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Book Bites: 26 November

November 27, 2017, 1:46 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

Origin
****
Dan Brown, Bantam Press, R320

Fast-paced, action-packed, relentlessly informative, Origin is a riveting read from start to end. Dan Brown’s famous character, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, is back to unravel yet another mystery with the potential to upend the entire world. Only this time he has the Spanish military, royal palace and Catholic Church hot on his heels, not to mention an anonymous hacker who’s always five steps ahead. Langdon’s friend and former student, the brilliant futurist Edmond Kirsch, makes a fascinating scientific discovery, one that provides unequivocal answers to two age-old questions: “Where do we come from? Where are we going?” On the eve of his announcement, dark forces intervene to quash his discovery and Langdon finds himself in a mad race to Barcelona, with the alluring future queen of Spain by his side. Brown blends science, technology, art and religion in a story that entertains and mystifies. – Anna Stroud @annawriter_

Home Fire
****
Kamila Shamsie, Bloomsbury, R290

Antigone, the Greek tragedy, is artfully reimagined in our modern world in this 2017 Man Booker longlisted novel. Two sisters lose their brother Parvaiz to their father’s jihadist past. Isma flees to America and makes friends with Eamonn, the son of the British Home Secretary. When Eamonn returns to the UK, he visits the younger sister, Aneeka, delivering a packet of M&Ms from Isma. Thus, the families of the sisters and Eamonn become tangled as personal choices, beliefs and grief is dragged into the political landscape. A timely read that is both beautiful and heartbreaking. – Tiah Beautement @ms_tiahmarie

The Boy Who Saw
***
Simon Toyne, HarperCollins, R285

The brilliant Solomon Creed is a paranoid schizophrenic with no memory of his past: the only clue is his beautifully made jacket, with the name of the tailor, Josef Engel, on the lapel. Creed tracks down the tailor, but the old man has been tortured to death. It seems likely that his murder is linked to his granddaughter Marie Claude’s research into the Holocaust and The Tailors’ Camp, a concentration camp from which Engel was one of only four survivors. Creed, Marie Claude and her son Leo journey through France to find the survivors – and learn something about Creed’s past – before the rest of the tailors are killed, along with the answers. – Aubrey Paton

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A tough, nuanced read that raises uncomfortable topics – Margaret von Klemperer reviews Joyce Carol Oates’s A Book of American Martyrs

November 29, 2017, 3:53 am
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Published in The Witness

A Book of American MartyrsI must admit this novel was neither easy to read nor to review. Both subject matter and Joyce Carol Oates’s way of handling it can make a reader somewhat queasy, but there is no doubt that its 736 pages (American writers are remarkably keen on having their readers in for the long haul) are a formidable achievement.

The story opens in 1999 in the American midwest, when Luther Dunphy, a fundamentalist Christian and hardline pro-life activist, shoots dead Dr Gus Voorhees and his bodyguard outside the abortion clinic where Voorhees works.

The first part of the book is narrated by Dunphy, and Oates is too skilled a writer to make him a one-dimensional hate figure. You may not like him, or what he stands for, but by the time he is sentenced to death, you have a certain understanding of him. And his execution reminded me forcibly of The Green Mile, the only film I have ever walked out of, unable to stomach the electric chair scene. If nothing else, A Book of American Martyrs makes a compelling argument, if one is needed, for the abolition of the death penalty.

Voorhees, Dunphy’s victim and polar opposite is no saint either. He represents another brand of fanaticism, one that is prepared to sacrifice pretty well anything for his crusading ideals and whose outward calm rationality hides a terrifying ruthlessness. He and Dunphy are the martyrs, seeking their own martyrdom.

However, the main thrust of Oates’s book is the effect of the two deaths on the two families, particularly the wives of the men and their daughters, both entering adolescence at the time of the killings. The stories are told through a variety of voices, ranging from an impersonal third person narrator to first person sections and verbatim transcripts of interviews and trials.

Both the Voorhees and Dunphy families are destroyed, and the latter part of the book deals with Naomi Voorhees and Dawn Dunphy as they both, in very different ways, struggle to find their own paths to survival, and to deal with the legacy forced upon them by their fathers. One, who becomes a documentary film maker, may be educated, clever and articulate while the other – an exploited and vicious woman boxer – is barely literate and hardly able to function in society, but their lives are intertwined for ever.

A Book of American Martyrs raises all kinds of uncomfortable topics – religious fundamentalism, the abortion debate, gun crime and the death penalty. It is particularly pertinent at this time, calling up issues that are currently fracturing American society and that of other places as well. The telling is complex and nuanced but, as I said at the outset, it is a tough read. Oates is one of those writers – an ever-expanding list – who are regularly tipped for a Nobel prize, though whether she ever will or ought to win is another matter. But this book should do her chances no harm. – Margaret von Klemperer

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Book Bites (3 December)

December 4, 2017, 4:49 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

My Absolute DarlingMy Absolute Darling
**
Gabriel Tallent, HarperCollins, R250

It wasn’t the repulsive violence of this novel that defeated me. By now everyone knows that it features incest between a father and his 14-year-old daughter. It was never going to be a comfortable read, but judging by the euphoric reviews one expected something trenchant and thought-provoking. Instead the characters are straight out of central casting — ghastly gun-toting father spouting undigested philosophy before raping his daughter; she the tough tomboy with little interiority; kindly grandfather, caring-but-puzzled teacher. Tallent ladles on description with a palette knife, perhaps in an attempt to lift it to the heights of “literary fiction”, but ultimately it’s a hollow, crassly prurient book. – Michele Magwood @michelemagwood

The Dying Game
***
Asa Avdic, Penguin Books, R295

Set in 2037, a faceless government coldly manipulates its citizens into overworking at the expense of their personal lives. The central character is Anna Francis, emotionally damaged from a mission on the border between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. On her return to Stockholm she is promised freedom if she completes one final mission – a high-pressure exercise to test the character of citizens being vetted for a top-secret intelligence post. Anna must travel to an island with an alcoholic colonel, a shallow TV host, one of Sweden’s richest men, a hyper-sensitive HR specialist and a key figure from her past who she thought she’d never encounter again. On the first night she will fake her death then monitor the reactions of the candidates. This well-paced Scandi Noir will certainly keep most readers captivated until the final chilling scene. – Efemia Chela @efemiachela

The Rules of MagicThe Rules of Magic
****
Alice Hoffman, Simon & Schuster, R285

Hoffman’s prequel to her bestseller Practical Magic is the delightful backstory of the magical Owens sisters’ eccentric aunts, Jet and Frances, and their mysterious brother Vincent. It’s late ’50s New York and the three children are brought up in a strictly no magic house by their parents. But their power cannot be harnessed and when they find out who they are, disaster happens. They realise they can’t love without consequences due to an ancestral curse. A fantastical tale of doomed love. – Jennifer Platt @Jenniferdplatt

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“I’m not trying to do anything except make pictures that challenge Roger Ballen”– a conversation with Roger Ballen

December 18, 2017, 6:39 am
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By Mila de Villiers

Roger Ballen. ©Alternative Print Workshop.

 
If you’re familiar with Die Antwoord, images of an anomalous Johannesburg, or raw photos of South Africa’s rural Afrikaans communities, you’ve probably come across Roger Ballen.

Ballen, whose photographic career spans over forty years, recently released Ballenesque, a monograph consisting of his oeuvre and previously unpublished images. ‘Ballenesque’ has become synonymous with his style which, over the past twenty years, has moved from being partly documentary to one that incorporates elements of drawing, painting, installation, and video.

As the photographic artist himself explains in his deep, measured voice: “This integration of medias has allowed me to create an aesthetic that is referred to as Ballenesque.”

I’m seated across Ballen in his large, well-lit office in Parktown, Johannesburg. The walls are adorned with framed images of his work. Stuffed animals, including a baboon, a serval and an aardvark, greet you once you enter the office space. He promises to acquaint me with the office rat (Stoffel).

As Ballen’s mother was involved with the Magnum Agency in New York, Ballen – who holds a PhD in geology – was introduced to photography at a young age, publishing his first book, Boyhood, at 28.

Boyhood consists of black and white images of boys, comprised mostly of a trip made from Cape Town to Cairo between 1973 and 1978.


Cover-Up, Indonesia, 1976.
 
Ballen describes Boyhood as “a trip into my own childhood. So all my pictures from those days had a psychological edge to them, an existential edge.”

Existentialism features heavily in Ballen’s work and he is renowned for having stated that “nothing” is the most profound word in the English language.

“Well, where do you come from, and where are you going?” Ballen reasons. “That’s the quandary everybody faces, that nothing can happen in a second from now. Then what?”

And does he think that’s a driving force for people?

“Ja,” the native New Yorker responds. ”That’s the death instinct. It’s the thing that drives everything on the planet.

“That’s the purpose of what I’m doing. It’s the most fundamental force in anything alive, it’s dealing with the survival instinct … the need to stay alive in a hostile environment, especially in nature.”
 
 
 
 
Froggy Boy, USA, 1977.

“Hostile environments” and “nature” reminds me of Dorps, Ballen’s photographic series of dorpies shot in and around rural South Africa – not quite as Ballenesque as his more recent work, yet still stark, gritty, and – in classic Ballen style – black and white. Did Ballen’s profession as geologist propel him to study rural South Africa?

Ballen came back to South Africa in 1982, after having completed his PhD in geology, and at that time “there wasn’t a place on the planet that was more advanced in mining, metallurgy, mineral exploration.

“It was an interesting country and the people here at the time were very hospitable to me and it felt like I could make a difference here, I guess.”

Old Man, Ottoshoop, 1983.

 
Ballen made a gradual move to shooting poor, marginalised Afrikaans communities in South Africa, as portrayed in Platteland.

Platteland was photographed between 1986 and 1994 – pivotal dates in our country’s history, with ’86 defined by the declaration of a state of emergency, and ’94 the advent of democracy.

How did an American geologist-cum-photographer “convince” armblankes to be subjects of his work during these turbulent years?

The conversation is interrupted by lively cooing from the speckled dove in a cage in the corner of his office, later introduced to me as Icarus.

Icarus.

 
“He likes you,” Ballen says, eyes drifting towards the dove, a look of affection crossing his face. “He’s listening, he’s saying ‘watch yourself there!’” [Cue hearty laughter.]

Photographing strangers can “happen quite spontaneously. You might find somebody in a shop and you talk to them and they invite you over for tea,” Ballen furthers.

Sgt F de Bruin, Dep of Prison Employees, OFS, 1992.

 
“I always have had a good relationship with the people that I have photographed over the years. I can hardly remember having a negative or hostile experience in anyway.

“Most importantly, I have always believed that the subject should benefit in some way from the experience whether it be my buying them food, clothing, or medicine, paying them for their work, or just listening and empathizing. Without any doubt, I feel that the people that I have worked with over the years have been much more hospitable towards me that many of the well-off people that I have encountered.

“I didn’t necessarily go there with somebody to make fun of people and cause issues; I’m still friendly with a lot of these people 30 years later. They message me, or call me. I can feel it in my pocket,” he says patting his trouser pocket in which his phone had just vibrated.

Photography isn’t just a matter of “finding somebody who you think has an interesting face and taking their picture,” he continues. “It’s very, very difficult and in fact it takes a great photograph that has some lasting power. For something to rise above the ‘normal’, to have some sort of effect on people’s subconscious mind, is very difficult.”

Man shaving on veranda, Western TVL, 1986.

 
The struggle to capture photos with lasting power is perpetuated by the billions of images we’re confronted with on a daily basis and an inability to “separate the more artistic level of photography from the more mundane,” Ballen states.

This begs the question whether social media platforms are nullifying or destroying photography.

“I use these things myself. I Instagram. It’s a means of exchanging information. The problem is the evaluation of these images.”

PSA, Kim K fans: you better stop reading here…

“The Kardashian woman takes a picture of her shoe on the floor and it gets two million hits. Or her cigarette that she just smoked and it gets five million hits. But the picture’s horrible. My dog could almost take the picture. But it had five million hits!” he incredulously declares.

“Monetary value, or the “like”-value, effects how you see the picture. It’s very confusing.”

