by Amanda on May 10th, 2012
Umuzi & Love Books invite you to the launch of Lessons in Husbandry by award-winning author Shaida Kazie Ali.
On Wednesday, 23 May at 6 for 6:30 PM, the author will be in conversation with Karen Scherzinger at Love Books.
See you there!
Event Details
- Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
- Time: 6:00 PM for 6:30 PM
- Venue: Love Books,
53 Rustenburg Road,
Cnr 9th Street,
Melville,
Johannesburg | Map
- Guest Speaker: Karen Scherzinger
- RSVP: info@lovebooks.co.za, 011 726 7408
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Cats: Events,
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South Africa
Tags: English,
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by Amanda on May 9th, 2012
Rusana Philander of The New Age attended the recent launch of Imraan Coovadia‘s The Institute for Taxi Poetry at Kalk Bay Books where Coovadia was in conversation with UCT‘s Harry Garuba:
Taxi poetry is not receiving the literary attention it deserves, said author Imraan Covaadia at a recent discussion about his new book.
Addressing an audience in Kalk Bay, Coovadia said his fifth book – The Institute for Taxi Poetry – was a tragicomedy. Covaadia’s book is written from a perspective different to the usual portrayal of the taxi industry in Cape Town.
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Cats: Fiction,
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Tags: English,
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Harry Garuba,
Imraan Coovadia,
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by Amanda on May 9th, 2012
This month Umuzi re-issues Ivan Vladislavic’s The Restless Supermarket:
It is 1993, and Aubrey Tearle’s world is shutting down. He has recently retired from a lifetime of proofreading telephone directories. His favourite haunt in Hillbrow, the Café Europa, is about to close its doors; the familiar old South Africa is already gone. Standards, he grumbles, are in decline, so bad-tempered, conservative Tearle embarks on a grandiose plan to enlighten his fellow citizens. The results are disastrous, hilarious and poignant.
The Restless Supermarket, hailed as a classic novel of the South African transition, was awarded the Sunday Times Prize for Fiction in 2002.
About the author
Ivan Vladislavic is the author of the novels The Folly, The Exploded View and Double Negative, and has edited volumes on architecture and art. His book Portrait with Keys documents Johannesburg, and his short stories have been collected in the volume Flashback Hotel. His work has been published and translated widely and has won many awards, including the University of Johannesburg Prize and the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award for non-fiction. He lives in Johannesburg.
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Cats: Fiction,
South Africa
Tags: Double Negative,
English,
Fiction,
Ivan Vladislavic,
Portrait with Keys,
South Africa,
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The Exploded View,
The Folly,
The Restless Supermarket,
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by Amanda on May 4th, 2012
eKhaya, the straight-to-digital imprint of Random House Struik, is delighted that “Love on Trial”, a short story from its launch title, For Honour and Other Stories, by SO (Stanley) Kenani, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Caine Prize – known as ‘The African Booker’ – for 2012.
The Chair of judges, author and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature Bernardine Evaristo MBE, has described the Caine Prize shortlist – selected form 122 entries from 14 African countries – as ‘truly diverse fiction from a truly diverse continent’. She noted “Love on Trial”, a story which challenges traditional assumptions about love and sexuality, as ‘bravely provocative’.
The winner of the £10,000 Caine Prize will be announced on 2 July 2012, and will be given the opportunity of taking up a month’s residence at Georgetown University, as a Writer-in-Residence at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice. The award will cover all travel and living expenses. The winner will also be invited to take part in the Open Book Festival in Cape Town in September 2012 and events at the Museum of African Art in New York in November 2012. South African winners of the Caine Prize include Mary Watson (2006) and Umuzi author Henrietta Rose-Innes (2008).
Stanley Kenani is a Malawian writer and poet who works as an accountant in Geneva. The title story of his collection, “For Honour”, was also shortlisted for the Caine Prize, in 2008.
Stanley is an alumnus of the Random House Creative Writing Course, presented online in conjunction with GetSmarter, a high-touch online education company. eKhaya was initially established to publish select manuscripts from the Random House Struik Creative Writing and Random House Struik Write a Non-Fiction Story courses, both taught by high-profile South African author, Mike Nicol.
