Litnet

"To me, all short stories start with a grain of experience and a seed of truth gleaned from something that happened to the writer. Some of the incidents and dialogue in the Trumpeter stories incorporate real(ish) events, but only to the extent that these events create a foundation on which to build a satisfying fictional world. I think fiction writers start with a question: 'What if …?'"

"Warn them," Dean repeats. "If you use AI, your work might not be protected." "Don’t do it," Downie says. "Respect your own work. Respect your fellow writers’ work."

"Cape Town can be proud of many attractions, but the Open Book Festival is a gem that is a rare example of what the rainbow nation and Ubuntu are. This festival is the highlight of our year not only as writers, readers and artists, but as a community. Even if it is your first time attending, you know that you will find your way into the literary community and meet new people."

Her debut novel was Rootless. Her second novel, Half lives, is the subject of this interview.

"Guedes, like Coetzee, encourages our intertextual references, but at the same time he has managed to create an epic that can hold its own."

He moves between Cape Town and Europe, tracing the footsteps of his dispossessed peoples who once sought justice in a language not their own. In his journey from past to present, Phila carries ancestors, ghosts of former selves and the grief of his wife’s death.

What do two poets, united by poetry across the ocean, have to say about our place in the world and the urgent need to transform it in our image?

The narrative unravels the identities and traumatic histories of both victim and killer, while tracing the web of stakeholders tied to the building — its residents, owners, police, and local government officials — each with their own legal and political stakes in its fate.

"Point blank captures dramatic moments with textured description, as turning points are reached and South Africa moves into a new dispensation."

Die Gallery at Glen Carlou in Klapmuts/Simondium is verheug om die opening van The ephemeral nature of things: a provocation, ’n solo-uitstalling deur Laurette de Jager op die 6de September, aan te kondig.

Wordfest 2026 takes place on Friday 18 September and Saturday 19 September at the Amazwi South African Museum of Literature in Makhanda. Here is the programme.

Jy word uitgenooi na die boekgesprek op die 17de September 2026. Dit beloof oudergewoonte ’n onvergeetlike aand van uitsonderlike wyn, heerlike kos, samesyn uit die boeke en voortreflike gesprek te wees. Hier is nog inligting.

"She is that slant nodding voice
In the night when the ghosts haunt"

"Overall, it is a deeply affecting, accessible and significant memoir, with particular strength in its evocation of Somali family life, displacement, intergenerational memory and the complicated relationship between cultural inheritance and individual freedom."

"What is unique, though, is that each of the delightful pictures throughout the book has been handstitched in a form of embroidery known as appliqué."

"Why are coalition agreements increasingly being interpreted and resolved by judges, rather than through political exchange and resolutions? Why do procurement decisions often end in court, rather than in securing better services as part of sound local governance?"

"Ek vertel in dié boek ook ’n staaltjie uit ons kinderjare: hoe ek op agtjarige ouderdom ... na die plaaslike Weense Volksschule aan die oorskuif was sonder dat ek Duits kon praat, en ontdek het dat die woorde vir 'olifant' in al drie tale amper dieselfde was. Daaruit het ek geleer dat taal nie net ’n plek vir verskil is nie, maar ook van gemeenskaplikheid – beide werklik, in ’n gedeelde woordeskat, en iets denkbeeldigs, in die gevoel van geborgenheid wat sulke raakpunte skep."

"I am keen to explain where Nolan’s reading of the story went wrong, for hopefully his movie will lead to a renewed reading of the Greek myths."

"You want to add to the overall story, rather than just show exactly what is being described in the text. One of the main differences with the graphic novel is that you have more room for nuance. A moment can be expanded over a number of panels. We can work through a thought or a feeling with the characters in real time."

"Let us hope that South Africa House, like Parliament in Cape Town, is rapidly repaired and reverts once more to being a worthy and respected place, under whose roof many more indabas of benefit to Britain and South Africa can take place on authentic mutual terms."