Ballen is uncertain about whether this problem can be solved or addressed productively.

“You know I’m a geologist – see the rocks there?” he asks, pointing towards a collection of rocks aligned on the window sill, “that goes to a lab and the lab will tell you exactly if you want to know how much copper is in a block. Look at this picture,” he proceeds, indicating to one of his framed images, “is it good or bad? Do you like it? That one doesn’t like it. So you have this enormous subjectivity involved in this media. This is why it’s a confusing subject.”

Since 1997, the year in which Ballen’s Outland project was produced, his work has progressed into a style described as “documentary fiction”.

Ballen defines “documentary” as en external experience and regards “fiction” as something your imagination creates. The images in The Outland, Boarding House and Shadow Chamber feature Johannesburg’s “fringe” characters, often wearing masks, captured in confined spaces, drawings and marks etched on the walls. A sense of the abnormal and outlandish is created.

Since we, as humans, occupy space both physically and mentally, I’m curious to know whether Ballen intentionally shoots these peripheral people in confined spaces as means to capture the place where the mental “meets” the physical.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

One Arm Goose, 2004. (L)
Cut Loose, 2005. (R)
 
“The first thing you have to realise is that whatever I’m saying, I’m saying visually,” the artist answers. “I’ve always stated that if I can talk about the picture in precising words, it’s probably a bad picture. That’s the first step. That’s what differentiates me from most South African photographers – I’m not a political photographer; I’m psychological.

“Dealing with aesthetics and, more importantly, trying to reach the subconscious mind and transform the subconscious mind of myself and expand the subconscious of myself and hopefully others… The issue is I’m not trying to do anything except make pictures that challenge Roger Ballen.”

His work certainly is psychological, but it isn’t his intention to elicit a certain response from audiences, questioning the meaning of “the response”.

“What is a response if somebody finds them disturbing and humorous at the same time? What is the response? What would you call that?

“They’re mindscapes,” he says of his photos.

“They’re real scapes and they’re mindscapes and the reason they have an effect on you is they have an ability to enter your mind and your mind doesn’t … your mind is unclear how to react to them.

“The pictures, to have to have an effect, have to break through your repression, unleash your repression, and reach some so-called “core place”. The issue is that the pictures have to have an ability to get at somebody and challenge people’s status; that’s my goal.”

Ballen explains that his photos present a part of your being which you’re unaccustomed to.

“‘Disturbing’ is not really the right word – they’re unleashing. They’re presenting a segment of yourself, which you’re not used to you. It’s like if you’re looking in a mirror, especially when you’re tired or you’re sick – you get a little bit of a shock, you know? And you say “Shit, is that me? I can’t believe it”.”

In the accompanying video for Outland, shot by local filmmaker Ben Jay Crossman, one of the “fringe” characters to feature in the work, a man named  Stanley who catches and releases rats on a daily basis, tells Ballen how “Ben can’t believe his eyes with all these people around here.” Is this something people often comment on? Has he ever been asked if he attempts to “normalise” the “abnormal”?

Head Below Wires, 1999.

 
“I’m not very clear about normality at all. I’m not convinced about normality. I’m not convinced about abnormality, either. These terms you used – in a way to protect people’s subconscious minds, they classify abnormality and normality. And if somebody is abnormal they don’t have to deal with it in certain ways. Obviously I’m not talking about the extremes, there are a lot of people who have serious biological, physiological problems…”

Five Hands, 2006.

 
Ballen dislikes the claims that he’s appropriating or exploiting the people he photographs as, for the last 15 years, he’s “finally had a face in the picture. So when we talk about Roger Ballen’s work, like in the last 10 years almost, it’s always been about animals. What does he think? [This question is asked whilst indicating towards Icarus.] He likes it? He’s fed up with these comments. He’s thinking “why are you always talking about people?” We’re trying to use our own words to define his reality and you don’t understand his reality, you never will.”

Although Ballen does not like to use the word “inspiration”, he discloses that “if somebody pointed a gun to my head, I would probably say [Samuel] Beckett.” This in response to his work having been compared to Diane Arbus’s, something Ballen disputes; especially the type of work he did in Platteland.

“There was an aspect of people living in these places who were marginalised, living on the edge, who weren’t coping, who were strange … there was some correspondence between what Diane Arbus was doing and what I was doing. But at the beginning of Outland, about ’97, there was a real divergence between what she was doing and what I did. Outland was focused on human absurdity; Diane Arbus wasn’t interested in that. Roger Ballen Theatre started to come about; Diane Arbus wasn’t interested in that.”

Clockwise from top left: Altercation, 2012. Devour, 2013. Tommy, Samson and a Mask, 2000.

Ballen’s love of – and appreciation for – animals is evident in his work, and he has two books dedicated to animals, including Asylum of the Birds. Absentmindedly waving in the direction of the dove as I ask what it is about birds that intrigues him, he tells me “Icarus. His name’s Icarus.

“My first-grade teacher was obsessed by Greek mythology. In fact, the first book that I bought without my parents intervention was the Iliad and the Odyssey. My favorite character in Greek mythology was Zeus as he was the ultimate God. I remember climbing Mount Olympus and feeling his presence.

“Greek myths are really revealing,” Ballen continues. “They’re like dreams. There was something nice about being able to … reassuring to call a beautiful bird after something special about doing it. The name has a very strong, warm, positive feeling in my mind. To use the word is actually soothing in a way. Instead of calling him some pseudo-yuppie name.”

Smiling, he rhetorically states “He’s a nice bird, hey?”

Ballen owns “a lot” of birds, and has “some place where I keep about 300 owls. But not as pets. I like all animals.”

Rats, especially, feature prominently in his photos. Why does he finds this singular rodent so remarkable?

“I believe the rat is the most intelligent species on the planet based on their brain size. I own many as pets and am amazed at their ability to learn,” he responds.

“The rat lives everywhere on the planet, can eat almost anything, and is able to survive in the most difficult of environmental circumstances. In western cultures rats are looked down upon, but ultimately, they are a product of nature and no better or no worse than any other species.”

Besides rats, Ballen’s animal photography includes images of pigeons, snakes, pigs, and goats. Ballen attributes his photographing of these “ordinary” animals to the setting of his photos.

“All the pictures I take are on the inside … inside buildings. So you wouldn’t necessarily find a tiger or a rhinoceros inside some room in Johannesburg. That really would be a little bit strange. A lion inside a room … somebody asleep on top of a lion,” he replies, chortling.

His interest in taking pictures of animals and in animal psychologies started as a teen, he adds.

“I’ve always been interested in the animal side of the human behaviour and the primitive side of the mind and the relationship ultimately between humans and animals and how this relationship is distorted by contemporary life.”

Ballen critiques Disney, citing that one of the reoccurring motifs – “all the animals love the people, and the people love the animals, and they get along” – creates the wrong idea of the historic relationship between animals and humans.

Puppy Between Feet, 1999.

 
“There’s a fundamental fear of nature; this is part of the genes of the species. There’s fundamental dislike of nature. We need to control nature because of this genetic evolution of the species. So in fact there’s no real harmonious relationship between humans and nature.”

In the majority of his photos featuring animals, Ballen will have the person in the photo holding or cuddling the animal. To what extent does he “direct” a photo?

“Every picture is different, first of all. There’s always this relationship in my pictures between what could have been there, what is spontaneous, and what I could have put there. So you always have that so-called tension in a lot of the pictures. 

“I always say the pictures are interactive, and that’s all you can say. And ultimately they’re pictures that Roger Ballen created; images that nobody else could create. So Roger Ballen is a Roger Ballen world, so yes, they’re all – they exist as pictures as a result of Roger Ballen. That’s it. That’s what they are. They don’t exist spontaneously. They don’t exist spontaneously because they’re ways of organising the world through a camera and through your mind.”

One can’t speak to Ballen without enquiring about his collaboration with Die Antwoord, considering he directed the music video for the zef-rap-rave duo’s 2012 hit, I Fink U Freeky.

Shack scene, Johannesburg, 2012.

 
Ballen’s aesthetic is palpable in the video. Think Ninja in a loincloth. Yo-Landi wearing black contact lenses. The walls covered with unsettling drawings and marks. And rats. Many, many rats.

Unfortunately Ballen can’t remember whether any of the rats were his own.

“That’s a really good question,” he replies, brow furrowed. “I think they were … I think they were my rats. But Yo-Landi had some rats at the time. I introduced her to rats.”

Zef culture, as popularised by Die Antwoord, and Ballen’s style wouldn’t necessarily be described as congruent; it was with their introduction to Ballen’s Outland that “they stopped doing whatever they were doing and reinvented themselves as Die Antwoord. It had a major effect on them,” Ballen explains.

“My aesthetic hit their subconscious mind in some way that they saw something in the work that inspired them to move in another direction. Yo-Landi contacted me, they wanted to show me their videos, they wanted to do a project with me.”

This correspondence went on for a number of years and when I Fink U Freeky was produced it went “totally viral. Totally viral.” (The video currently has over 107 million views. Sjoe.)

It’s surprising that Ballen’s art features in a music video, as his response to an interviewer enquiring what music one should listen to while perusing his work, was “no music”. Did he ever imagine that he would collaborate with musicians?

“I didn’t have many expectations, this happened all spontaneously. If music is used as a vehicle with somebody with more musical skills than myself to create a … Extending the reality of my imagery and my aesthetic, well that’s great. I’m happy … The most important thing I saw was the power of the video. Since then … I don’t know if you saw Asylum of the Birds?”

I answer in the affirmative.

“And The Outland video, and The Ballenesque video. I don’t think I’d ever have done that if it wasn’t for I Fink U Freeky. I didn’t realise how my imagery and what I’m doing could be transformed to moving image. This was a really important event in my career.”

In light of Ballen’s recent The Theatre of Apparitions video, one wonders whether he’s considering doing similar audiovisual work in the future.

Face Off, 2010.

 
“Definitely. I have a new project now,” is the enthusiastic response.

“It’s like this animated, well, it’s like a cartoon-figure I’ve been working with in the photographs. The photographs are animated. So this cartoonish type of character that’s involved in situations most people would not do, or can’t do. So it’s symbolic of liberation and mischievousness.”

Is he by any chance extending himself into this character with “free reigns”? Would he describe it as a liberating process?

“Ja … ja. I guess,” he thoughtfully replies, before candidly stating “I’m not that repressed.

“To me it’s more of a humorous activity. It’s a creative activity, the characters are liberating me in a way. It’s an enjoyable process.”

Compared to his past work, which is very much psychologically challenging, will he describe the experience of this project as more enjoyable?

“This animated series isn’t as complex as some of the others, but I enjoy them all. I wouldn’t do them if I didn’t enjoy them. Because I never really try to make pictures for other people, it’s always been my own personal goals. When it’s been satisfying … It’s gratifying that you know people ultimately must have responded to what I’ve done; it’s great as an artist – what more can an artist ask for, in a way. It’s pretty deafening if there’s no response.”

The Divided Self, 2016.
 

Five final questions

 
You’ve been living and working in the surrounds of Johannesburg since the 1970s. Could you describe Johannesburg, or what Johannesburg means to you?

Well, you know, I have a picture in the Apparitions book, it’s called Divided Self. Joburg, in a way, has that aspect to it. On one side it represents a social-political-cultural reality and on the other side is another social-political reality. And they don’t really harmonise really well. Back to what we were talking about, I would say Joburg is symbolic of the divide of itself.

 As an artist you combine fact and fiction; as a reader, do you prefer to read fact or fiction?

I’m very multi-dimensional in terms of my history of reading and I’m quite well educated. Everything – theatre to fiction to philosophy; the poetry, the geology, economics. It’s really difficult because I have such a range of things I’ve been interested in over the years so I can’t really say if it’s fact or fiction, it’s a whole range of things. Is theatre fiction or is it fact? Theatre, by its nature, is almost totally documentary; partly fictional. I like things with interaction between fact and fiction.

Can you give me an example?

Well, you take something like [Joseph] Conrad’s work. He spent time on boats, travelling all over the world … He transformed it into his own world. It’s hard to know what was really the place, and what was his memory.

