Litnet

"In essence, the journey began when he chose to study Afrikaans, which, it must be admitted, was a little strange for an Indian boy in the ’80s."

"There is something so intricate and special about going to a butcher, reaching the glass cabinet, glaring at the various kinds of meat, stating your order, watching the items get weighed and finally paying."

Kola K is marooned. He is not sure whether he is marooned on an island, a planet or in another dimension outside time and space. To make matters worse, he is suffering from amnesia.

Karen Jennings: "It is through prizes like these that authors across the continent can gain the confidence to tell stories as they wish. The hope is that, with time, such stories will become appreciated across the globe, without first being labelled as an exception or a surprise."

Sihle Khumalo says conversation is important. We need to talk about the difficult things, the hard things, the things that make us uncomfortable. Freek Robinson starts the conversation.

Two highlights of the programme are the launch of Amazwi’s new exhibition on the life and work of literary legend Sindiwe Magona and the launch of the Masifunde Sonke Reading Programme by the Puku Children’s Literature Foundation and Rhodes University.

"White supremacy must be stopped. Festivals should be safe, inclusive and welcoming spaces to all."

André Brink tells the story in letters to Anthony Akerman: "But still, I’m going to try my damnedest. For the amended Act, due to come out next year, may be the last nail in our little literary coffin."

"This is theatre and theatre-making at its best."

"To read Jeffery’s compelling exposé is to realise that, for the past 30 years, the average South African has been a victim of the greatest imaginable confidence trick."

"For me, Open Book was special in a different way. I have been attending literary festivals around the world as a reader for a quarter of a century, as a writer for almost two decades and as a publisher for the past four years, but never before have I felt that I truly embodied all three of these roles simultaneously and so fully at an event."

Vernon Head reflects on After nature, a collaborative exhibition by artists Lien Botha and Jaco van Schalkwyk, currently on show at Barnard Gallery.

"The literary controversy by author Elizabeth Gilbert, of the popular book Eat pray love, seems to have passed unnoticed on South Africa’s literary scene ... She delayed its publication indefinitely after receiving flak from Ukraine supporters and citizens."

Threaded throughout is the beautiful complexity and vulnerability of the planet, and the joy and difficulty of making art, as each poem becomes its own vivid testament to the natural world. 

"The 84-year-old Skolimowski (himself a peer of Bresson and Godard) manages to breathe fierce and impressionistic new life into a sacred cinematic treasure by updating Bresson’s transcendental fable for our current cultural climate. He achieves this in both the form and the matching content of his masterful new film."

Malegapuru Makgoba tells Freek Robinson why De Ruyter was the right person to lead Eskom, and he names the ministers who play political games with Eskom instead of supporting those who understand what needs to be done.

"I have never been a houseworker, but I can relate to the character – from part of my responsibilities as an artist and performer – as a “space holder”: someone who holds space for people, either in grief or distress, or just in enabling them to be themselves and being able to thrive."

"I couldn’t put this book down. It now resides at my elbow at breakfast, where I can turn to today’s date and read the relevant quote to my wife. It provides space, as the authors say, to step back briefly from taking part in life, and instead to reflect simply for a while on how we all live. The Shakespearean quotes all strike a chord."

"The many intrigues in these pages are told not only by a great writer, but by the country’s foremost historian; Van Onselen’s work opens new ways to think about a range of issues like the responsibilities of scholarship, the idea of southern Africa, and the roots of South Africa’s foreign policy, among other things."

"African spirituality does not entail the idea of eternal damnation. It is anchored in the belief that even in death, a sinner can be forgiven and be reunited with his or her ancestors. The question is: would Africans be willing to forgive the sins Mangosuthu Buthelezi committed before 1994?"