Litnet

"Crucially, graduates are anticipated to embody critical thinking skills, and so actively contribute to societal development and progress. Higher education plays a vital role in cultivating virtues such as respect, resilience, dignity, inclusivity and gender equality, thereby fostering a constructive platform for public discourse. Universities serve as a safeguard against crude, anti-democratic rhetoric."

"Although Schreiner’s ideas about the place of women, the stratified nature of their labour, constantly developed over the course of her life, she evidently has a blind spot in her letters about the non-white servants in her close circle."

Here is a Zoom link for each day of the conference. Please find the programme for the Amazwi Children’s Literature Conference. 

One man shows: The Mbeki HIV Renaissance (2000-2009) is the third book in the series by Pieter-Dirk Uys/Evita Bezuidenhout and welcomes the new century with a detailed focus on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa.

"This note will address these developments in terms of 'Winners' and 'Losers', and of course we must begin with the first of the election’s big stories, the travails of the ANC."

The Jakes Gerwel Foundation, LitNet and Huisgenoot are eagerly awaiting applications from promising emerging writers for the Kommadagga Workshop on the fine art of writing short prose.

"Darlings of Durban is a great holiday read. While it deals with serious issues in some of the relationships of the women, the novel is not meant to be scoured for national political commentary."

"I don’t get a vote in the South African elections, but in life – globally – I vote for tolerance and integrity. Literary beauty offers both."

"Nothing grows here now except silence and birdsong by day and the call of the jackal by night."

The lovely Karoo town Cradock will play host to Deon Meyer, Coenie de Villiers and André Schwartz from 12 to 15 June 2024. That is when the Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival will take place.

The Commonwealth Foundation has announced five regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, the world’s most global literary prize. 

"Perhaps the country most deeply affected by the ICC warrants, other than Israel itself, would be the USA. While itself not an ICC states party, US criticism of the Palestine case – in light of its previous support for the ICC warrants against Putin and Bashir, among others – exposes not only its double standards, but the shallowness of its much-touted moral compass."

Will voting be based on competence or identity? Freek Robinson talks to William Gumede, chairperson of the multiparty convention.

"But suddenly the agenda has become denser and more complex. International issues, bad old South African racial politics, and opportunistic political engineering have all made an appearance. So let’s pinpoint some of the key issues."

From 30 May – 14 June 2024, the acclaimed St Olaf Choir (USA), under the baton of its renowned conductor Anton Armstrong, will tour South Africa, with eight concerts and numerous choir collaborations and workshops in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Soweto, KZN and Cape Town. Composed of 75 mixed voices, the St Olaf Choir is hailed as one of the USA’s premier a cappella ensembles, renowned for its artistry and beauty of sound.

There is no shortage of good advice, personal finance books and well-worn practices, so the question is: Why can’t people change? We know what to do, but then inexplicably don’t seem to do it. What keeps tripping us up? Many of our money troubles are caused by behavioural traps that keep us locked in a cycle. The book contains real-life case studies of people who overcame financial difficulties and highlights the small steps they took to change the course of their lives. No matter what your income level or financial background, this book is tailored to help everyone.

There’s captivating music and even a Pulitzer Prize-nominee for the June programme at The Drama Factory: "Love Letters is a wonderful, funny and moving play which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Our music extravaganza this month includes Guitar Heroes with Mel Botes, celebrating the music of iconic guitar heroes. Also don’t miss Franky Jones’ beautiful tribute to legendary singer Edith Piaf in Edith Piaf, the untold story."

"This novel, the first in a trilogy, sets the stage for an exciting and thrillingly heroic tale of love and loss, family relationships and the consequences of war – both glorious and not."

"In examining the legal framework surrounding self-defence, it is evident that a state cannot assert this right when facing a threat from an armed group within an occupied territory, especially where that territory is kept under belligerent occupation."

Alistair MacKay’s novel The child will be launched at Love Books in Melville on 23 May, in conversation with Charles Leonard, and at Bridge Books in Brixton on 28 May, in conversation with Griffin Shea.