Yo-Landi Visser once described you as “the weirdest person I’ve ever met”. I think that’s such a compliment…

People make these comments, like “weirdest person”, “that picture is disturbing”. I’m happy; it’s great. I guess the worst thing they could say is that the work is boring.

Icarus’s lively cooing interrupts the conversation once more.

What do you think? [This question is posed to Icarus.] It’s the most he’s ever talked. He’s really enjoying what’s going on here. He’s really liking what we’re doing here. He really never does this much talking. He’s a quiet bird. We had these doves, these laughing doves, and the rest of the staff here … it was driving them crazy, so I took them out of the office.

Have you ever been accused of being boring?

No, I hate to disappoint you.

***

Book details

Boyhood

 
 
 

Ballenesque

 
 
 

Dorps

 
 
 

Platteland

 
 
 

Outland

 
 
 

Boarding House

 
 
 

Shadow Chamber

 
 
 

Asylum of the Birds

 
 
 

Roger Ballen: Die Antwoord

 
 
 

The Theatre of Apparitions

 
 
 

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Our guide to the best holiday reads

December 19, 2017, 4:20 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

So much to read, so little time … here are some good places to start, with an emphasis on excellent local authors


BIOGRAPHY

Khwezi: The Remarkable Story Of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, Redi Thlabi (Jonathan Ball Publishers): One of the absolute must-read books of the year, it’s the harrowing tale of Khwezi, the rape trial and the consequences of President Jacob Zuma’s acquittal.

65 Years of Friendship, George Bizos (Umuzi): The human rights lawyer lovingly reflects on his friendship with Nelson Mandela.

FUN

Hasta la Gupta, Baby!, Zapiro (Jacana Media): The latest collection from the cartoonist/political analyst/agent provocateur.

Unpresidented, Paige Nick (B&N): Another hilarious satire from the columnist and writer — this time about No1.

Rapid Fire: Remarkable Miscellany, John Maytham (Tafelberg): Random trivia collected by the talkshow host from his Rapid Fire insert on CapeTalk.

POLITICS

How to Steal a City: The Battle For Nelson Mandela Bay, Crispian Olver (Jonathan Ball Publishers): An insider’s account of the corruption and clean-up of the municipality.

Ramaphosa: The Man Who Would be King, Ray Hartley (Jonathan Ball Publishers): Hartley looks at how Ramaphosa has handled the key challenges he has faced in the unions, in business and in politics.

The President’s Keepers: Those Keeping Zuma in Power and out of Prison, Jacques Pauw (Tafelberg): The explosive book that has got the nation talking about Zuma’s shadow mafia state.

A Simple Man: Kasrils and the Zuma Enigma, Ronnie Kasrils (Jacana Media): The revelatory history of the two men.

CRIME

What Have We Done, JT Lawrence (Pulp Books): Dystopian thriller series set in Johannesburg in 2036 in which the heroine Kate has to save her loved ones from The Prophecy.

Spire, Fiona Snyckers (Clockwork Books): A box of frozen viruses is brought to Spire, a remote research station in Antarctica, and within days people are dying of diseases.

Bare Ground, Peter Harris (Picador Africa): The first novel from the Alan Paton winner is packed with political and corporate intrigue, with insights into the society we have become.

Bad Seeds, Jassy Mackenzie (Umuzi): Joburg private investigator Jade de Jong tracks down a saboteur in a race to prevent a nuclear disaster.

The Cull, Tony Park (Pan Macmillan): Former mercenary Sonja Kurzt is hired by a British tycoon to lead an elite anti-poaching squad to take down the kingpins, but the body count starts rising.

FINE FICTION

Tin Man, Sarah Winman (Tinder Press): Bestseller author of When God Was a Rabbit pens a delicate and tender novel of friendship and loss.

New Times, Rehana Rossouw (Jacana Media): As Mandela begins his second year as president, political reporter Ali Adams discovers that his party is veering off the path. She follows the scent of corruption.

Dikeledi, Achmat Dangor (Picador Africa): A family saga set in a time of forced removals and the creation of bantustans.

My Absolute Darling, Gabriel Tallent (HarperCollins): It’s fraught, harrowing and divisive – some critics can’t stop raving about Tallent’s debut novel, others not so much.

Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders (Bloomsbury): The Man Booker prize-winning novel is an original literary experience. Abraham Lincoln visits his dead son Will in a graveyard filled with ghosts.

The Golden House, Salman Rushdie (Jonathan Cape): Nero Golden and sons move to the US under suspicious circumstances.

QUICK FICTION

The Rules of Magic, by Alice Hoffman (Simon & Schuster): Prequel to the much-loved Practical Magic, this features the witchy family in 1950s New York.

Wolf Trap, Consuelo Roland (Jacana Media): Paolo Dante must save her adopted daughter from a criminal mastermind.

Did You See Melody?, Sophie Hannah (Hodder & Stoughton): Hannah transports the reader to a sunny Arizona spa where a cast of characters are all suspects in an old missing-child case.

Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng (Little Brown): A hearty slice of American life in the Clinton era.

The Blessed Girl, Angela Makholwa (Pan Macmillan): Bontle Tau has to juggle her family and friends and all the men in her life wanting to give her emotional and financial support.

The Break, Marian Keyes (Michael Joseph): Amy’s husband decides he wants a break from their marriage and children, and to lose himself in South Asia.

Sleeping Beauties, Stephen King and Owen King (Hodder & Stoughton): The prolific writer and his son team up to tell the tale of a mysterious sleeping syndrome in a women’s prison.

NON-FICTION

Always Another Country, Sisonke Msimang (Jonathan Ball Publishers): One of the most searing voices of contemporary South Africa, this is Msimang’s candid and personal account of her exile childhood in Zambia and Kenya, college years in North America, and returning to the country in the ’90s.

Dare Not Linger, Nelson Mandela and Mandla Langa (Pan Macmillan): The remarkable story of Mandela’s presidency told in his own words is finished off by Mandla Langa.

I Am, I Am, I Am, Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press): The writer chronicles 17 of her own near misses with death.

The Fifth Mrs Brink, Karina M Szczurek (Jonathan Ball Publishers): A soul-baring memoir of Szczurek’s life before, with and after her marriage to André P Brink.

Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery, Scott Kelly (Doubleday): The astronaut’s gripping adventures of his year on the International Space Station in 2015.

Adventures of a Young Naturalist: The Zoo Quest Expeditions, David Attenborough (John Murray): The man who made nature cool gives a record of the voyages he did for the 1950s BBC show The Zoo Expeditions.

Outsiders, Lyndall Gordon (Little Brown): A profound investigation into the lives and works of Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, George Eliot, Olive Schreiner and Virginia Woolf.

I’ll Take the Sunny Side, Gordon Forbes (Bookstorm): Memoirs from the author of A Handful of Summers and Too Soon to Panic.

GIFT

Longthroat Memoirs: Soups, Sex and Nigerian Taste Buds, Yemisi Aribisala (Pan Macmillan): This down-to-earth collection from Aribisala, uses food as a lens to observe Nigerian society.

A Hat, a Kayak and Dreams of Dar, Terry Bell (face2face): In 1967 journo Bell and wife Barbara were living in exile in London when they decided to go back to Africa by paddling from England to Dar es Salaam in a 5m kayak.

Shisanyama: Braai Recipes from South Africa, Jan Braai (Bookstorm): Jan Braai’s first crowd-sourced cookbook.

The Sun and Her Flowers, Rupi Kaur (Simon & Schuster): The poet’s second collection is proving to be as popular as her first.

Way of the Wolf, Jordan Belfort (Hodder & Stoughton): The Wolf of Wall Street reveals his step-by-step playbook on making the sale.

The Curse of Teko Modise, Nikolaus Kirkinis (Jacana Media): How Modise overcame poverty to become “the General” and one of South Africa’s best footballers.

Collective Amnesia, Koleka Putuma (Uhlanga Press): A bestselling poetry collection that hits all of the emotions.

From Para to Dakar, Joey Evans (Tracey Macdonald Publishers): Evans shares how he faced the toughest challenges to fulfil his dream of competing in the 2017 Dakar Rally.

200 Women: Who Will Change the Way You See the World, Geoff Blackwell, Ruth Hobday, Kieran Scott (Bookstorm): The women, from a variety of backgrounds, are asked the same five questions and their answers are inspiring.

Book details

Khwezi

 
 
 

65 Years of Frienship

 
 
 
 
Hasta la Gupta, baby!

 
 
 
 
Unpresidented

 
 
 
 
Rapid Fire

 
 
 
 
How To Steal A City

 
 
 
 
Ramaphosa: The man who would be king

 
 
 
 
The President's Keeper

 
 
 
 
A Simple Man

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
Bare Ground

Bare Ground by Peter Harris
EAN: 9781770105812
Find this book with BOOK Finder!

 
 
 
 
Bad Seeds

 
 
 
 
The Cull

 
 
 
 
Tin Man

 
 
 
 
New Times

 
 
 
 
Dikeledi

 
 
 
 
My Absolute Darling

 
 
 
 
Lincoln in the Bardo

 
 
 
 
The Golden House

 
 
 
 
The Rules of Magic

 
 
 
 
Wolf Trap

 
 
 
 
Did You See Melody?

 
 
 
 
Little Fires Everywhere

 
 
 
 
The Blessed Girl

 
 
 
 
The Break

 
 
 
 
Sleeping Beauties

 
 
 
 
Always Another Country

 
 
 
 
Dare Not Linger

 
 
 
 
I am, I am, I am

 
 
 
 
The Fifth Mrs Brink

 
 
 
 
Endurance

 
 
 
 
Adventures of a Young Naturalist

 
 
 
 
Outsiders

 
 
 
 
I'll Take the Sunny Side

 
 
 
 
Longthroat Memoir

 
 
 
 
A hat, a kayak

 
 
 
 
Shisanyama

 
 
 
 
the sun and her flowers

 
 
 
 
Way of the Wolf

 
 
 
 
The Curse Of Teko Modise

 
 
 
 
Collective Amnesia

 
 
 
 
From Para to Dakar

 
 
 
 
200 Women

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The best books of 2017

January 3, 2018, 3:18 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

Looking for book recommendations? Who better to ask than the people who create them. Spoiler alert: The Nix gets most votes…

Eusebius McKaiser (Run, Racist, Run)

It is unsurprising that the best local non-fiction titles of 2017 are also the most predictable. They have had public success and rightly so. These include, for me, The Republic of Gupta by Pieter-Louis Myburgh, The President’s Keepers by Jacques Pauw, Always Another Country by Sisonke Msimang, Khwezi by Redi Tlhabi, Reflecting Rogue by Pumla Dineo Gqola and Democracy & Delusion by Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh. They deserve to be read, and engaged, as an anthology that brilliantly captures the capture of the state, the danger our democracy is in, the elusive promise of exile that one day home will be safe again, rape culture’s persistence, our various identity journeys and crises that endure, and the disillusionment of the youth with the neocolonial leadership of the ANC government. Painful but urgent truths.

Karin Brynard (Our Fathers)

Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead was a late discovery for me. I devoured all three of her novels, but Gilead took my breath away. The prose alone felt like a religious experience, never mind the themes of belonging, redemption, salvation and grace. The Third Reel by SJ Naudé – a two-fisted exploration of art, politics, loss and love – left me reeling. Naudé is destined for a great career. I first read A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg by Harry Kalmer in Afrikaans some years back. I’m glad this gem of a book will now reach a wider audience. Johannesburg is like a bedeviled wife. You eventually become besotted with her. Kalmer shows you how. Having read Paul McNally’s The Street, an excellent real- life account of life on a particular street in Joburg, I no longer marvel at the depths of depravity in our politics.

Paige Nick (Unpresidented)

The Nix by Nathan Hill. It’s a fantastic, immersive, topical read that spans lives and decades. The basic plot revolves around an underachieving writer forced to face his mother, who abandoned him as a child. But it’s about so much more than that, including American politics. Good Cop, Bad Cop by Andrew Brown is riveting non-fiction that changed the way I think about South African divides: humanity, townships, crime and policing. It should be prescribed reading for every South African – law enforcement and politicians in particular. I ugly cried and ugly laughed on consecutive pages. Dark Traces by Martin Steyn is one of the most gripping, graphic, dark and twisty crime thrillers I’ve read. Set in the world of a cop investigating teenage girls who go missing, this is a book of much evil for poor Detective Magson, and the brave reader.

