Books and writers
Information about the latest books and the people behind them
Interview: Richard Poplak on Until Julius comes
2014-10-01 "I would not say I chose Julius Malema. He chose me."
Review of Divided Lives: Dreams of a Mother and Daughter by Lyndall Gordon
2014-09-29 "Literary history has a tendency to focus on the great deeds of renowned men. Women’s lives often end up sinking like dresses in a lagoon, pushed down by the rudders of ignorance and neglect. Lyndall Gordon’s writing inflates them with life-saving breath which allows them to float and sparkle in the sunlight of recognition."
Melville: Dyer in Coversation with Vladislavi?, 6 October
2014-09-29 Love Books and Wits School of Literature, Language and Media invite you to a conversation between Geoff Dyer and Ivan Vladislavi?.
2014 Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry
2014-09-26 Karin Schimke wins the 2014 Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry
The Image of a Pie: Reflections on Open Book 2014
2014-09-25 "I should have started shedding tears at the beginning of the event, when the woman who is our national treasure, Sindiwe Magona, noticed that we were only a few people in the audience while the whole of South Africa should have been attending."
Sandton: Book Launch, The Rite Stuff
2014-09-25 Pharos Dictionaries and Nedbank invite you to the launch of The Write Stuff, the style guide with a difference.
Interview: Birdseye by Máire Fisher
2014-09-23 "What is particularly exciting is that Birdseye is appealing to a wide range of readers: from my sons and their friends in their twenties, to my father and mother-in-law in their eighties, to middle-aged men and women. I’m so happy about that – I love knowing that Birdseye is crossing all sorts of age boundaries."
Open Book Festival 2014: Programme
2014-09-16 Here is the exciting programme of Open Book Festival 2014: 17–21 September 2014 at the Fugard Theatre.
Cape Town: Launch of Hiking Guides
2014-09-15 The Book Lounge and Tafelberg Publishers invite you to the launch of Mike Lundy's Weekend Trails and Easy Walks on 2 October.
Cape Town: Launch of Rachel's Blue by Jakes Mda
2014-09-09 Join James Woodhouse in conversation with Jakes Mda at the launch of his new book, Rachel's Blue on Thursday, 18 September.
Launch in Kalk Bay: A Man of Good Hope
2014-09-08 Kalk Bay Books and Jonothan Ball invite you to a launch of A Man of Good Hope by Jonny Steinberg on 23rd September.
Launch in Kalk Bay: The Keeper
2014-09-08 Kalk Bay Books and Penguin SA invite you to a launch of The Keeper by Marguerite Poland on Wednesday 17 September.
Interview: Balthasar's Gift by Charlotte Otter
2014-09-05 "I grew tired of reading crime novels that began with a sexy corpse."
I am a white South African … apparently
2014-09-05 "My name is Annzra Denita Naidoo. Although my ID defines my race as Indian, I have discovered that I am actually a white South African."
Interview with Brent Meersman of Missing Ink Publishers
2014-09-03"If I have to compromise on how and what I write according to somebody else’s views based on their hunches ... about sales – well, I’d rather not write."
A Reading of Claudius’s "State of the Nation Address" in Hamlet
2014-09-02 Shakespeare Against Apartheid: "Those of us who seek an equitable, just and democratic South Africa ... need to recognise that there is no neutral territory for Shakespeare studies in present-day South Africa."
18th Poetry Africa International Poetry Festival
2014-09-01 The Poetry Africa festival, from 13 to 18 October, brings some of the world’s finest poets and musicians to Durban.
African Library: The Case of the Socialist Witchdoctor and Other Stories by Hama Tuma
2014-08-29 "In his author’s note to this text, Hama Tuma declares his belief 'that Ethiopian reality is stranger (and more horrible) than fiction'."
Whoever fears the sea by Justin Fox
2014-08-29 Gerrit Rautenbach reviews this book by an intrepid traveller and travel writer.