For Honour and Other Stories was published in August 2012, and was eKhaya’s first-ever title. It can be purchased online in South Africa at Kalahari.com and Exclus1ves.co.za, in Britain at Amazon.co.uk and internationally at Amazon.com and other e-retailers.
eKhaya is treading into further exciting territory in June 2012 when it publishes Bloody Parchment: Inferna and Other Stories, an anthology of stories selected for the South African Horrorfest taking place in Cape Town in October 2012. In July, the imprint will publish Ms Conception, a rollicking and heartful novel about a woman juggling family and career by Johannesburg-based television writer, Pamela Power.
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Tags: Awards,
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by Amanda on May 4th, 2012
The 2012 Franschhoek Literary Festival takes place from 11 to 13 May. Random House Struik authors to look forward to at the festival include Zuretha Roos and Annalie Nel, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Robert Fridjhon, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Kathryn White, Ivan Vladislavić, Imraan Coovadia, Andrew Brown, Brent Meersman, Diane Awerbuck, Leon de Kock, Isobel Dixon, Johan Vlok Louw, John Liebenberg, Patricia Hayes, Tim Noakes, Michael Vlismas, Francis Wilson, Hannes Haasbroek, Peter Harris, Rajend Mesthrie, Jeanne Hromnik, Alan Morris and Shaida Kazie Ali.
Friday 11 May
What’s cooking?
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Church Hall)
Abigail Donnelly chats to Reuben Riffel (Reuben Cooks Local), Marita van der Vyver (Summer Food in Provence) and sisters Zuretha Roos and Annalie Nel (Roast Duck on Sunday) about their recent cookbooks.
Novels as entertainment?
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Congregational Church)
Milan Kundera wrote: “The great European novel started out as entertainment, and every true novelist is nostalgic for it.” Jenny Hobbs (The Miracle of Crocodile Flats) asks fellow novelists Henrietta Rose-Innes (Nineveh), Finuala Dowling (Homemaking for the Down-at-Heart) and Tan Twan Eng (The Garden of Evening Mists) whether they agree – or not.
Don’t fence me in
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (School Hall)
Tim Butcher explores the far reaches of adventure and the macho ego with Robert Fridjhon (Caterpillar Seas), James Hendry (A Year in the Wild) and John Dobson (Year of the Gherkin).
Pieter, not Evita
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (Congregational Church)
Marianne Thamm in conversation with Pieter-Dirk Uys.
20-minute snapshots
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (Library)
Writers Rahla Xenopolous (Bubbles), Paul Nel (The Law of Douglas van Yssen) and Kathryn White (Things I Thought I Knew) present and read from their books.
A pride of literary lions
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM (Congregational Church)
Jeremy Boraine in conversation with Ivan Vladislavić (The Loss Library), Michiel Heyns (Invisible Furies) and Imraan Coovadia (The Institute for Taxi Poetry).
Nineveh – the layered lives of Cape Town
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM (Hospice Hall)
Lynda Gilfillan in conversation with Henrietta Rose-Innes about her novel that negotiates the underbelly of a luxury estate beset by an infestation of bugs.
Brotherhood of crime
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (School Hall)
Book broadcaster Karabo Kgoleng takes on three masters of crime fiction: Deon Meyer (Trackers), Andrew Brown (Solace) and Peter Church (Bitter Pill).
Novel trio: BM + CH²
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Council Chamber)
Christopher Hope talks to Brent Meersman (Reports Before Daybreak) and Craig Higginson (The Landscape Painter)
Bad Sex
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Hospice Hall)
Diane Awerbuck in conversation with Leon de Kock (Bad Sex).
~ ~ ~
Saturday 12 May 2012
In conversation
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Council Chamber)
Michiel Heyns and Andrew Brown discuss their new novels.
Short and savoury
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Library)
Colleen Higgs gets together with short story writers Diane Awerbuck (Cabin Fever), Meg Vandermerwe (This Place I Call Home) and James Whyle, winner of the 2011 SA PEN/Studzinski Literary Award for The Story.
Favourite poems
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Screening Room)
Poets Finuala Dowling, Isobel Dixon (The Tempest Prognosticator), Leon de Kock (Bodyhood) and Gus Ferguson share their favourites with a select audience.