Achmat Dangor (Dikeledi)

All The Rivers by Dorit Rabinyan is a riveting story about a passionate love affair between an Israeli Jewish woman and a Palestinian Muslim man that embroils them in all kinds of turmoil. It bravely crosses ethnic and religious “rivers” that divide people. Exit West by Mohsin Mohammed is told through the eyes of a young couple – Saeed and Nadia – who flee from an unnamed city during a civil war. It explores the traumas that migrants and refugees face, without ever descending into rhetoric. To leave their country, they use a magical system of fictitious doors to places around the world, and the story, as it unfolds, introduces us to a new version of “magical realism”.

Hamilton Wende (Arabella, the Moon and the Magic Mongongo Nut)

I’m researching a novel on Ancient Rome and Africa at the moment, so my two best books of the year hands-down are: The Annals of Imperial Rome by Tacitus. Its blood and sex-filled chronicle of betrayal and survival across the Roman Empire is as good as anything in Game of Thrones. My second book of the year is Satires by Juvenal. His descriptions of the excesses of Rome are breathtaking: perfumed wine drunk from conch shells at midnight oyster suppers, dizzy ceilings spinning round and dancing tables. The Roman world without too much politics!

Ray Hartley (Ramaphosa: The Man Who Would Be King)

New Times by Rehana Rossouw brings to life a journalist covering the first years of the Nelson Mandela presidency – and dealing with deep personal issues – with such raw brilliance that it is startling. I was gripped and could not put it down.

Karina Szczurek (The Fifth Mrs Brink)

The following books provided me with intellectual, emotional and aesthetic joy: Ingrid Winterbach’s deeply satisfying novel The Shallows; Hedley Twidle’s great essay collection Firepool: Experiences in an Abnormal World; Sara-Jayne King’s remarkable and moving memoir Killing Karoline; the highly entertaining Rapid Fire: Remarkable Miscellany by John Maytham; Anne Fadiman’s touching tribute to her father, The Wine Lover’s Daughter: A Memoir; and the visionary, beautiful Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World by Lyndall Gordon.

Mike Nicol (Agents of the State)

Being Kari by Qarnita Loxton is a funny, insightful novel about contemporary life. The Cape Town setting is a bonus. Queen of the Free State by Jennifer Friedman captures the quizzical voice of a young girl growing up in the 1950s. It’s charming. And then the massive Apartheid Guns and Money by Hennie van Vuuren revealed everything we had expected but were too afraid to acknowledge.

Malebo Sephodi (Miss Behave)

Grace by Barbara Boswell will have you gasping at every turn. Her word use is absolutely delicious and the weaving of the story is close to perfection. I would love a sequel because the protagonist has never left me since I read the book months ago. I find myself wondering how she’s coping. If I Stay Right Here by Chwayita Ngamlana. This experimental fiction had me crossing legs. Shifting. Crying. Triggered.

Steven Sidley (Free Association)

The Nix by Nathan Hill is a sprawling tour de force of style and story and character, the great American novel of the year. Days Without End by Sebastian Barry is about forbidden love, deprivation and redemption, the poverty and danger of the American 1850s, told through the eyes and vernacular of a teenage refugee from the famine of Ireland. A masterpiece. Midwinter by Fiona Melrose – a story of two tragedies on two continents and its effects on a father and son, who through mutual awkwardness, incoherent grief and rage play out against their attempts at love and family in the deep and muddy earth of county Suffolk in England.

Diane Awerbuck (South)

Nick Mulgrew’s The First Law of Sadness is tied for first place with Koleka Putuma’s Collective Amnesia. They are both what I love and look for in fiction and poetry: truth in all its awkward beauty. I also love that you can see these two perform their work, because they’re local, and because they care.

Tony Park (The Cull)

The Girl From Venice by Martin Cruz Smith, who writes sparingly yet beautifully and still manages to produce a gripping page turner. A disillusioned veteran of Mussolini’s dirty war in Africa returns to civilian life as a fisherman in his native Venice, which is still under Nazi Occupation. Into his lap lands a beautiful, rich woman on the run. Perfect. The Cuban Affair by Nelson Demille is a good example of how an author can try something different without alienating fans. Ex Afghanistan veteran “Mac” MacCormick is lured out of retirement to take a Cuban-American woman back to her ancestral home to rescue a store of treasure. Mac reflects Demille’s own experiences and many others who return home glad to be out of a war zone but missing the military and a life less predictable. He paints a picture of a Cuba crumbling under Communism, but also squeezes in enough rum and rhumba to make me want to visit.

Book details

The Nix

 
 
 

Run Racist Run

 
 
 

The Republic of Gupta

 
 
 

The President's Keeper

 
 
 

Always Another Country

 
 
 

Khwezi

 
 
 

Reflecting Rogue

 
 
 

Democracy and Delusion

 
 
 

Our Fathers

 
 
 

Gilead

 
 
 

The Third Reel

 
 
 

A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg

 
 
 

The Street

 
 
 

Unpresidented

 
 
 

Good Cop, Bad Cop

 
 
 

Dark Traces

 
 
 

All the Rivers

 
 
 

Arabella, the Moon and the Magic Mongongo Nut

 
 
 

The Annals of Imperial Rome

 
 
 

Satires

 
 
 

Ramaphosa: The man who would be king

 
 
 

New Times

 
 
 

 
 
 

The Shallows

 
 
 

Firepool

 
 
 

Rapid Fire

 
 
 

The Wine Lover's Daughter

 
 
 

Outsiders

 
 
 

Agents of the State

 
 
 

Being Kari

 
 
 

Queen of the Free State

 
 
 

Apartheid Guns and Money

 
 
 

Miss Behave

 
 
 

Grace

 
 
 

If I Stay Right Here

 
 
 

Free Association

 
 
 

Days Without End

 
 
 

Midwinter

 
 
 

South

 
 
 

The First Law of Sadness

 
 
 

Collective Amnesia

 
 
 

The Cull

 
 
 

The Girl from Venice

 
 
 

 
 
 

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The humble home: four books that celebrate simple and eco-friendly abodes

January 8, 2018, 1:22 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

By Roberta Thatcher

Simple Home: Calm Spaces for Comfortable Living
By Mark and Sally Bailey
Ryland, Peters & Small, R499

For Mark and Sally Bailey, British designers and furniture makers, the three words you should be thinking about when decorating your home are: “repair, reuse, and rethink”. The duo, who have collaborated with the likes of Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Liberty, Conran and Habitat, believe a simple home should be “calm and uncluttered with each item carefully chosen”. In this book, they share tips and advice on how to achieve this effect, from buying well-made, well-designed items that will age gracefully, to looking to nature for inspiration when it comes to your colour scheme, sourcing from artisans where possible, and recycling furniture to make it meaningful and lasting. Their take-home message is that surrounding yourself solely with objects that you really love will allow you to enjoy the beautiful calm of an uncluttered home.

150 Best New Eco Home Ideas
By Francesc Zamora Mola
HarperCollins, R495

A fabulous review of 150 forward-thinking eco-friendly house designs, this beautifully presented book showcases the work of internationally renowned architects and designers who have achieved practical, innovative and beautiful solutions around the globe. Think a rammed-earth desert retreat in Arizona, US, with a huge rainwater harvesting and filtering solution, or a house in the woods in Sardinia, Italy, which was built without a single tree in its dense forest surroundings being cut down. If you’re looking to build or renovate your home with a minimal carbon footprint, consider this the ultimate gift to yourself.

Handmade Houses
By Richard Olsen
Rizzoli, R795

If there’s a book that will make you want to go out into the woods and build yourself a cabin, this is it. Author Richard Olsen features around two dozen hand-built homes around the globe, all of which celebrate the return to “low-tech” or even “anti-tech” building techniques and slow architecture. All the homes are made from natural and reclaimed materials, and while wood and salvaged metals are the heroes of the pages, more unconventional materials such as boulders, driftwood and even old wine vats show face too. Olsen introduces us to the owners, too – professionals and amateurs who personally designed and built each home, and their passions and vision is contagious. It’s inspirational reading for anyone interested in environmentally friendly design, craft, and the expression of personal style in the home.

Small Homes, Grand Living
Editors: Gestalten, Gestalten, R950

The opening pages of this beautiful book share a quote worth thinking about: “If you are able to live in a smaller home, then your rental costs will be lower. Renting or owning a smaller space means you need to earn less money, which results in the possibility of working fewer hours and having more time available. In other words, the luxury of time is a value that can replace the luxury of space if you are willing to live in a smaller, more compact home.” The book duly goes on to share an assortment of projects and homes that pay homage to creative usage of space, as well as useful advice for creating small homes that are as comfortable as they are functional and beautiful.

Book details

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A new year, a new pile of books to read…

January 9, 2018, 5:15 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

A new year, a new pile of books to read. Here are some highlights to look forward to in 2018, as compiled by Michele Magwood.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin (Headline)

Four siblings are told the exact date of their death by a psychic. The novel traces their lives over four decades in a story described as “a moving meditation on fate, faith, and the family ties that alternately hurt and heal”.

Under Glass by Claire Robertson (Umuzi)

The much-anticipated third novel from the award-winning author, set on a sugar estate in 19th-century Natal and chronicling the lives of the Chetwyn family. A deeply researched historical novel and an intriguing mystery, it is described as “a high-stakes narrative of deception and disguise”.

What Are We Doing Here? by Marilynne Robinson (Little Brown)

A new essay collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist that examines the political climate and the mysteries of faith. She offers hope and a call to action.

Michael K by Nthikeng Mohlele (Picador Africa)

A brilliant take on JM Coetzee’s classic that explores the weight of history and of conscience, by one of South Africa’s most compelling young authors.

Knucklebone by NR Brodie (Pan Macmillan)

Nechama Brodie is a welcome new voice on the krimi scene. This is a disturbing story set in Johannesburg that wrangles sangomas, disillusioned cops and animal poaching.

Macbeth by Jo Nesbo (Hogarth Shakespeare)

Setting aside his popular detective Harry Hole, Nesbo takes on Shakespeare’s immortal story. “It’s a thriller about the struggle for power, set both in a gloomy, stormy crime noir-like setting and in a dark, paranoid human mind,” he says.

Heads of the Colored People: Stories by Nafissa Thompson-Spires (Simon & Schuster)

Timely and darkly funny stories examining black identity in a supposedly post-racial era.

A Spy in Time by Imraan Coovadia (Umuzi)

A new novel from the award-winning Coovadia always creates a buzz. Here he imagines a futuristic South Africa, where Johannesburg has survived the end of the world because of the mining tunnels that run beneath it.

The Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin (HarperCollins)

Has a book ever been as eagerly awaited as this? The sixth novel in the fantasy series on which the TV show Game of Thrones is based is due for release this year. But then, it was due last year too.

Tsk-Tsk: The story of a child at large by Suzan Hackney (Jonathan Ball Publishers)

In a style reminiscent of Alexandra Fuller’s Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Hackney writes of a childhood on the run, fighting to survive in a world of abandoned and abused children.

The Boy Who Could Keep a Swan in His Head by John Hunt (Umuzi)

Surely one of the best titles of the year, it’s the story of a boy growing up in Hillbrow in the ’60s and his friendship with an eccentric homeless person.

The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton (Pan Macmillan)

The acclaimed Australian author leaves his familiar coastland settings and heads for the interior to the saltland next to the desert. A young runaway is on a desperate quest to find the only person who understands him. Described as “a rifle-shot of a novel – crisp, fast, shocking – an urgent masterpiece”.

Transcription by Kate Atkinson (Transworld)

The popular author’s new novel is based on the life of a female former Secret Service worker. Sure to be another runaway bestseller.

A Short History of Mozambique by Malyn Newitt (Jonathan Ball Publishers)

A comprehensive overview of 500 years of turbulent history, from its modern origins in the Indian Ocean trading system to the 15-year civil war that followed independence and its lingering after-effects.

Toy Boy by Leon van Nierop (Penguin)

Billed as an erotic coming-of-age tale and based on the life of a real person, this is the story of Tristan, a mysterious Johannesburg gigolo.

