Litnet

"This literary festival, perhaps the most relaxed of the scores that take place in Australia every year, sprawls across a park in the city centre. It’s hard to resist its charm. And, this year, it’s pleasing to note that, over and above the Coetzee-Van Niekerk hour, there is a strong African presence."

National reading-for-enjoyment campaign, Nal’ibali, is launching a loyalty programme for South Africans committed to making a difference in children’s reading development. Known as FUNda Sonke, isiXhosa for ‘everyone read’, the programme seeks to grow and support the campaign’s network of more than 17 000 literacy volunteers, known as FUNda Leaders, nationwide.

"The biographical nature of both poetry and painting in Breyten Breytenbach’s work is less an indulgence than a subjective witnessing of both personal and world history."

"In the coming months, libraries will be running workshops to aid you in honing your writing skills. All of this will culminate on the 15^th of June when you will be able to submit your piece for consideration at participating libraries. The finalists' pieces will then be included in the #WritingmyCity anthology which will be launched at Open Book Festival 2019!" 

Due to public request, the South African Literary Awards (SALA) Call for Submissions is extended to 30^th April 2019.

"The compelling new production of Athol Fugard's classic play Statements after an arrest under the Immorality Act has scooped no less than five Kanna Award nominations."

"Dumbo, along with Mary Poppins Returns, might not have been cinematic milestones in the careers of the cast and crew, but it is the kind of movie that is sorely needed: films that enhance childlike wonder in children ..."

"In Secret keeper, Hammerton manages to capture the essentials of most adult lives – love, loss, loneliness, anxiety, ageing and death – and leaves us pondering our own mortality, and that deep longing not to feel our insignificance 'at night' when we are all alone under the 'black sky, stars,/ the milky way'."

The Slave Route Challenge, powered by Brimstone, will now take place in Cape Town on Sunday 31 March 2019. Late entries will be taken at registration for all events until they are sold out.

On Wednesday, 27 March 2019 (13h00–15h00) at Stellenbosch University, linguist Menán du Plessis will talk about her book, Kora: A lost Khoisan Language of the early Cape and the Gariep. Menán van Heerden chats to Menán du Plessis about her book.

Wednesday, 27 March (13h00-15h00): Please do join Stellenbosch University’s Department of General Linguistics as we celebrate the launch of Extraordinary Associate Professor Dr Menán du Plessis’ book entitled Kora: A lost Khoisan Language of the early Cape and the Gariep (Unisa Press in collaboration with South African History Online, 2018).

"Prizes like these highlight the noblest ambition of translation: to humanise."

"I have gone into considerable detail in countering Mr Pienaar’s criticism of my book, because I believe that he deserves a full and thoughtful reply, but also because criticism of this sort vilifies the memory of Dimitri Tsafendas himself."

"Come down from where you are; come down from your house, your horse, your wedding carriage, your mountain of mountains. Your mouth is a summer in New York."

"It was a giant celebration of colour, energy, talent and community spirit, as the streets of the Fan Walk in Green Point came alive last Saturday evening and the annual Cape Town Carnival thrilled thousands of visitors from near and far. The 55 000-strong crowd, which began converging on Green Point from mid-afternoon to enjoy the pre-carnival entertainment, food and drinks and the Carnival Village vibe, was enthralled by bright and brilliant floats, puppetry and performances."

"The sweated-out, nudging prize-giving:
Neurotic nasturtiums pant for accolade,
Then frown,
Bow down;
Judges criticise their presentation."

City Press and Tafelberg are proud to announce the winner of the City Press | Tafelberg Nonfiction Award for 2019.

"Thunderous applause erupted in the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town, as upcoming director and playwright Lwanda Sindaphi received not only one award, but three awards, at the recent Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, for his play, Kudu."

"The history of Winnie Mandela (1936–2018) is one of the most painful stories to emerge from South Africa. It is a story of injustice and oppression, but it is also, for many South Africans, a story of triumph and hope."

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize, the world’s most global literary prize, is launching into its 2019 hot phase: the shortlist will be announced in the week commencing 8 April.