Litnet

"Whereas other tram rides are more conventional, follow standard routes, or where one finds oneself somewhat ill at ease – with someone else’s wallet pressed up against your thigh or a few smelly armpits too close for comfort. Tram 23 does not follow suit. Tram 23 is a spaceship of a different breed."

"How can nothing be growing? 
The star doctors say it is 
Is the nothingness showing?"

"On any given issue, how should we weigh up the different issues at stake? This is where we need arguments, including evidence. We need, in other words, to reason our way, as best we can, through the issues. That is exactly what I was doing in the book."

"Many people would argue that phone photography has opened up image-making for the masses, but it really only points to yet another form of dependence on so-called smart technology without an understanding of the underlying principles of a particular discipline."

"The book is fabulous: ironic, moving, sacrilegious, shocking, painful, insightful."

"sadness cannot be contained 
nor repressed 
it seeps unceremoniously 
through the tiniest slit"

"Even if it doesn’t feel like we live in a rights-based constitutional democracy with equal access to the law and to the free exchange of ideas, which is what universities are for, we have no option but to continue to believe and act as if we do. Perhaps that explains his determination to hold on to the idea that people can and should do better. It’s part of his belief in the university as an institution."

This award-winning short film, written and directed by Emilie Badenhorst and Kanya Viljoen, is an exploration of a young woman that discovers love and intimacy, and the loss thereof, through a blossoming relationship with her best friend and the dissipation of her parents’ marriage. The film uses the landscape of multilingualism in South Africa, the Afrikaner culture and LGBTQIA+ bodies to question the moments of existing in between these spaces and borders created within society. ekstasis will be released on Vimeo on 21 January 2022.

"He died in isolation
Surrounded by sterile strangers
Unknown machines
In an intensive care unit
Without history or memory
Or a warm hand in his."

"He wants to be alone to remake himself in conditions of aloneness, of brief solitariness. Here begins his exploration. He is a tabula rasa on which he can rewrite his story. He explores the place geographically, establishes a frame within which to live his life. He discovers new ways, new routines, sees new things."

"He was one of the greatest the country has ever seen, iconic beyond description, who stood up for the rights of all South Africans, and whose legendary status reached the rooms, offices, courts of monarchs, heads of nations and spiritual leaders of virtually every country in the world."

"The first time I broke bad news to a real, live family it went horribly. If it were an OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) station, I would have failed."

"Overall, the entire process was a joy. I always try to make a fun environment where the actors can enjoy themselves. I think that genuine joy translates into the film. Also, it’s easy to forget, sometimes, but we’re making cartoons for a living. If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong."

"Reading this novel and its record of great suffering and the profound emotional dislocations brought about by exile and migration, is arduous, often harrowing and disturbing; but as a narrative, Aya Dane is an immense and lasting achievement."

New dates have been announced for Cape Town City Ballet's production of Veronica Paeper's A Christmas Carol – the story of Scrooge. The production will run for a limited season from 19 until 22 January 2022 in the Artscape Theatre. Some performances in December were postponed following the confirmation of a COVID-19 positive case.

... with compliments of Evita Bezuidenhout and Pieter-Dirk Uys. One Man Shows: the result of months of lockdown. Free to download.

In an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Afrikaanse Taalraad (Afrikaans Language Council – ATR) expressed its deep concern about the Department of Higher Education's language policy of 2020. The letter was handed over at the Union Buildings on 10 December – on the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, a constitution that promotes multilingualism and protects language rights.

To protect all concerned, including audiences, the second week of the play has been postponed to 23 to 26 February 2022 at the Artscape Arena. Booking has already opened.

On 10 December Aoife Lennon-Ritchie spoke to Gabeba Baderoon and Sifton Anipare about getting published, emigrating and feminism.

"I retraced 
My steps 
Back to the days 
Before I lost all of my ways"