Homeland by Karin Brynard (Penguin)

The much-awaited English translation of Karin Brynard’s bestseller Tuisland. Captain Albertus Beeslaar is about to hand in his resignation when he is sent on one final assignment to Witdraai.

Brutal Legacy by Tracy Going (MF Books Joburg)

The shocking story of TV star Tracy Going’s abusive relationship that emerged when her battered face was splashed across the media in the late ’90s. She writes of her decline into depression and the healing she has finally found.

The Broken River Tent by Mphuthumi Ntabeni (Blackbird)

An entrancing novel that marries imagination with history, set in the time of Maqoma, the Xhosa chief at the forefront of fighting British colonialism in the Eastern Cape in the 19th century.

The Fatuous State Of Severity by Phumlani Pikoli (Pan Macmillan)

A fresh collection of short stories and illustrations that explore the experiences of a generation of young, urban South Africans coping with the tensions of social media, language and relationships of various kinds.

Born in Chains: the diary of an angry ‘born-free’ by Clinton Chauke (Jonathan Ball Publishers)

Debut author Chauke shows how his generation is still affected by apartheid policies but writes with wit and a unique sense of humour about his life. It’s a story of hope and perseverance, and of succeeding against all the odds.

The Golddiggers: A Novel by Sue Nyathi (Pan Macmillan)

The Zimbabwean author recounts the experiences of her fellow compatriots trying to make a life in Jozi. The stories of these desperate immigrants is both heart-breaking and heartwarming.

Cringeworthy by Melissa Dahl (Penguin UK)

Subtitled “How to Make the Most of Uncomfortable Situations” New York Magazine’s Dahl offers a thoughtful, original take on what it really means to feel awkward, relating all sorts of mortifying moments and how to turn them to your advantage.

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (Grove Press)

One of the most talked-about books coming in 2018. Described as unsettling and powerful, it is an extraordinary debut novel about a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born “with one foot on the other side.”

The Madiba Appreciation Club: A Chef’s Story by Brett Ladds (Jonathan Ball Publishers)

A delightful memoir by Mandela’s former chef, spilling stories about meeting kings and queens, presidents, rock stars and even the Pope, as well as sharing Mandela’s favourite foods. – Michele Magwood, @michelemagwood

The Immortalists

Book details

 
 

Under Glass

 
 
 

What Are We Doing Here?

 
 
 

Macbeth

 
 
 
 
Heads of the Colored People

 
 
 
 
The Winds of Winter

 
 
 
 
The Shepherd's Hut

 
 
 
 
Transcription

 
 
 
 

A Short History of Mozambique

 
 
 
 
The Broken River Tent

 
 
 
 

Freshwater

↧
Search

Book Bites: 14 January

January 16, 2018, 4:53 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
*****
Matthew Sullivan, Cornerstone, R290

Prepare to be thrust into the life of Lydia Smith, a clerk at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, as she is plunged into shock, confusion and mystery by an unfortunate discovery during the late shift – a regular customer has killed himself. The suicide forces her to confront a traumatic childhood memory. The plot is complex and puzzling from the get-go and, in the best way, becomes even more so, until ultimately everything links together in a wonderful net of sense and epiphany. Sullivan’s writing is exceptional, and it flows naturally between the past and present and culminates in an absolutely enthralling novel. – Jessica Evans

The Mitford Murders
***
Jessica Fellowes, Little Brown, R275

Fellowes, who has written the Downton Abbey official companion books, has started a new mystery series, The Mitford Murders. The story is inspired by the unsolved 1920 murder of Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of the original Nightingale, on a Brighton-bound train. But in the land of fiction, anything can happen, including an 18-year-old nursery maid and the 16-year-old daughter of a lord turning into sleuths. It is a gentlewoman’s mystery, where the society of pearls and furs collides with the realm of washerwomen and gamblers. – Tiah Beautement @ms_tiahmarie

Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation
*****
Edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, HarperCollins, R270

With all that is happening in Israel, this collection of essays is more important and urgent than ever. Written from inside the territories illegally occupied by Israel, the essays are glimpses into a water-restricted, violent world that finds creative solutions to the problems forced upon Palestinians. Whether it is the story of the soapmaker, the NGO that serves as a utility company or the parallels with the Black Lives Matter movement, each essay looks unflinchingly at life in Palestine and the occupied territories. No light reading, but its clarity and honesty make it as compelling as it is authentic. – Zoe Hinis @ZoeHinis

Book details

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Man Booker Prize winner, Richard Flanagan, on his new novel

January 16, 2018, 11:55 pm
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Published in the Sunday Times

First Person
****
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus, R290

Richard Flanagan has long been an eloquent advocate for the novel form. Soon after his sixth novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, garnered the 2014 Man Booker Prize he reiterated his belief in the indestructibility of novels, and declared “they allow us to come closer to certain truths for which we have few tools to otherwise comprehend”.

So it’s no surprise that he should peer deep into the nature of lies and truth, memoir and fiction in his seventh novel, First Person. But that it should speak so presciently to the nature of our times is something the 56-year-old Australian author shrugs off as “an accident of history”.

Indeed, First Person was seeded back in 1991 by his experiences when, as a young novice writer, he agreed to ghostwrite the memoir of Australia’s then most notorious conman and corporate criminal, John Friedrich, in six weeks for A$10 000. “Half-way through the six weeks Friedrich shot himself,” recalls Flanagan, “and I was left having to invent his memoir”.

Flanagan completed Codename Iago, declaring: “I can vouch for the veracity of none of it” before going on to carve out a luminous literary career with novels that include Gould’s Book of Fish, Wanting, The Unknown Terrorist and The Narrow Road to the Deep North. But as the years passed, he says: “I thought often about Friedrich and this bizarre small delirium he’d created that had fleeced millions of dollars out of banks and investors and how, in so many ways, he spoke to the coming age, this new world we’re now living in. I wanted to use that small experience to create a larger story about the world that was coming into being.”

He’s done that and more besides in First Person, which tells of a ghostwriter who is haunted by his conman subject. Narrated by Kif Kehlmann, a reality-TV producer who recalls when, as a young, penniless writer, he agreed to write the memoir of notorious conman and corporate criminal Siegfried Heidl in six weeks for $10000, it is an elegantly written tale. Sometimes comic, often dark, even disturbing, it lingers in the mind long after reading. For Kehlmann enters a Faustian bargain the moment he enters Heidl’s world, a world built on lies and which Kehlmann himself believes presages the world to come, resonant with names like Enron, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns, and where “a malicious future was already with us … a world of compounding fear”.

Despite completing First Person before fake news became an everyday term, before Trump was elected, Flanagan dismisses notions of prescience, pointing out that “the world that allowed Trump to reach the position he has was already in place. And when we talk about ‘fake news ‘and ‘alternative facts’ the question we should be asking is ‘why do so many of us want to believe in these untruths?’ People have to understand how, in the absence of stories that speak to the truth, we will search for stories that speak to lies and the worst in us.”

What intrigues him now “in a world that seems to use the word reality in place of the word truth”, he says, “is how novels seem to be the new counter culture. Novels, when they’re done with enough craft and honesty, they’re not a lie, they’re a fundamental and necessary truth about ourselves. Because a novel is not just what the author intended, it’s what others make of it. It’s in that act of reading where people discover not what the writer intended,” he adds, “but an aspect of their own soul.” @BronSibree

Book details

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Gossip, glitz and true grit: Michele Magwood reviews Tina Brown’s riveting memoir, The Vanity Fair Diaries

January 22, 2018, 4:34 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

By Michele Magwood

 
The Vanity Fair Diaries
Tina Brown
Weidenfeld & Nicolson

If you are of a certain age and a certain inclination – a lover of gloss and gossip and scandal, of witty writing and ace reportage – then you will know the name Tina Brown. For eight heady years in the ’80s she edited Vanity Fair and in the process she didn’t so much as raise the bar for magazines as lob it, blazing, into the stratosphere.

Even if you don’t know her name, you’ll remember her epochal covers: a ripely pregnant and naked Demi Moore, a platinum-wigged Joan Collins with the headline “She Rhymes With Rich”, Ronald Reagan giving Nancy a twirl and a sulky-looking Princess Diana under the banner “The Mouse That Roared.” That story in 1985 was an absolute scoop, the result of Brown’s own contacts in the UK. When she heard gossip of the parlous state of the Wales marriage she hopped on a plane from New York to London, wined, dined and whispered with impeccable sources and blew the lid on Charles and Diana’s rank unhappiness.

It was the first the world had ever heard of it.

She reported that Diana would ignore the family at Sandringham or Balmoral, cut off by her Sony Walkman, dancing to Dire Straits and Wham!; her murderous rages that were beginning to concern the Queen and Prince Philip, and the hours she spent studying her press clippings, “almost as if she’s trying to figure out the secret of her own mystique”. Charles, she said, had abandoned the image of Action Prince and was surrounding himself with “a motley band of mystics and self-sufficiency freaks”. We’ve long known the details of the unravelling of the Wales marriage, but it was Brown who originally blew the story.

From Demi to Diana, Leo to Joan and Whoopi submerged in water – these are but a few iconic images associated with Vanity Fair during Brown’s reign as editor

 
Brown was herself, if not a dinkum blue blood, steeped in those circles. Her father was a film producer and she grew up in a country house where her parents entertained “rising starlets, operatic art directors, tragic comediennes, moody directors, on-the-make leading men and the odd literary lion … you could spot the latest James Bond or the star of a Carry On comedy lying contentedly inebriated under the Christmas tree.”

Brown’s father was always on the look out for a “cracking good yarn” to bring to the screen and the whole family would be required to mine the newspapers, books and scripts that piled up around the house. What better training for a future magazine editor? Brown was no blue stocking. She was expelled from three schools for subversive behaviour, such as organising a protest against the school’s policy of allowing a change of underwear only three times a week. She made it to Oxford, though, where she dated novelist Martin Amis and wrote for the newspaper Isis.

By the age of 25 she was editor-in chief of the once flagging Tatler, where she developed a witty, sassy editorial style, a clever alchemy of in-jokes and satire. Sales boomed and the magazine was bought by Condé Nast.

Cut to 1983 when she was transplanted to New York by Si Newhouse, the owner of Condé Nast, to advise on an ailing Vanity Fair. Within months she had been appointed editor, at the age of just 31. With a fat budget and that nose for a cracking good yarn, she launched like a highlighted missile into New York society, accompanied by her husband, the feted British newspaper editor Harold Evans. The Vanity Fair Diaries chronicles the next eight dizzying years as she both reflected and shaped the zeitgeist. She perfected her editorial mix of high and low culture, blending glitz with politics and serious reportage. A typical issue would include an exposé of Saddam Hussein, a scandal in the art world and a high-profile murder case, all stirred together with Hollywood lovelies and society soirées.

She paid her writers a fortune – $10000 is a lot of money for a feature even today – and put their bylines on the covers. When she was introduced to the recovering alcoholic Dominick Dunne at a dinner party, and he told her that he was going to sit through the trial of his daughter’s murderer, she begged him to write about it, thereby launching the career of one of her finest writers. When she heard the author William Styron speaking at a function about his depression, she had him signed up before the dessert plates were cleared; his article led him to write the definitive account of depression: Darkness Visible.

While Annie Leibowitz had long been taking photographs for Rolling Stone, Brown stole her away and pushed her to ever-increasing heights of creativity, demanding, and getting, superbly original pictures, like Whoopi Goldberg naked in a bath of milk, or Leonardo DiCaprio adorned by a swan.

Brown was not afraid to take risks. It was she who ran a shattering gallery of men in the creative industries who had died of Aids. This was the ’80s, after all, when Aids was the Illness That Dared Not Speak Its Name and her overt support was critical for the gay community.

The Diaries are full of the stories-behind-the-stories but also delicious gossip, such as her description of Jackie Onassis as a crazed and dim puppet: “It’s as if somebody jerks the strings, the body lurches to life, then she gradually sinks back into starry-eyed repose.”

