Litnet

Eleven talented poets – one for each official language of South Africa – were announced as the overall winners of the 2022 AVBOB Poetry Competition at a gala prize-giving at the Pretoria Country Club on Wednesday 21 September 2022. Here are the winners.

"I was interested to read that several ANC Youth League officials have flown to Russia to monitor the controversial referendum being held to legitimise the 'annexation' of the Ukrainian territory that Putin’s army is occupying. The referendum has been discredited in advance by most of the world as a sham, but this hasn’t deterred the ANC’s intrepid task team from acting as 'international observers'."

SJ Naudé was awarded the UJ Prize for Literary Translation for his translation of Dol heuning into Mad honey. Read the commendatio by Michiel Heyns here.

SJ Naudé received the UJ Prize for Literary Translation for his translation of his book Dol heuning into Mad honey. Read his acceptance speech during the prize-giving ceremony in Johannesburg.

Jan Smuts grabbed the opportunity to realise his ambition of a Greater South Africa when the First World War ushered in a final scramble for Africa. He set his sights firmly northward upon the German colonies of South West Africa and East Africa.

The limited season of four performances only, runs from 22 to 24 September 2022.

"What makes Bronwyn Davids’s story so interesting and engaging a read is the vigour and vividness with which she recreates the ups and downs of life within the circle of her nearest and dearest in and around her Lansdowne family home."

The inaugural Mandela Bay Arts Festival kicks off this month (23 September – 2 October) in a ten-day celebration of local and regional talent happening live in the Nelson Mandela Bay area. The Festival has released its programme and tickets are now on sale through the Festival’s online booking platform.

"Thus while Die gelofte is not the innocuous romance it claims to be, as a reactionary manifesto it also fails. The script is too reluctant to stare into the void of its ideological roots. It retains only the aesthetics of old-time nationalism and a vague but passionately asserted sense of victimhood."

Stemme | Voices | Amazwi is LitNet’s series of 15 short, powerful monologues, presented in collaboration with Suidoosterfees, NATi and ATKV. In Siphokazi Jonas’ Mkhuseli, a fallen star whose memory was wiped when it fell to earth, stands guard at a shoreline to save the spirits of the drowned. Peggy Mongoato performs the monologue, directed by Qondiswa James. Watch the performance in isiXhosa with English subtitles here.

Bargain Books will be giving an extra 20% discount on any South African author’s book for Heritage Day.

Take storytellers, authors, academics, historians and activists; mix in the smell of a Karoo fire, the tinkling of silver on dining tables dressed in white, and a few dogs, and you have summarised the Etienne van Heerden Veldsoirée taking place in Cradock from 23 to 25 September 2022. Book now!

"The Polish government commemorates the sacrifice of the SAAF airmen in their attempt to relieve Warsaw, to this day. Next year is the eightieth anniversary of the doomed Warsaw mission, and it will be interesting to see how the occasion is marked by the present South African government."

Climate Story Lab ZA invites Southern African creatives to submit innovative and imaginative projects for an opportunity to participate in a four-day residential lab near Cape Town in January 2023. The first Climate Story Lab ZA is an incubator aimed at shifting the narrative and amplifying communication around climate change in order to make positive impacts against the global crisis.

Stemme | Voices | Amazwi is LitNet’s series of 15 short, powerful monologues, presented in collaboration with Suidoosterfees, NATi and ATKV. In Jane Mpholo’s Ha wa lebona, Lerato gives her former best friend, Palesa, a dressing down after malicious gossiping did the rounds. Tankiso Mamabolo performs the monologue, directed by Mahlatsi Mokgonyana. Watch the performance in Sesotho with English subtitles here.

Young blood, the gripping coming-of-age novel by Sifiso Mzobe, has been nominated for a 2022 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award! The award honours books by black authors in the categories of debut fiction, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Yet, there is more!

The first 300 entries will receive a free copy of Thérèse Hulme’s book and free refreshments will be provided. The workshops take place in Gqeberha and Somerset East respectively.

You are invited to the book launch on the 7th of September at Exclusive Books in Claremont.

Stemme | Voices | Amazwi is LitNet’s series of 15 short, powerful monologues, presented in collaboration with Suidoosterfees, NATi and ATKV. In Jemma Kahn’s Not lost, a girl explains how she got fired while working on the set for a Barbie advert. Devonecia Swartz performs the monologue, directed by Jemma. Watch the performance here. The monologue text is also available.

Bargain Books is giving away a copy of The favour by Nora Murphy. You could be the lucky winner, enter now!