Litnet

"this year for Christmas
my household’s skinniness
won’t penetrate my skin"

"Let’s hope there is a sequel."

"Apparently in DRC they say:
when people clap for you,
take flight –
for you are a fly;
claps can end your life."

 "As much as commentators like to argue that many education systems around the world have become more 'anglicised' or 'Americanised', it is important to remember that local actors – and here, I am referring to students – are not passive. Students today are more plugged into the news of the world, and demand that their professors explain the relevance of what is happening 'there', to 'here'."

"The fruit most likely
to wither on the vine
is the apple of your eye"

"I sat hundreds of metres away from Obama, but I wasn’t moved the way Pieter W Grobbelaar’s books moved me as a child. I wasn’t moved the way I was when my nanny told me about Tselane and the Giant."

"Now, Zuma is gone, and there are more breaking stories about the extent of the fiscal damage that has been done by his administration. But, When Zuma Goes and On the Brink are still there."

You are invited to the launch of Boerekos with a Twist on 21 July in Durbanville. The author, Annelien Pienaar, will do a bread tasting and all the items you will taste are taken from the recipe book.

"Ultimately, what I have taken from this book is the story of a man who could have continued with his life of privilege, but instead chose the road of social justice in a way that few can speak for themselves today."

"A great cast rarely guarantees a great film (and a lot has been made of this film’s cast). Yet, I was hopeful that the ginormous ensemble of highly talented women in Ocean’s 8 would prove to be a slick, exhilarating and entertaining combination. It was all in vain."

You are invited to the launch of The Coroner's Wife on 28 July in Stellenbosch, where Joan Hambidge will be in conversation with Fourie Botha.

"Time to part with what I’ve gleaned,
pick your favourite, he said,
I’ll print it, frame it, bring it round."

MEIN CAMP will be read/performed by actor Emil Lars in the role of Le Clerq Goldberg, the central character, though the actor slips into several other characters during the course of the story, including BJ Vorster, Verwoerd, Adolf Hitler, and Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates.

"Narrated in the first person plural, 'Fanta Blackcurrant' follows Meri, a street child of Nairobi, who makes a living using her natural intelligence and charisma."

"There was a hard-hitting question about the future of Afrikaans."

"The question inevitably arises whether the obligation to convert all legal communication to English would have any influence on the ability of many citizens to express themselves efficiently and understand the language of the court (particularly as regards vocabulary), given the fact that English is arguably the third or fourth language of the majority of the population."

"Metelerkamp is careful not to turn her biography into an abject lesson on the ravages of a patriarchal society on individual lives. She steers through her complex subject with a careful and steady rudder – a class journalistic act."

“Very few other festivals in the country have the demographic diversity of our audience. By numbers, we’re also the largest multi-arts festival of this kind on the continent, and we’ve also been around a lot longer than most.” Marli van Eeden chats to Ashraf Johaardien, executive producer of the National Arts Festival. The 44th National Arts Festival is taking place from 28 June until 8 July in Grahamstown.

"On 24 May, the South African Independent Film Festival, or SA Indie Film Fest for short, took place at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town, celebrating independent filmmaking. The festival showcased 22 short films, documentaries, music videos and even VR films from all around the world."

"South Africans and others who want to, need to or ought to have an understanding of rural black South African life under the apartheid system can do no better than to read or reread Lauretta Ngcobo’s searing, moving and profoundly probing account enshrined in the unforgettable narrative of her 1990 novel, And they didn’t die."