She sits in a meeting with Michael Jackson in full makeup with his nose held together by Elastoplast, notes that wealthy Upper East Side matrons take off their earrings over dessert “as if to demonstrate the sheer weight of the rocks” and recounts a slightly cracked Warren Beatty making a pass at her.

Best of all, we meet the early Donald Trump who from the get-go she regarded as crass. A full year after Vanity Fair ran an unflattering piece about him, he emptied a glass of wine down the back of the writer Marie Brenner at a black-tie function. Brenner looked up to see “his familiar Elvis coif making off across the Crystal Room.”

All immensely entertaining, but what saves the book from merely being a fluffy, smug gabfest is Brown’s honest wrestling with work and motherhood, especially as it becomes clear to her, and the reader, that her son George has special needs. He was born two months premature and she has never stopped asking herself whether it was her drivenness, her refusal to rest, that caused it. He was eventually diagnosed with Asperger’s. One diary entry notes: “The weekend was hard, with G being very difficult and Harry chained to his computer as bloody always. Two workaholics don’t make a rightaholic, particularly when it comes to raising kids.”

She confesses to wrong decisions, to failed experiments, to doubts and confidence crises and to routinely reducing nannies to tears. She’s constantly purging whingers and underperformers from her staff. She couldn’t have been an easy boss, but once again circulation soared: from 200000 to 1.2 million.

As the ’80s morphed into the more serious ’90s, Brown became restless and set her sights on the venerable New Yorker. Needless to say, she lobbed a few grenades into that mix, before being lured away by none other than Harvey Weinstein to launch the disastrous Talk magazine. From there she founded The Daily Beast website and now runs the annual Women in the World Summit, where she pulls in such participants as Hillary Clinton, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and actress Scarlett Johannson. The Queen of Buzz is now a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Recently Brown was interviewed about the #MeToo movement. She fixed the interviewer with her famous steel-blue stare and said: “The way to keep sexual harassment at bay is to be the one in charge.”

And if that’s not a clarion call to women in the media, I don’t know what is.

The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983-1992

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Death, dining and dynamic women – here’s what Andrew Donaldson read this week

January 23, 2018, 11:59 pm
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PACK PADKOS WHEN INVITED FOR DINNER AT 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

Years ago, in the mid-1990s, I was fortunate enough to meet (in a B&B in Melville, Johannesburg, of all places) Martha Gellhorn, one of the 20th century’s greatest war correspondents. I’d long been an admirer of her books; in particular View From the Ground, The Face of War (both Granta) and The Trouble I’ve Seen (Eland Publishing). All highly recommended.

Gellhorn was then old and frail, and I was warned not to ask about Ernest Hemingway, which seemed absurd. She may have been his third wife, but her own accomplishments were legion; having covered every major conflict from the Spanish Civil War through to the wars in Central America in the mid-1980s, it perhaps would have been more apposite to ask Hemingway about her.

Gellhorn and Hemingway are just two of the myriad characters that pop up in food historian Laura Shapiro’s fascinating What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories (Fourth Estate).

The pair had been invited to the Franklin D Roosevelt’s White House for dinner in 1937. It was a first for Hemingway, and he was greatly surprised Gellhorn wolfed down three sandwiches on the way there. “When you’re invited to a meal at the White House,” she told him, “eat before you go.”

Sage advice. Contemporary presidential menus were horrific. Hemingway complained of “rainwater soup” and a “cake some admirer had sent in. An enthusiastic but unskilled admirer.”

The Roosevelts didn’t have to tolerate such fare. But Eleanor Roosevelt perversely insisted on employing one Henrietta Nesbitt, an exceptionally untalented cook and housekeeper whose reign of terror at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue included mayonnaise dyed green. Why? It was how she got back at her philandering husband. Revenge was served up to three times a day, hot or cold, and tasteless. It does all seem Raold Dahl-ish, doesn’t it?

The other women in Shapiro’s book are Eva Braun, Helen Gurley Brown, Rosa Lewis, Dorothy Wordsworth and Barbara Pym. What’s the link between them all? Absolutely nothing.

The first ever words, incidentally, uttered by Braun to Adolf Hitler were apparently: “Guten appetit!” She had just served Bavarian sausage to a vegetarian.

CRASH COURSE

Most of us want to die in our beds at home, surrounded by loved ones and creature comforts. Instead, most of us will die in hospitals. Cheery stuff, I know. But nothing is more certain than death, or more bewildering and strange. In recent years, there’s been heaps of books by writers who’ve scrutinised their final days: Oliver Sacks, Christopher Hitchens, Jenny Diski and Atul Gawande, among others.

Yet two new books – From Here to Eternity: Travelling the World to Find the Good Death (W&N) by Caitlin Doughty, and With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial (William Collins) by Kathryn Mannix – seem to make the point that, although it’s easier to live longer these days, it is becoming more difficult to die well.

Mannix is a palliative doctor, or “deathwife”, as she refers to herself. She spends her days with the terminally ill and their families. To her, death is something that visits families slowly, over months and years, and while much of her work is medical and diagnostic, she also crucially helps those who are dying and their loved ones to find ways of dealing with the final, great event.

Once you’re gone, well, that’s when Doughty takes over. A rather boisterous American mortician, she earned a reputation for telling it like it is with her first book, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. (Crematorium work, obviously.)

Her From Here to Eternity is an oddly cheerful travel book, and she relishes those rituals from various cultures around the word – from Mexico’s Day of the Dead to the breaking of bodies in Tibet so they may be more easily consumed by vultures – that openly acknowledge death’s enormity.

IN PASSING

Rest in peace, then, Peter Mayle, who died last week at 78. The retired advertising executive whose 1989 bestseller, A Year in Provence, started a major trend in memoir and travel writing. Mayle, who started his writing career in his 30s with sex-education books for children, had moved to France in 1987 with the aim of renovating an 18th-century farmhouse and writing a novel. Hassles with the former interfered with the latter, and so his agent convinced him to drop the novel and write about the distractions instead.

THE BOTTOM LINE

“I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine.” – The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State by Nadia Murad (Tim Duggan Books)

Book details

View From the Ground

 
 
 

The Face of War

 
 
 

The Trouble I've Seen

 
 
 

What She Ate

 
 
 

From Here to Eternity

 
 
 

With the End in Mind

 
 
 

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

 
 
 

A Year in Provence

 
 
 

The Last Girl

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Kim Scott’s Aborigine novels are about recovery – in the sense of healing and of regaining what was lost, writes Bron Sibree

January 29, 2018, 3:43 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

Taboo
*****
Kim Scott, Picador Australia
R400

Kim Scott writes tales about Australia’s indigenous history that resonate so deeply in the marrow you’re never the same after reading them. Tales that beguile as deftly as they overturn preconceptions about his nation’s frontier history.

Scott, 60, often called Australia’s most important novelist, is the only indigenous author to win the Miles Franklin Award (Australia’s most prestigious literary prize) twice. Most recently he won it for his 2010 novel That Deadman Dance, which proffered a form of hope, as one reviewer put it, not “based on platitude, but as a mechanism to build a better world”.

Notions of hope and possibility are seamed, too, into his new novel, Taboo, his fifth, which is contemporary to its bootstraps yet soars on mysterious ancient resonances. It’s a novel of heart-aching sadness, wry humour and incalculable beauty that revolves around a group of Wirlomin Noongar people who accept an invitation to visit a 19th-century Aboriginal massacre site on a property in Western Australia owned by elderly white farmer Dan Horton. A site where Horton’s ancestors once massacred theirs.

Among the Noongar characters who make the journey is teenager Tilly Coolman, who was briefly fostered by the Hortons as a child, and whose sad history gradually unfolds, exemplifying the harsh contemporary realities for many indigenous people.

This is a book, says Scott, “about damaged people at the interface of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal societies, our history …” He breaks off at the word “recovering”. “That’s a very important word for me for this book – recovering through connection to precolonial heritage and a transformation occurring because of that. And in the case of Tilly, it’s recovering or healing through connection to community as well as place and language.”

Indeed, all the Aboriginal characters in Taboo cling to the belief that reconnecting with ancestral land and language will heal a devastating legacy of loss and damage, and it remains, says Scott, “a preoccupation of many of us. I have worked in prisons with language, I’ve heard people talking in these terms. So that’s what I’m exploring, recovery and transformation.”

Indeed, this soft-spoken professor of writing at Perth’s Curtin University has witnessed transformation aplenty during his two-decade long involvement with the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project, a language and culture recovery project which has “deeply informed” the novel. Drawing on various genres in magical and daring ways, Taboo reflects his desire to shift archetypal indigenous stories into the wider, global literary canon.

“There’s deep mythos potentially available to us in them,” says Scott. “I’ve talked often about the notion of anchoring a shimmering nation state to its continent through its indigenous heritages, and language is part of that; but it’s not just Noongar, it is many, many languages. And I wanted to signal the significance of these languages vis a vis Greek and Latin. There was a renaissance of those languages, and here we have even more ancient languages and a landscape that is truly ancient in which those languages are embedded.”

He speaks too of “the paradox of empowerment through giving”, citing an incident during the project’s early years when key Noongar elders invited a member of one of the old pioneering farming family’s along. “I remember saying, ‘No, they stole our country, we’re not giving them this as well,’ but they insisted. And when the elders called this particular individual to the front and gave him these [Noongar-language] books, he was crying. That made me realise there’s a transformation of power relationships in the storytelling situation.”

Scott was a schoolteacher who turned to writing poetry out of embarrassment to be teaching literature without writing it himself. Now, several books and a swag of awards later, he remains a passionate believer in the transformative power of storytelling. “I’ve been transformed through reading,” says Scott. “It’s one of the most exciting potentials of writing stories, that possibility. It’s the immersion, the dwelling inside the story that’s transformative.” – @BronSibree

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Asymptote’s Winter 2018 issue celebrates the journal’s seventh year and 100th language!

January 31, 2018, 4:59 am
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Via Asymptote

Asymptote’s Winter 2018 issue celebrates the journal’s 7th year and 100th language! This edition includes a Microfiction Special Feature full of glittering allegory, along with uncompromising fiction confronting today’s grim realities.

Winner of the 2015 London Book Fair’s International Literary Translation Initiative Award, Asymptote is the premier site for world literature in translation. We take our name from the dotted line on a graph that a mathematical function may tend toward, but never reach. Similarly, a translated text may never fully replicate the effect of the original; it is its own creative act.

Our mission is simple: to unlock the literary treasures of the world. (Watch a video introduction of Asymptote here.) To date, our magazine has featured work from 105 countries and 84 languages, all never-before-published poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, and interviews by writers and translators such as J. M. Coetzee, Patrick Modiano, Herta Müller, Can Xue, Junot Díaz, Ismail Kadare, David Mitchell, Anne Carson, Haruki Murakami, Lydia Davis, Ann Goldstein, and Deborah Smith.

In our five years, we have expanded our offerings to include a daily-updated blog, a fortnightly newsletter, a monthly podcast, and educational guides accompanying each quarterly issue; we’ve also organized more than thirty events on five continents. In 2015, Asymptote became a founding member of The Guardian’s Books Network with “Translation Tuesdays”, a weekly showcase of new literary translations that can be read by the newspaper’s 5 million followers. This means that Asymptote is the only translation-centered journal that can boast of a genuinely international readership – reaching beyond niche communities of literary translators and world literature enthusiasts.

Always interested in facilitating encounters between languages, Asymptote presents work in translation alongside the original texts, as well as audio recordings of those original texts whenever possible. Each issue is illustrated by a guest artist and includes Writers on Writers essays introducing overlooked voices that deserve to be better-known in the English speaking world, as well as a wildcard Special Feature that spotlights literature from certain regions or cutting-edge genres such as Multilingual Writing and Experimental Translation. To catalyze the transmission of literature even further, Asymptote also commissions translations of texts into languages other than English, thereby engaging other linguistic communities and disrupting the English-centered flow of information. All the work we publish is then disseminated for free via eight social media platforms in three languages, through a dedicated social media team as well as our ever-expanding network of editors-at-large in six continents.

George Bernard Shaw famously said, “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange those ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” It is in this spirit of sharing ideas that Asymptote invites readers to explore work from across the globe.