Angola’s long shadow
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (School Hall)
Brent Meersman revisits the Border War and discusses its malignant scars with Mark Behr (The Smell of Apples), Johan Vlok Louw (Eric the Brave), photographer John Liebenberg and his co-author Patricia Hayes (Bush of Ghosts).
Challenging Beliefs
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (Congregational Church)
John Maytham in conversation with sports scientist Tim Noakes and sports writer Michael Vlismas (Challenging Beliefs).
Script to stage
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (School Hall)
Director Janice Honeyman goes behind the scenes with three co-stalwarts of the South African stage: Pieter-Dirk Uys, Mike van Graan and Craig Higginson.
Remembering Bram Fischer
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (Congregational Church)
Francis Wilson talks to the two people who best remember Bram Fischer, his daughters Ruth Rice and Ilse Wilson, as well as biographer Hannes Haasbroek (‘n Seun Soos Bram).
Is crime fiction the new political novel?
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM (Church Hall)
Lynda Gilfillan threw down the gauntlet in a debate about genre snobs on Stellenbosch University’s SLiPnet site, and chairs the next round of jousting with Margie Orford, Leon de Kock and Imraan Coovadia.
What do publishers want?
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM (Council Chamber)
Jeremy Boraine (Jonathan Ball) and a line-up of fellow publishers – Terry Morris (Pan Macmillan), Bridget Impey (Jacana) and Frederik de Jager (Umuzi) – mull over the all- important question all writers want to ask.
The Loss Library
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM (Hospice Hall)
Carrol Clarkson in conversation with Ivan Vladislavić.
~ ~ ~
Sunday 13 May 2012
Learning from our mistakes
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (School Hall)
Peter Harris (Birth) chairs this essential discussion with Moeletsi Mbeki, Andrew Feinstein and Ray Hartley, editor of the Sunday Times.
Critics on critics
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Hospice Hall)
Michiel Heyns, Brent Meersman and Sean O’Toole mull over the state of literary criticism in our country, its contribution to fresh new writing, and (the crucial issue for writers today) sales.
Rolling up our sleeves and…
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (School Hall)
John Maytham chairs a discussion about our country’s way forward, with Jonathan Jansen and UCT economist Francis Wilson (Dinosaurs, Diamonds & Democracy).
Eish! but is it English?
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (Library)
Linguistics professor Rajend Mesthrie (Eish, but is it English?) in conversation with co-author Jeanne Hromnik.
Baring the body
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (Screening Room)
Leon de Kock and Karin Schimke (Bare & Breaking) discuss their poems
The rise and rise of true crime
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM (School Hall)
Margie Orford talks real-life crime with forensic anthropologist Alan Morris (Missing and Murdered), Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela (My Father, My Monster) and journalist Mandy Wiener (Killing Kebble).
Muslim writers in the rainbow nation
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM (Council Chamber)
Imraan Coovadia talks to Shaida Kazie Ali (Lessons in Husbandry) and Azad Essa (Zuma’s Bastard) about writing from within a community that places a high value on privacy.
The lyric ‘I’
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM (Screening Room)
Finuala Dowling introduces poets Ingrid de Kok (Other Signs) and Isobel Dixon.
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Tags: 'n Seun soos Bram,
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by Amanda on May 4th, 2012
“They sit in the doors of the Big Mamma Pumas, feet dangling out, all gung ho. Sometimes you have a bad hair day in the big fat sky – come back with holes in you.”
First nothing happens, on the border between Namibia and Angola, 1983. A platoon of servicemen at a remote outpost kill time smoking, drinking, grating each other’s nerves. Eric draws Scope pictures to amuse his mates while he observes everything around him with a distant eye. They are mere boys, lounging in the waiting room to hell.
When hell breaks loose all bets are off, and for Eric there is no escaping the horror of the scores he must settle.
Written in hardened yet lyrical prose electrified with heart-stopping lines, Eric the Brave is an elegy on boot level that marks the arrival of a remarkable new writer.
About the author
Johan Vlok Louw was born in Cape Town. After National Service, a stint in banking and some time underground in the gold mines followed. He studied Fine Art and Design, and has worked as salesman, manager, franchise owner, director and chairman. He lives in Gordons Bay.
