Africa in Words Guest: Gavin Brown. When I set out to research the history of the Non-Stop Picket of the South African Embassy in London, I knew I could trace enough former participants in that protest to make the project… Read More ›
South Africa
To write poetry after Pistorius is insufficient: rapture, rupture and narrative non-fiction in South Africa
By AiW Guest Anneke Rautenbach. Tom Wolfe, as early as 1973, spoke of a new form of writing that “consumes devices that happen to have originated with the novel and mixes them with every other technique known to prose. And… Read More ›
Q&A with ‘Diary of a Zulu Girl’ author Mike Maphoto
Mike Maphoto’s ‘Diary of a Zulu Girl’ blog is something of a digital literature phenomenon. Since it began a scant five months ago in April 2013, it has had more than 10 million page views from 22 countries, spawned numerous… Read More ›
Review: Imraan Coovadia’s ‘The Institute for Taxi Poetry’
AiW Guest Tom Penfold. Imraan Coovadia’s The Institute of Taxi Poetry (Umuzi, 2012) is an appeal to the imagination – the reader’s and South Africa’s. Set through a week in the life of Adam Ravens as he tries to make sense of… Read More ›
Marli Roode, ‘Call it Dog’ and Achmat Dangor’s ‘Strange Pilgrimages’ – after Edinburgh Book Festival, 2013
This post draws together reflections on two sessions from the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2013, featuring books from or about South Africa – one called Getting Over Apartheid with award-winning South African author Achmat Dangor (unfortunately, Sindiwe Magona had to cancel, so Dangor appeared alone), and another… Read More ›
Elephants and Metaphors: the Nyamnjoh debate on African anthropology
There’s been an debate going in the pages of Africa Spectrum which we thought might be of interest to some of our readers (hat tip to Stephanie Newell for bringing this to our attention). In 2012, Cape Town-based anthropologist Francis… Read More ›
Lauren Beukes and African Science Fiction
Africa in Words Guest, Professor James Smith of the University of Edinburgh, writes: Professionally I research the role science and technology play in shaping Africa’s development. Thus I naturally have an interest in the writing of Lauren Beukes given her… Read More ›
Q&A: Henrietta Rose-Innes – ‘New Voices from South Africa’ at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
Henrietta Rose-Innes is an award-winning South African writer based in Cape Town. I was lucky enough to be able to catch her at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in advance of her session, ‘New Voices from South Africa’, which is on the… Read More ›
New publication – Accented Futures: Language Activism and the Ending of Apartheid, by Carli Coetzee
This is a superb contribution to thinking about the teaching and transmutation of the culture of letters in South Africa. — Arlene Archer, University of Cape Town In this wonderfully original, intensely personal yet deeply analytical work, Carli Coetzee argues that… Read More ›
Preliminary Call for Interest: New Universities Project, South Africa
New Universities Project, South Africa School of Heritage, Northern Cape Preliminary Call for Interest Two new universities will open in South Africa in 2014/15. These are the first universities to be launched by the South African government since the move… Read More ›
South African authors (and more besides) at the Edinburgh International Book Festival -10-26 August, 2013
The Edinburgh International Book Festival, “the world’s largest public celebration of the written word, right in the heart of Edinburgh”, starts this Saturday, August 10th, and is celebrating its 30th birthday this year (fanfare! trrumpets!). Among the variety of dynamic… Read More ›
Borrowing the bookshelf: lessons in [virtual bookshelf] husbandry
I came across a meme recently “You know you’re a bookaholic when…” One was “when the first thing you look at in a friend’s house is the bookshelves”. I identified. I house sat for another Africa in Words writer recently,… Read More ›
Q&A: Colleen Higgs – publisher Modjaji Books
Colleen Higgs is the publisher and passionate, dynamic force behind Modjaji Books, a small independent press based in Cape Town, South Africa. Inspired by Modjadji, the Rain Queen of Limpopo, a powerful female force for good, growth, new life, and… Read More ›
Writing South Africa Now: A Colloquium. University of Cambridge, 2 July.
Writing South Africa Now: A Colloquium, July 2nd, 2013 Faculty of English, University of Cambridge Tuesday, July 2nd 2013 Confirmed Plenary speaker: Dr Nadia Davids (Queen Mary, University of London) ‘Writing and Performing South Africa’s Past in the Present: an Exploration of… Read More ›
Short Story Day Africa 2013
“Short Story Day Africa exists because we have something to tell the world. About us. In our own voices.” Now in its third year, Short Story Day Africa sets aside the shortest day (or night) of the year – this year it’s… Read More ›
Perhaps you missed…
Spotted around the web: short stories, novels and debate. Bakwa magazine: Why does the West ignore intellectual property when Africa is concerned? What does the New York Times really know about music in Africa? Can hip-hop save an artist’s life?, Fashion:… Read More ›
‘A Universal Archive – William Kentridge as printmaker’: touring exhibition, available until Spring/Summer 2014.
The Hayward/South Bank are holding a major, touring exhibition of South African artist William Kentridge’s work, with its provocative title, ‘A Universal Archive’, promising a trove-like collection of Kentridge’s innovative prints. With dates ranging from 1988 to new work, as… Read More ›
Cameron Platter’s ‘Everyday Apocalypse’ @ Jack Bell Gallery, until April 20.
Jack Bell Gallery 27 March – 20 April 2013 Artist’s Page (jackbellgallery.com) Jack Bell Gallery is pleased to present Cameron Platter’s Everyday Apocalypse, the artist’s first exhibition in the UK.
Review: 100% Jacob Zuma
AiW Guest Emily Hogg and Benjamin Poore. In 2006 The New York Times reported that Jacob Zuma’s defence during his trial for rape was rooted in claims he made about the traditions and customs of Zulu culture. The Times wrote: “His… Read More ›
AiW live on SAfm’s ‘Word of Mouth’ feature prompts a revisit of our Q&A (Pt 2) with Jenna Bass – Editor and co-founder of African pulp fiction magazine Jungle Jim.
Chatting to Nancy Richards about AiW on SAfm’s Word of Mouth feature, part of the Literature show, on Sunday (03/03), I was struck once again by the significance of the generative potential of literary and intellectual networks across the continent,… Read More ›
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