Books and writers
Information about the latest books and the people behind them
Announcing the 2013 European Union literary award winner
2013-11-28 Participating European Union members and Jacana Media are delighted to announce Penny Busetto as the winner of the 2013 European Union Literary Award for 2013 .
The War at Home: An interview with Bill Nasson
2013-11-12 "Some (black people) were loyal and trusted servants of Boer families, others were participants in the running of the camp system. You could say that there were divided loyalties. Or, that for some there were no loyalties – they were just doing their best to get through the war."
2013 ACT Lifetime Achievement Awards: Winner profiles
2013-11-12 “The Arts & Culture Trust named author Elsa Joubert as the 2013 winner of the ACT Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature, sponsored by Media24 Books, in Johannesburg today.”
Finding the writer where the stories begin
2013-11-11 An interview with award-winning South African author Linda Rode about the award-winning book In die Nimmer-Immer Bos / In the Never Ever Wood.
October by Réney Warrington: Photos of book launch
2013-11-11 Réney Warrington’s October (published by Protea) was launched on 8 November 2013 at Bibliophilia in Woodstock, Cape Town. Réney Warrington was in conversation with Izak de Vries. Hannelie Coetzee shared her photos of the evening with LitNet.
Review: For the Mercy of Water
2013-11-04 "Inspired by Jayes’s experience as a newspaper journalist covering events in the Middle East, For the Mercy of Water is concerned with the ways in which control over access to water can be used as a political tool."
Blossoms of the Savannah by HR Ole Kulet
2013-10-29"Ole Kulet evinces profound admiration of most aspects of Maa lifestyle and tradition, and the fact that he writes this novel from an insider’s perspective strengthens the validity of his balanced representation of a fraught issue and a valuable African culture."
BookBedonnerd VI: Full programme
2013-10-21 The theme of this year’s Booktown Richmond’s Festival, BookBedonnerd VI, is Alice in Booktown Land. The festival takes place from 23 to 25 October 2013.
Rethinking Thinking: Modernity’s “Other” and the transformation of the University
2013-10-10 "This book is about the need for the transformation of higher education in South Africa. It problematises thinking about universities, and thinking in universities."
Kasrils’s battle for a free South Africa
2013-10-01 "In the fourth edition of his memoir, Armed and dangerous, former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils recounts his journey as an Umkhonto we Sizwe operative and a member of cabinet following the collapse of apartheid."
Photos: Book Launch of Call it Dog by Marli Roode
2013-09-18 South African-born Marli Roode lives in London and recently visited South Africa for the launch of her debut novel, Call it Dog. The Johannesburg launch was at Love Books, Melville.
Boyhood: Reader's review
2013-09-18 "Coetzee is a skilful didactic lecturer as well. He withdraws himself from those pages, leaving one alone with his faint shadow and words, without ever telling one what he is really saying."
Umuzi Fiction: Giveaway – winner announced
2013-09-17 Umuzi is pleased to announce a fiction giveaway on LitNet. A lucky reader can win three books published by Umuzi. The winner of the competition is Nadia Taljaard. Congratulations, Nadia!
Open Book Festival 2013: The Ghost-Eater and other stories
2013-09-17 "The Ghost-Eater and other stories is a collection of 31 short stories from different writers who all took part in a creative writing workshop at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) with the compiler of the book, Diane Awerbuck, last year."
Panorama: A book review
2013-09-17 "Panorama refers to both a song sung by schoolchildren and to the view of the mountain from Robben Island which is visible to all who live there except the prisoners behind walls so high that not even the visiting Sunday School picnic children from the Dutch Reformed Church were aware of them."
In Memoriam: Seamus Heaney
2013-09-06 "Now he is gone. Moreover, he died in the very week of the 11th anniversary of that astounding visit in August 2002. The loss to the world of English letters is immense, and all over the world memorial services will be held and memories and appraisals will be voiced in many important places."
Staring down the barrel: Mike Nicol’s Of Cops & Robbers
2013-09-04 "Whether you read his latest work as a playful homage to the hard-boiled heroes of the 1930s, find the crossing of boundaries between fact and fiction a source of interest, or just want to read a white-knuckle thriller about the not-quite state of the nation, Nicol’s your man."
Found in Translation
2013-09-04 A casual conversation between Of Cops & Robbers author Mike Nicol and Jaco Botha, who translated the novel into the Afrikaans as Dieners & Donners.