Litnet

"The more we publish, the brighter it looks, so we are going to continue nurturing this wonderful genre."

"The first book to be launched was Winged words, a short collection of poetry on bird mythology, written by John Samuel and beautifully illustrated by Vulindlela Nyoni. The second was Tested by fire, a biography on Neville Alexander, written by Doreen Musson."

Alan Kirkaldy, recently retired from Rhodes University in Makhanda, was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Book Award at the 2025 graduation ceremony for his work Everyday communists in South Africa's liberation struggle. The lives of Ivan and Lesley Schermbrucker.

"Americans are much more old-fashioned than the chattering classes overseas realise. They are enormously hospitable and charming, and very courteous to one another in real life. In general, almost everyone I spoke to seemed pretty calm about Trump, and hardly ever mentioned his name, preferring instead to talk about 'the president' if it came up at all, in the context of where they stood as Republicans or Democrats."

"So, we sat in a random staff room at the CTICC and ate really bad food, the blandest curry on earth, which I had overheated in the microwave, with plastic forks and styrofoam cups of water while we made small talk for an hour."

The Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival boasts the largest collective of world-renowned classical musicians at any festival on the African continent. The festival will take place from 4 to 13 July at the US Konservatorium in Stellenbosch this year.

"Incorporating gender-responsive pedagogy into early childhood education is not about imposing ideologies or confusing children; it is about ensuring that all children are seen, valued and supported as they learn and grow."

South Africa faces severe femicide, and most murderers evade justice. Prisons fail by perpetuating crime; harsher sentences do not help. Edwin Cameron, after visiting prisons, advocates for reform. Along with colleagues, he suggests abolishing minimum sentences, cash bail, and decriminalising drug use to improve safety and justice.

"If there is hope, it lies not in technological salvation or ideological purity. It lies in ethical reawakening and in the recovery of moral clarity, spiritual humility and attentive presence. It lies in the courage to stay human."

Mannequin Pictures has optioned the screen rights to the political thriller Good Hope, the debut novel of South African author, political advisor and communications specialist, Nick Clelland, for adaptation into a series.  

Soutie Press is excited to launch The interpreters: South Africa’s new non-fiction edited by Sean Christie and Hedley Twidle. Hosted by Lou-Marié Kruger at the Welgevallen Community Clinic in Stellenbosch on 29 May 2025, Sean and Hedley will be in conversation with Jonathan Amid about rare and beloved forms of nonfiction writing emerging from the country over the last 30-plus years.

The theatre is giving away two tickets to one lucky LitNet reader. You and a companion will then be able to attend this event for free.

U word hartlik uitgenooi na die boekbekendstelling van Ill at ease deur Francois Verster op Saterdagoggend van 11:00 tot 13:00 op 14 Junie in Welgemoed. Francois Bloemhof sal in gesprek met die skrywer wees.

"I don’t want to hear about this. He says it again and again. 1 775 people murdered on South African farms from 1991 to 2006. I want to go away and never come back."

"The core issue in global social relationships is white wealth and black poverty. Without understanding this, not gimmickry, not golf can hide the gore of grinding poverty on which social violence feeds."

You are invited to the book launch of The lucky ones by Alistair Mackay at Love Books in Melville, Johannesburg, on 26 May 2025 from 17:30 for 18:00. Jarred Thompson will be in conversation with Alistair Mackay.

"Though our focus is on black history – because it has been neglected and deliberately suppressed – we tell the entire history, including the over-represented colonial and Afrikaner history. From the booklet, you learn not only about Governor Somerset and Bruintjieshoogte, but also about what was there before the European arrival. You learn who Nojoli was, and how all these histories interlock and are joined at the hip, despite our pretensions."

"For Henry each day is an initiation,
a new door to a mystery,
the grandeur of the Silbersteins
and Welgevonden’s history."

"The notion of home is intimately tied to an individual’s sense of self. ... This dual meaning of home is certainly a useful way of looking at the new collection of autobiographical poems by Frank Meintjies, A place to night in."

"But here in SA a phalanx of self-important and morally challenged commentators, politicians, journalists and leaders still want to convince you your government is siding with the wrong people."