Litnet

"The two scientists have a different kind of power over the major and staff sergeant. They are the ones documenting the journey and can therefore decide when to stop filming and when to start again."

"To those who have not seen the film, allow yourself to experience this Afrikaans catalyst project. Leave your Hollywood notions of films and filmmaking at the door, and give this unique film a chance to challenge your outlook on life."

"The audience must confront the uncomfortable realisation that our Western ideas of civilisation, progress and superiority are fundamentally outdated."

"The film as a whole grapples with the concept of invasion. Set against the backdrop of the Americans attempting to invade the moon and the Russians apparently attempting to invade the world with communism, the arrival of the foreign object onto the farm seems dangerously intrusive."

"Dr Smith will be unable to provide proof of her misleading claim that the department’s doors have been shut as the misleading headline of her letter suggests. At the time of the University of Fort Hare authoring this response, no decision has been taken by the senate."

"Careful combinations of cinematic elements carry a weighty topic with an aesthetically pleasing backdrop – a masterfully executed film for fans of indie productions and for those who are undaunted by the truth."

"It is a surprisingly beautiful message derived from brutally honest and ever-relevant commentary on human society as a whole."

The inaugural ArtFluence Human Rights Festival (5‒8 May 2021) will focus on arts, constitution and democracy. This online festival, presented by the Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) in partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands, will be live-streamed. 

To celebrate the release of Christine, Melinda Ferguson Books (an imprint of NB Publishers) is thrilled to announce an exciting competition that offers one lucky reader the chance to win a return ticket to Amsterdam in 2022.

The inaugural Commonwealth Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit is the first global event to focus on women in emerging tech sectors. It is a two-day online conference focusing on women’s entrepreneurship featuring 50 speakers, 20 talks and 12 panel sessions.

"By the fading light is a book to be read and reread. To remind us of where we were as a country. To savour the language. To laugh. But mostly to stare misty-eyed into the distance."

"This debut novel by acclaimed poet Timothy Ogene bears the traces of the author’s lyrical talent, his Nigerian origins, his expansive reading of world literature and his life-cherishing attentiveness to natural and human phenomena, both physical and spiritual. The text is, nevertheless, unpretentious in every way; as a narrative, perhaps a bildungsroman, the predominant tonal quality is a sort of quietness, a retrospective serenity."

"We recognise when our pets are happy or sad, we understand the happy expression of an elephant wallowing in a muddy waterhole or a tired lion yawning under the shade of a tree at midday. But the mannerisms of bats, fish and mosquitoes, no."

"This fight requires determination and brutal efficiency. Diplomacy does not work with criminals. If the president succeeds, voters will rally around and defend him."

"Brandish the banners – 
bright red as the dying day – 
for tonight the old man will wilt 
and eerily drift away –"

"Listening language involves people from different language backgrounds talking and writing their own language, and understanding one another while developing their receptive language skills and practising strategies to attain a more complete command of the other language."

"As a reader (and writer), I find the interviews Labuschagne conducted with suspects most interesting, as they afford one rare glimpses into their worlds and the way they saw things."

On 29 April 2021 at 10:00, Marianne Thamm will be in conversation with Wahbie Long about his book, Nation on the couch: Inside South Africa's mind, as part of the Suidoosterfees-Jakes Gerwel conversations at Artscape, Cape Town. Robert Kriger interviews Wahbie to find out more about his book, which he describes as a "letter to all South African citizens".

"The dread. Yes, the feeling of dread never leaves. You have two underage girls; one is pregnant. With little money and no support, they travel to New York. What should be a one-day excursion turns into a prolonged three-day affair. They have nowhere to stay, no money to spend."

"What distinguishes South African stories is that they are about people who experience our environment in the same way we do, who look like us, who understand the specific challenges we face, perhaps in more profound ways than people in other English-speaking parts of the world."