coovadia
2014-11-19 "'(N)ovels are more important than ever … because they enable us to exercise our minds … allow us to step back and see where the history is taking us.' Coovadia’s latest testifies not only to the truth of this statement, but also to so much more."
Joint review – Heaven: New and Selected Poems and Holding Back
2014-10-27 "Gus Ferguson and Douglas Reid Skinner are generous poets who live in their works as real characters (worried, bereaved, amused, enamoured) and who mind about their readers."
Ingrid Jonker award ceremony speech
2014-10-10 Karin Schimke says she is "deeply moved by this honour".
Review: Entanglement by Steven Boykey Sidley
2014-10-10 Professor Jared Borowitz observes that the trouble with the universe is that “it has tricks and unpleasant surprises and irritating little quirks, and refuses to be ordered.”
Review: Tokoloshe Song by Andrew Salomon
2014-10-10 Tokoloshe Song, Salomon’s first published novel, is a fantasy laced with horror and humour.
Interview: Arthur Attwell explains the impact of the South African Department of Basic Education’s proposed new policy
2014-10-07 Arthur Attwell explains the impact of the South African Department of Basic Education’s proposed new policy: "Different learners need different kinds of textbooks, chosen school by school for their specific needs."
A tribute to the late Mbulelo Vizikhungo Mzamane (1948–2014)
2014-10-02 "On Saturday, February 15 the sun set on one of South Africa’s pre-eminent black scholars and writers, Mbulelo Vizikhungo Mzamane."
Review: The Story of Anna P, as Told by Herself by Penny Busetto
2014-10-02 "How do we find our place in the world if our vision of ourselves is never fully consonant with the self-narratives we would like to believe?"
Review: A sportful malice by Michiel Heyns
2014-10-02 "A Sportful Malice is a very funny book, fully accomplishing its subtitle 'A Comedy of Revenge'. The high points of comedy and satire are in the dialogue, especially the extended conversations in which Michael unwittingly reveals his pretentions and shallowness."
Karin Schimke on Bare & Breaking
2014-10-01 Karin Schimke is the winner of the Ingrid Jonker prize for her debut collection of poetry, Bare & Breaking.
Interview: Richard Poplak on Until Julius comes
2014-10-01 "I would not say I chose Julius Malema. He chose me."