Litnet

"In a world where 1% of the population have a monopoly on economic and, by extension, political power, the general masses suffer under the weight of inequality. What we do have are our voices."

The 20th Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival kicks off this coming week from 4 to 13 July at the US Konservatorium in Stellenbosch. SICMF artists this year include Andrey Baranov, Daniel Rowland, Maja Bogdanović, David Cohen, Dwight Parry, YaoGuang Zhai, Emanuil Ivanov, Bram van Sambeek and José Garcia Gutìérrez. Lovers of jazz will also have a lot to enjoy with composers like Kapustin and Artie Shaw on the bill. 

The first-ever Nou Praat Jy! public speaking competition, hosted at Curro Durbanville High School on 25 June, was a resounding success, bringing together top high school teams from across various provinces to celebrate Afrikaans in all its colour and sound.

The closing date for applications is 25 July 2025 and the residency will take place at Paulet House in KwaNojoli in the Eastern Cape from 29 September to 19 October 2025.

"The world often doesn’t make sense to any thinking person, so taking flight to imaginary worlds can offer comfort – here, often the world does make sense. Magic realism can be a form of sense-making of the world around us, a need that seems to be escalating."

"I’ve been thinking a lot about tenderness lately. Is tenderness more than just kindness and gentleness? When does tenderness transform into succulence, transform into discomfort?"

"There is a need to dispel myths about artists being unable to support themselves, but also for industry bodies such as Tribuo to push strategic interventions that speak to this fundamental challenge of precarity. And for us not to fall into the trap of thinking that artists must all now become businesspeople in order to solve this issue, noting that while some artists are highly successful entrepreneurs, others have talents that are more limited or focused on their core craft as artists."

"This is no sudden collapse. It is a pattern that has been years in the making ..."

As part of its landmark 25th anniversary celebrations, the Caine Prize for African Writing is pleased to announce the return of its online editing programme.

On the 24th of July 2025, the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Constitutional Rights Conference will focus on achieving an inclusive economy. The following will be discussed: How can we achieve an inclusive economy to make the Constitution a lived reality for all South Africans? More information available here.

"I am trying to find a legally, morally and logically sustainable principled distinction, that can stand up to scrutiny, between Russia’s attack on Ukraine and America’s attack on Iran."

"To top it all, Khayelitsha Fashion Week gave me the courage to walk the runway without my crutches! Draped in the beautiful designs of the highly talented local creatives!"

"What we ask of literary prizes is not infallibility, but integrity, imagination and boldness. The awarding of a prize should strive to be as fearless and far-reaching as the fiction it celebrates."

Journey across epic China – through millennia of early innovation to modern dominance in one riveting, fast-paced read. From ancient times to Xi Jinping, Covid-19 and the “wolf warriors”, here is the vast, complex history of China, distilled into just 250 pages. Jaivin dismantles the idea of a monolithic China, revealing instead a nation of startling diversity. And she gives China’s women, from ancient warriors, inventors and rebels to their 21st-century counterparts, long overdue attention.

"The arts and money have a peculiar relationship. People too often think they don’t 'need' the arts, forgetting the role it plays in social cohesion and the building of a nation."

"And as a nation, there was no prosthesis for the amputated soul of South African cricket before that majestic hundred by Aiden Markram. And that unforgettable partnership with a hobbled Temba Bavuma..."

"But frankly, I crave the meanness and bitterness of a metropolis perched on a dry ridge overlooking Africa’s greatest financial slum."

"This inquest was graced with about 20 lawyers, all presumably paid by the State. Their weekly costs must add up to more than the total compensation paid to the widows."

Ismail Joosub is the manager of Constitutional Advancement at the FW de Klerk Foundation. He tells Freek Robinson that BBBEE has created 100 extremely rich individuals in South Africa, but has done little to nothing for the poor. What, then, are the alternatives?

Nothing is quite as it seems in Arthur Schnitzler’s provocative play La ronde, directed by Leila Henriques, as it heats up the Baxter Studio stage this winter from 20 June to 12 July 2025. Far more than an erotic carousel, the play exposes the transactional nature of modern relationships, where the lines between agency, desire and self-worth are constantly blurred.