Litnet

"At the heart of this absorbing portrait – within a ribcage that contains much else – lies the enigmatic contradiction of Smuts, a revolving mask that his latest biographer does a good job of lifting."

"How to open the door and Flame and song are books about 'being in the world and not defeated by it'. In both, it is often that which is not said that is delivering the strongest punches."

Breaking news: "We have lodged our formal announcement with Unesco that Durban is going to bid to become South Africa’s and Africa’s first Unesco City of Literature." Read it first on LitNet.

"As a woman of her time, as an Afrikaans person of her time, and even as an MP of her time, she never bent with the breeze – she was 'what the willow does to the wind'."

Ralph Mathekga in conversation with Theuns Eloff at the launch of Turning point.

"Sheila Kohler’s tender, searing autobiographical memoir is emotionally and technically intelligent, shaped by a sense of the dangers of self-regard."

"Beatrix Potter's delightful story for children, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, will be at Artscape Theatre Foyer during the April Easter school holiday."

Calling all writers! It’s SCrIBE time! Entries for submissions for the Imbewu Trust’s 2017 SCrIBE Scriptwriting Competition open on 31 March. 

"The Fugard Theatre scooped up three prestigious Fleur du Cap awards at the ceremony which was held at the Artscape Theatre on Sunday, 19 March. Here are our winners."

An invitation to the launch of Lady Anne: A Chronicle in Verse by Antjie Krog, a collection of poetry now available in English.

"Young and rising talent, along with some stalwarts and previous participants, will fill the Baxter stages over the eight-day event where the focus this year is on fresh and innovative ideas."

"It is touted as a love story and as a rivalry between the two moms, but, in the end, it deals with family and class with surprising depth (for a rom com)."

"The grandchildren’s mouths battling to form the words
they have unlearned Afrikaans
they do not know the somersaults the tongue can perform with the Taal"

The launch of Business Writing for South Africans will take place in Melville on 16 March 2017. Writers Bittie Viljoen-Smook, Johan Geldenhuys and Wena Coetzee will be there to discuss their book.

"One is intensely aware of one’s own imperfect complicity, and constantly reminded of it jarringly as the occasional performer tears through that imaginary wall at the edge of the stage, and bounds – wild-eyed and tongue flailing – over the aisles."

"This is how I once met PW Botha. An odd episode, it was in the Cape Town suburb of Plumstead in 1971, or about halfway during his long term as South Africa’s scowling minister of defence."

"This Broadway hit musical is a musical experience with songs performed in the tradition of Mbaqanga, fused with jazz, rhythm and blues and gospel."

"Sometimes seen as primarily a family saga or a portrait of the teeming city of Cairo, this debut novel’s wider resonance is indicated in the subtitle; it is a highly sophisticated reading of the pulse of urban Egypt over a stretch of the 30 years between 1984 and 2014."

"Stanzas is a vibrant and vital contribution to the local poetry scene. Any reader’s soul will delight in a subscription to the quarterly, which I can wholeheartedly recommend."

"You can eat very affordable vegetables and animal proteins with their existing fat very inexpensively."