Litnet

"I would definitely suggest that those who are too scared of going low-carb would do well with Creed’s book."

"Booksmart, a film about high school – the current colosseum where the innocent and not so innocent are fed to lions – is simply not cruel enough to feel authentic, not funny enough to make you cringe at what you are laughing at, and not insane enough to elevate it to mockumentary/spoof status."

"North Facing is one of a recent stable of coming-of-age books set in South Africa where moral issues are revisited in later life."

"To compare this scenario, where songs were routinely banned, musicians harassed and/or locked up, and parties and gigs teargassed, with the rock scene of today is like comparing porcupines with export grapes. It’s not only impossible; it’s simply not useful."

Just two weeks into its South African premiere run, The Fugard Theatre’s production of multiple Tony-Award winning musical Kinky Boots has been extended. Bookings are now open for performances until 27 October.

"The recent English translation, in 2018, forms part of the admirable work done by the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research based at the University of the Western Cape, and the two translators are Seleka Tembane and Lucy Ndlovu."

The 9th Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival took place from 6 to 9 June this year in Cradock. Amy Coetzer documented the new display on Cradock writers in the Great Fish River Museum (part of the literary walking tour), book launches, talks, performance poetry and music performances and letters from Olive Schreiner.

Missing out on the National Arts Festival Makhanda (Grahamstown) this winter? Missing freezing weather, great productions, fabulous company and delicious food? Then join us at the Theatre Arts Admin Collective for Fresh Perspectives – a pre-NAF season. Four productions make up Fresh Perspectives and run until 24 June. 

"There is enough variation to keep the book interesting, and I have to conclude that Green as the sky is blue is a thoroughly enjoyable book. The book also had a nice feel of Zen Buddhism to it, in the way that Simon concludes that some things are just beyond expression, that it is what it is and that one must flow with life and not always resist by overtly abstract reasoning." 

Join The Book Lounge and The Fugard Theatre for the ninth Open Book Festival which takes place from 4 to 8 September this year.

Kwela and Love Books invite you to the Johannesburg launch of Holding the fort by Toni Strasburg on 18 June, and on 25 June in Cape Town.

G7: Okwe-Bokhwe (Like/Of a Goat) will be performed at the P4 Studio at Hiddingh Hall campus from 12 to 22 June, followed by a run on 27, 28 and 29 June as part of the Main Programme at the National Arts Festival, Makhanda.

"Durban is not merely about sunshine, beaches, surfing and bunny chows.  ... We must ride the Unesco City of Literature wave – the first on South African shores and the first on the African continent. As a city, we need to honour and celebrate our literary heritage."

"Recently, Encounters has expanded the scope of its programming to encompass new media (virtual reality and interactive documentaries) and other forms of nonfiction storytelling, placing an emphasis on a contemporary, cross-disciplinary approach to both documentary reception and documentary production."

"It is about a woman by the name of Lucy Lurie (clearly inspired by Coetzee’s character of the same name), who is trying to recover from a gang rape. What makes her situation more unbearable is that a male writer, John Coetzee, has written a bestselling book about her experience. She feels as though it was her story to tell."

shnit Worldwide Shortfilmfestival is calling for final submissions by 1 June 2019.

"Indeed, it is hard to think of South African political poetry without the name of James Matthews. He was firmly identified with local expressions of Black Consciousness in the early 1970s, and his poetry shaped our generation’s understanding of the injustices, brutality and inhumanity that apartheid visited upon our communities across the country."

"Leon de Kock’s well-judged biography presents us with a complex portrait of a great writer beset by a fundamental loneliness. All the sex, all the affairs and all the marriages were a frequently misguided attempt to end this loneliness."

"Or, is it a bitter sop to the reality of the all-powerful English language and the foundations of Grahamstown’s university and elite schools, its historic churches and much more, rooted in the culture of the British Settlers and their descendants – not to mention the roadside name boards identifying ownership of the numerous prosperous farms in the region once known as the Albany – the Zuurveld?"

There’s only a few more weeks to submit your Cape Town stories to enter the Cape Town Library Book: Writing my City competition. The final deadline for submissions is 15 June.