Incorporated neither in America nor in Europe, unaffiliated with any university or government body, Asymptote does not qualify for many grants that other like institutions receive. If you enjoy our magazine, help us continue our mission by becoming a sustaining member at just $10 a month. In return for pledging at least a year’s support, you’ll receive an Asymptote Moleskine notebook!

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Start the year off celebrating three timeless and tasty works of fiction

February 6, 2018, 4:03 am
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Did you know that Jack London, James Joyce and Charles Dickens, who count among the world’s most iconic authors, would have celebrated their 147th, 136th and 206th birthdays respectively during January and February this year? They may be gone but their words are widely read and revered by literary enthusiasts from around the globe.

In honour of these icons and their birthday anniversaries, visitors to Social Kitchen & Bar can pay tribute to their works by sipping on tailor-made, book-inspired cocktails named after each of their most famous works of fiction.

Ulysses by James Joyce

 
Heralded by some as the best novel in the English language Ulysses has inspired a cocktail that matches the book by taking you on a long journey of flavour. Beginning with light floral and raspberry notes, then moving into a touch of nuttiness and finishing off with delicate vanilla and caramel, this cocktail will make you want to continue the odyssey.
 

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

 
Much like the book, our Call of the Wild cocktail is for adventurers and nature lovers. This earthy cocktail, with cucumber water, a touch of elderflower and a splash of apple soda, is then brought to life by Ketel One vodka. A true adventure for your mouth.
 

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

 
The best of cocktails. Wine purists might tell a tall tale about this one, but when they taste the extraordinary combination of crisp South African wine, fresh apple juice and vanilla, shaken together with Ketel One, they will only have reason to pronounce themselves living, truly, in the epoch of belief and the season of Light.

So, now that it’s a new year and dry Janu-worry is over, don’t delay. With such a delicious variety of book-inspired cocktails on offer, be sure to visit Exclusive Books’ Social Kitchen & Bar in Hyde Park. Not only is it Johannesburg’s best restaurant to share conversations and hand-crafted food, but it completes the epicurean adventure with inspired cocktails and a view fit for royalty.

Social Kitchen & Bar can be found in the heart of Hyde Park Corner – level six, inside the Exclusive Books store. For reservations call them on 011 268 6039 or email reservations@socialkitchenandbar.co.za. For more information, visit www.socialkitchenandbar.co.za.

Ulysses

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The Call of the Wild

 
 
 
 
A Tale of Two Cities

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Peter Carey’s novel about a motor race around Australia is not so much Mad Max as Thoughtful Stricken Max, writes Allison Pearson

February 12, 2018, 1:15 am
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Published in the Sunday Times


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Long Way From Home
****
Peter Carey, Faber & Faber, R275

There are some novelists who lift the heart through sheer exuberance and generosity on the page. Laurence Sterne was the first (in that most singular of one-offs, Tristram Shandy). Charles Dickens is another. Peter Carey belongs in that same zestful company. The 14th novel by the two-times Booker Prize winner starts as a rattling good tale about a race and ends as a painful meditation on race. In between, there are 10000 miles of Australian terrain to navigate and centuries of buried, bloody history. The narrative does a sudden, handbrake turn, and you may feel the book has lost its way, but in the hands of such a skilful driver no detour is entirely wasted.

We begin where the author began, in Bacchus Marsh, a small town 33 miles from Melbourne, where Carey was born in 1943 to parents who ran a General Motors Holden dealership. The story is told through two alternating voices, a favourite Carey device. The first, Irene Bobs, is a petite, irrepressible young woman, married (with two children) to the similarly diminutive “Titch” Bobs.

Irene’s husband may be the best Ford salesman in south-eastern Australia, but he lives in fear of his bullying father, Dan. In Irene’s disgusted description, Dan “puffed himself up like a cobra, glaring in triumph at those of us whose wallets he planned to lighten”. Carey is just as good at evoking the Bobses’ sexually replete happiness.

Observing this domestic bliss wistfully from next door is lanky, bookish Willie Bachhuber, the second narrator, a fair-haired son of a Protestant preacher who, feeling out of place in Australia, pines for what he believes to be his native Germany. A teacher and radio-quiz maestro obsessed with maps, Willie is dodging support payments for a black child who can’t possibly be his. Tortured and tentative, Willie is drawn to the life force that is Irene and we sense a romance brewing.

The Bobses, meanwhile, have a plan to open a Ford dealership stymied by a jealous Dan. To boost their chances of being awarded a franchise they enter the Redex Reliability Trial, a bonkers, round-Australia motorsport race, hugely famous in the 1950s. All they lack is a navigator.

With perfect timing, their map-reading neighbour loses his job after dangling an errant schoolboy out of a window. Something the lad said about the whites-only immigration policy of Australia made peaceable Willie snap. “What about you, sir? Why did they let you in?” Willie reflects grimly that, “No one would see the parallels between the government’s recruitment of ‘Nordic types’ and their habit of removing the paler Aboriginal children from their mother and giving them to white families with total confidence that half-castes would never give birth to throwbacks…”

It’s a shockingly cruel image and, as we shall discover, a revealing one, but Carey doesn’t let the reader linger. As the eccentric trio hits the road, we are swept along.

Redex contestants were given detailed strip maps to help them negotiate the catastrophe-strewn course. Carey has great fun with the cautionary instructions. “SUDDEN DROPS”, “BEND INTO DEEP DRAIN”. Beneath the madcap mirth, however, a darker seam is opening up like a wound. Willie may excel at reading the white man’s maps, but what he doesn’t know is that the outback is crisscrossed with lines of ceremony and ritual.

The “murderous continent” starts to give up its ugly secrets. Taking a loo break, Irene stumbles upon an open grave, the site of a massacre. “There were so many, they must be blacks.” She finds a human skull “a tiny thing, as fragile and powdery as an emu egg … I was a mother. I knew what it was to hold a tender child and I knew this must be a little boy, and all these bones around him must be his family.”

Until now, Australia’s greatest living novelist has shied away from writing about the Aborigines.

Carey said he felt that it was not the place of a white writer to tell that story. Recently, though, he declared: “You can’t be a white Australian writer and spend your whole life ignoring the greatest, most important aspect of our history, and that is that we – I – have been the beneficiaries of a genocide.”

The novel’s second half sees Willie Bachhuber become a living renunciation of Titch Bobs’s cheerily brazen, “I could not give a f*** about what happened a hundred years ago.”

Working with Aboriginal people, and all the while uncovering the mystery of his own past, a guilty Willie learns to draw maps far more ancient than any made for motor cars. Carey has taken great care to do his research, and rightly so. Yet there is a cautious constricting in these pages, a sense of the novelist watching his step, which feels strange after the bravura brio of the beginning. Not so much Mad Max as Thoughtful Stricken Max.

Some critics have praised A Long Way from Home as evidence of a new “complexity” in Peter Carey’s work because, in literature, darkness is too often valued over light. I’m afraid I found the ending opaque to the point of bafflement, even after reading it several times. — ©The Telegraph, London

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“Walters creates a sense of claustrophobia and fear which is compelling”– Margaret von Klemperer reviews The Last Hours

February 13, 2018, 5:33 am
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Published in The Witness, 12/02/2018

The Last Hours
Minette Walters
Allen & Unwin

Minette Walters, better known as an author of psychological crime novels, has moved into new territory here – back to the 14th Century and the arrival of the Black Death in southern England.

The results, the loss of around half the country’s population and with that, a mortal blow to the old feudal system of serfdom, are well documented historically and form an important backdrop to what is planned to be a two novel saga.

In the manor of Develish, the brutal Sir Richard of Develish is planning to ride to a neighbouring estate to arrange a marriage for his deeply unpleasant 14 year old daughter, Eleanor. He leaves his wife Lady Anne in charge, and while he is away, news of the rapidly spreading plague arrives.

As the bodies mount up, Lady Anne bars the estate to all comers, including her dying and unlamented husband and his entourage. Only when the survivors are out of quarantine (she has considerable medical knowledge, considering her era) does she let them return. But besides the plague stalking the countryside there are other dangers: starvation and marauding bands of dispossessed and chancers.

Walters creates a sense of claustrophobia and fear which is compelling – her work as a writer of psychological drama standing her in good stead here. She also draws a hierarchical and patriarchal society, ruled by an often corrupt church.

Tensions rise within the barricaded estate as serfs begin to realise there will be advantages for them once they can sell their labour. Their loyalty to their mistress keeps things on a more or less even keel – she has protected them against her horrible husband, and, maybe a trifle anachronistically, taught many of them to read and write.

Once a group of lads, led by the bastard Thaddeus, heads out to see what is happening beyond their boundary and to look for desperately needed food, the story divides into two parts, and loses a little of its tension. But it still rollicks along, and should delight fans of Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth and the like.

My main criticism would be that the goodies are so good and the baddies so bad that there is little room for nuance. But Walters produces a suitably cliffhanging ending so that there will be plenty of readers keen to find out the further fortunes of Lady Anne and Thaddeus, and even nasty little Eleanor. - Margaret von Klemperer

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Alzheimer’s, guns, fantasy and hard rain are the subjects of the four novellas in Joe Hill’s great collection, writes Diane Awerbuck

February 20, 2018, 2:31 am
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Published in the Sunday Times

Strange Weather
*****
Joe Hill, Orion, R295

Joe Hill’s new collection of four novellas, Strange Weather, is a great one – and not only if you’re a Capetonian staring down Day Zero with its poverty porn, blame and bad neighbourliness.

The first novella, Snapshot, is a reverse Alzheimer’s metaphor.

Butterball teen Michael Figlione finds himself taking care of his childhood nanny, Shelly Beukes. He realises that it’s not just her dementia talking: there really is a creepy stranger, Polaroid Man, with a special camera like a gun that takes photos of people to steal their souls. In a parallel process, as the Polaroids famously develop – and Shelly’s memory gets patchier – Michael finally understands how much she really loved him.

Shelly’s worried husband is a Schwarzenegger-esque South African expat cheekily named Lawrence Beukes. While that’s not incredibly significant, it illustrates how much Hill actively enjoys writing.

Named Joseph Hillstrom King (after the activist and songwriter) by his famous parents, Stephen and Tabitha King, Joe Hill writes under his own name. In-jokes, thought experimentation and sarky political commentary aside, writing is also a serious commemorative act – for the dead, and for our own dead selves. That goes double for horror, and triple for horror as beautifully rendered as Joe Hill’s.

Look here: “There is no system of measurement that can adequately quantify how much resentment I carried in my heart when I was young and lonely. My sense of personal grievance ate at me like cancer, hollowed me out, left me gaunt and wasted. When I set off for MIT at 18, I weighed 330 pounds. Six years later I was a buck-70. It wasn’t exercise. It was fury. Resentment is a form of starvation. Resentment is the hunger strike of the soul.”

We see it particularly in the second novella, Loaded – a didactic, heavily sexual exploration of America’s “national hard-on for The Gun”. Hill says that he “had that one in my head ever since the massacre of 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut”. The story is incredibly powerful: a young woman’s affair with her jerk-off boss ends in tears and bloodshed for everyone in the mall, including a Muslim mother with her baby strapped to her chest, the carrier conveniently mistaken for a suicide bomb.

The weakest – most deliberately fluffy – novella is Aloft, set mostly on a cloud. A one-sided crush on his fey bandmate, Harriet, makes Aubrey Griffin determined to skydive with her. At the last minute Aubrey tries to back out, but there are technical difficulties with the plane and everyone is forced to jump.

Aubrey lands on a cloud (cold, and a bit like mashed potato) and must confront his sad realisation that he can touch either terra firma or Harriet’s boobs again, but not both. The novella is a palate cleanser and a spot of stylistic showing off, but it’s no great shakes other than as a continuation of the real theme of all the novellas – how to let go.

The brilliant Rain completes the quartet. Boulder, Colorado, suffers a rain of fatal and needle-sharp shards of space-age rocks. Hill has fun with our beliefs and what we need to tell ourselves in order to survive. The histrionic president blames cloud-seeding religious fanatics, while the crazed comet cult next door accepts all comers. We follow Honeysuckle Speck, whose angelic girlfriend Yolanda was one of the first to die, impaled by the celestial spikes.