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by Amanda on May 3rd, 2012
Brett Davidson, media consultant and blog contributor for Africa is a Country, chats to Henrietta Rose-Innes about her latest novel, Nineveh.
Nineveh, published late last year, is the latest book by South African writer Henrietta Rose-Innes. It’s a strange and apocalyptic tale about a swarm of insects which overruns a luxury housing development outside Cape Town, causing mayhem and destruction. A pest remover – named Katya Grubs – is called in but finds she has much more on her hands than just the bugs. Rose-Innes is a past winner of the Caine Prize for African writing and the SA PEN literary award. She is author of Homing (2010), an anthology of short stories, as well as two other novels: Shark’s Egg (2000) and The Rock Alphabet (2004). Nineveh has received widespread critical acclaim for the quality of the writing as well as the way it deals with contemporary political and environmental themes, with one reviewer calling it an innovative blend of the comic, the gothic and the social realist. I asked her 5 questions.
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Tags: Africa is a Country,
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by Amanda on Apr 25th, 2012
SLiPNet’s Kavish Chetty attended the launch of Imraan Coovadia‘s new novel, The Institute for Taxi Poetry, recently held at The Book Lounge in Cape Town. What Chetty experienced was vintage Coovadia, who explored with wry but gentle humour the question of whether there is a way of replicating in a novel realities that have never been fully explored:
“It is a rare gift to be seriously funny and seriously serious,” Mervyn Sloman remarks. The accomplishment is that of Imraan Coovadia, speaking about his new novel – The Institute for Taxi Poetry. He speaks to a well-thronged upper floor of recognisable reporters and scholars – most of whom have made the migration upstairs after double-dipping braised-potato spring rolls in the sweet chilli sauce (I saw you buddy – the tweed and suede doesn’t fool me). His interlocutor is journalist-at-large, O’ Toole, of the Sean variety. The event is casual and conversational, buoyed by Imraan’s disaffected charisma and Sean’s researched and imaginative questioning style.
“Last year Imraan interviewed me,” begins Sean, “and his first question floored me.” He had to stare blankly into the audience, eventually dredging up an answer that leads him to say, “I have hated him ever since.” There are gentle murmurs of laughter, and a relaxed atmosphere that avoids the dire and machinic question-and-answer routine (with its hanging epochs of silence) which weary the lesser launches.
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by Amanda on Apr 23rd, 2012
The Christian Science Monitor‘s Randy Dotinga speaks to South African crime writer Jassy Mackenzie about why she will not leave South Africa, the country she loves. Mackenzie’s latest Jade de Jong novel, Worst Case, was recently published as The Fallen in the US:
Considering its rampant crime and long history of racial strife, South Africa may sound like a place that’s better for leaving than living. But author Jassy Mackenzie has chosen to stay in the country she loves. The same goes for her fictional creation, a private eye named Jade de Jong who’s sexy yet unafraid to hurt others (or worse) if necessary.
Mackenzie’s three de Jong novels are a treat for lovers of exciting thrillers and gritty mysteries. De Jong is brittle but likeable, unlucky in love and quick – wicked quick – with a gun.
Mackenzie’s plots are fast-moving and believable, full of vivid characters like South Africa itself. Her novels – including the newest, “The Fallen” – depict an overcrowded country full of rampant corruption and the most vicious forms of violence imaginable.
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by Amanda on Apr 20th, 2012
In an interview with Margaret von Klemperer, Jenny Hobbs reveals that she actually wrote the The Miracle of Crocodile Flats before Kitchen Boy, although the latter was published first. The Miracle of Crocodile Flats is a satire on “the outer fringes of the religious establishment” and Hobbs says she had a lot of fun writing it:
Sometimes when you read a book, you know the author had fun writing it. The tone, the humour and the sheer exuberance all shout it out. Jenny Hobbs wrote The Miracle of Crocodile Flats (reviewed below) before Kitchen Boy , which was published first, coming out last year. This year’s novel was written at a time when Hobbs’s life was difficult and she wanted to cheer herself up.
“I had been thinking about it since the nineties — I had a huge file of clippings on religious visions and so on. After I had written it, I thought it was quite jolly and submitted it to a friend who is a publisher, and he passed it on to a writer I also know. He said to me: ‘It’s not your best work’. I went home with my tail between my legs, and started Kitchen Boy.”
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