Honeysuckle must deliver the news to Yolanda’s minister-father, travelling a highway of murderous shards.

Joe Hill – and Capetonians – understand that only hard rain will fall.

Book details

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Kry jou chronologiese Woordfees Skrywersfees-program hier!

February 21, 2018, 12:08 am
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Vrydag 2 Maart

 

WOMEN OF STEEL: THULI MADONSELA AND GLYNNIS BREYTENBACH
In conversation with Marianne Thamm
Presented by Pan MacMillan
Marianne, a well-known journalist and writer, sits down with two women whose lives are characterised by sheer willpower to pursue the truth. With Thuli’s memoir in the pipeline and Glynnis’ Rule of Law on the shelf, they discuss their formative influences, defining moments and fighting the odds still facing females today.
2 March 10:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

ALBERT GRUNDLINGH: ’N EEU IN PERSPEKTIEF
Aangebied deur die Dokumentesentrum, US Biblioteek
Die bekende US historikus vertel meer omtrent sy gedenkboek waarin hy skryf oor beslissend oomblikke en historiese gebeure in die universiteit se eerste 100 jaar. Daarna kan gekyk word na ‘n uitstalling in die Dokumentesentrum.
2 Maart 12:00
90 min | JS Gericke-ouditorium | R50 | R60 by die deur

ELIZE BOTHA AS GESPREKSGENOOT – ’N BRIEWEBOEK
Met Heilna du Plooy en Liesbeth Botha
Aangebied deur Litera
Chris van der Merwe gesels met samesteller Heilna du Plooy en wyle Prof. Elize Botha se dogter, Liesbeth, oor die briewe deur en aan dié geliefde literator en oud-kanselier van die US aan van die bekendste skrywers en letterkundiges van daardie tyd, en wil in besonder weet wat die verantwoordelikheid is wanneer ‘n mens werk met sulke persoonlike korrespondensie.
2 Maart 12:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

#JOERNALISTIEK4.0 – TUSSEN DEMOKRASIE EN DISASTER
Die US se Departement van Joernalistiek vier 40 jaar met ’n gedenkpublikasie, #Joernalistiek4.0, en bespreking oor die stand, die rol en die toekoms van joernalistiek in ons land wat alte veel ossileer tussen demokrasie en ‘n ramp. Kom klink ‘n glas!
2 Maart 15:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | Gratis

Saterdag 3 Maart


 

KOM BAK SAAM MET DIE KOKKEDOORTJIES!
Met Martjie Malan
Spesiaal net vir kinders: Kom kuier saam met twee deelnemers aan die Kokkedoortjie TV-reeks en leer bak saam met Martjie Malan, wat haar eie kookskool vir kinders het en medeskrywer was vir die Kokkedoortjie én nuwe Koekedoortjie-reekse. Jou sintuie sal gons, jou vingers sal woel en jou kakebeen sal wikkel! Ingesluit: bakpret met twee heerlike resepte in The Private Hotel School se professionele opleidingskombuis, werk in ‘n span met ‘n maat, eet wat jy bak en neem die res huis toe plus as bonus ‘n verrassingspakkie met geskenkies en ‘n gratis Kokkedoortjie-kookboek ter waarde van R310! Vir ouers wat moet wag, is daar koffie en eetgoed, of ‘n spesiale ontbytdemo – sien Ontbytdemo vir ouers.
3, 10 Maart: 09:00-11:30
150 min | Debut @ The Private Hotel School | R350 (Net 20 plekke vir kinders 9-13 per klas)
 
 
 
ONTBYTDEMO VIR OUERS
Aandag alle ouers van woelige kinders. Terwyl die klein Kokkedoortjies by die Private Hotel School bak en brou, word ’n weglê-ontbyt vir die ouers voorgesit. Die professionele sjefs wys jou hoe ’n ou gunsteling, Eggs Benedict, in ’n japtrap opgetower kan word sonder om op eiers te loop in die kombuis.
3, 10 Maart: 09:00-11:30
150 min | Debut @ The Private Hotel School | R115

KOSDEMO: MARTELIZE KOOK – EN JY’S GENOOI
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Dié RSG-kok was van kindsbeen af die uieskiller vir die Brink-span. En g’n wonder nie – haar pa was dan die potjiekoskoning Matie Brink. Kom kyk, luister en proe aan van haar gunstelingresepte uit haar boek, soos ‘n spesiale beeswangpotjie en kry wenke oor pasta maak.
3 Maart 10:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

JACQUES PAUW: THE PRESIDENT’S KEEPERS
Met Pauli van Wyk
Aangebied deur Tafelberg
“Dinamiet”, inligting wat “soos ‘n veldbrand” deur die ANC sal trek, is hoe dié boek voor die tyd beskryf is. En dit was. Jacques, ‘n multibekroonde ondersoekende joernalis, wat die apartheidmoordbendes aan die kaak gestel het en al in Rwanda en Darfoer gewerk het, rig hierin sy soeklig op die skadu-mafiastaat van Zuma en die kabal wat hom in sy plek as Nommer Een hou. In sy boek ontbloot Jacques, deur jare se volgehoue speurwerk, ’n spoor van leuens en kontant, meelopers en spioene tot selfs geheime ontmoetings in Rusland. Daily Maverick se Pauli lei die gesprek.
3 Maart 10:30
60 min | Kruiskerk| R50 | R60 by die deur

SIMON BRUINDERS: DIE DJ
Aangebied deur Naledi
Akteur, dramaturg, skrywer en ontvanger van ‘n Fiësta vir Lewenslange bydrae. Valerie Truter vra Simon uit oor hoe hy dié oorgang gemaak het en sy jongste roman, oor ‘n seun van Zoar wat teen sy wil saam met sy gesin Mitchells Plain toe moet trek ….
3 Maart 10:30
60 min | Bloehomhoek | Gratis

DEON EN KLUUN: ROCK-STERRE IN DIE SKRYWERSWÊRELD
Met Deon Meyer en Ray Kluun
Moontlik gemaak deur SASNEV en Human & Rousseau
Deon Meyer is onlangs vir die Icelandic Noir-toekenning benoem en het al Duitse, Franse en Amerikaanse pryse gewen. Sy Vrou in die blou mantel (weer met Bennie!) was ‘n opdragwerk vir die Amsterdamse Boekeweek. Nederlander Kluun het destyds meer as 1 miljoen eksemplare verkoop van sy debuut – in Engels, Love Life en in Afrikaans, ‘n Vrou gaan dokter toe, en het pas sy vierde roman gepubliseer. Altwee trek skares. Altwee tree wêreldwyd op. Kirby van der Merwe wil weet wat is die voordele, maar ook slaggate van sukses.
3 Maart 12:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

TOM LANOYE: SPRAKELOOS
In gesprek met Kluun
Moontlik gemaak deur SASNEV
Kom kyk na die fliekweergawe deur regisseur Hilde van Mieghem van die Vlaamse Tom Lanoye se roman Sprakeloos. Hierin word vertel van die skrywer se flambojante moeder, wat na ‘n beroerte haar spraak verloor en hoe dit die skrywer aftakel. Ná die fliek gesels Tom en die beroemde Nederlandse skrywer Ray Kluun oor hulle onderskeie ervarings met die verfilming van hulle boeke. Kluun se supertreffer, wat ook in Afrikaans as ‘n Vrou gaan dokter toe verskyn het, is in Nederland verfilm.
3 Maart 13:00 Fliek 15:00 Gesprek met Kluun
100 min Fliek | 60 min Gesprek | Pulp Cinema Neelsie | R40 | R50 by die deur

KOSDEMO: BOEKKLUBS KUIER SÓ
Aangebied deur Quivertree
Dis nie net op TV waar kunstenaars boekklub hou nie. Die bekende Kaapse keramiekkunstenaar Louise Gelderblom wys met The Book Club Cookbook: Eat Your Words hoe 24 jaar se leeskringbyeenkomste haar geleer het enigeen kan stresvry onthaal as jy iets lekkers vroeg kan klaarmaak.
3 Maart 14:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 at the door

REUBEN EN RIANA BY THE JORDAN
’n US Woordfees-aanbieding in samewerking met Stellenbosch Wynroete.
Sjef George Jardine se The Jordan Restaurant is een van dié fynproewersbestemmings in die Boland. Daarom is daar nie ‘n beter plek om die geliefde kospersoonlikheid Reuben Riffel beter te leer ken nie. Kom luister oor ‘n viergangmaaltyd, bedien met die beste wyne en in ‘n restaurant met ‘n uitsig oor die berge, na ‘n gesprek tussen Reuben en die ewe bekende roman- en kosskrywer Riana Scheepers. Die twee sal gesels oor sy jongste boek, Reuben At Home, waarin hy ‘n kosbare kykie gee in sy huislewe en vormingsjare in Groendal buite Franschhoek.
3 Maart 19:00
150 min | Jordan-wynlandgoed | R950

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Sondag 4 Maart


 

’N PAARTIE VIR RYK – ONS ONTHOU RYK HATTINGH
Met Jana Cilliers, Willem Pretorius, Catherine du Toit en ander
Hy was iemand wat sy ‘vinger kon druk in die wond van verlies, van híér en dáár, van orde en sensualiteit, van eie chaos en woede en perversie’; wat geglo het ‘n mens leef jou eerder dood. Toe Ryk Hattingh verlede jaar, 10 dae nadat hy die kykNET Rapport fiksieprys vir Huilboek ontvang het in Auckland sterf, was dit met ‘n gevoel van ongeloof dat medeskrywers en vriende die nuus ontvang het. Hier onthou hulle die “skoenlapper” van Nieu-Seeland op ‘n gepaste manier ‘n jaar nadat hy die Woordfees-gehoor in die palm van sy hand gehou het. Kom lig saam ‘n glas en luister stories. Veral roerend is die vertellings van sy beste vriend Zirk van den Berg, sy vrou en drie seuns in ‘n spesiale video uit Nieu-Seeland.
4 Maart 18:00
60 min | Die Bosrestaurant | Gratis
 
 
STORIEVUUR: VRIKKIE & DIE BOIKIE VAN GROOTFONTEIN
Aangebied deur NB-Uitgewers
Vrikkie se briewe aan sy antie het ‘n Facebook-fenomeen geword nadat die Vrystaatse prof Deon Visser hom geskep het om sy vrou te laat lag. Nou kan jy giggel oor vertellings uit Hoezit Antie? Vrikkie hier. Lloyd Zandberg se humor in Per ongeluk is soos sy mense in Namibië: droog, maar lekker!
4 Maart 18:30
60 min | Die Plataan | Gratis

STERREKYK OP KNORHOEK
Met RSG se Hennie Maas en Willie Koorts
Aangebied deur Naledi
Meld aan vir ‘n aand se sterrekyk-ekspedisie met twee van die aanbieders van RSG se gewilde Sterre en planete-reeks, wat nou ook in boekvorm beskikbaar is. Alles wat dié aand in die ruimte leef en beef en te siene is, sal uitgewys en verduidelik word. Kom loer self deur ‘n teleskoop en luister oor ‘n glas wyn hoe die wonders van die ruimte ontsluit word.
4 Maart 18:30 vir 19:00
100 min | Knorhoek | R60 | R70 by die deur

Maandag 5 Maart


 

RAMAPHOSA – BEHIND THE ENIGMA
With Max du Preez, Ray Hartley, Koketso Sachana and Jeremy Thompson
What does Ray Hartley’s Ramaphosa – The Man Who Would Be King say about the enigma that is the new ANC president – ambitious, charming, a born negotiator, astute businessman, the boy who at a young age told his friend that he would one day be president? In this centenary year of Nelson Mandela, who anointed him as his successor, everyone wants to know: Does he have what it takes to turn SA around? Max du Preez will lead the discussion with Hartley, Cape Talk’s Koketso Sachana and former Sky News achorman Jeremy Thompson.
5 March 09:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 at the door

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
VAN DE ZALZE TOT DIE STORIE
Met Julian Jansen, Martin Steyn en Dibi Breytenbach
Aangebied deur LAPA-Uitgewers en Tafelberg
Wanneer word moord ‘n storie? En wanneer klink dit soos een? Misdaadverslaggewer Julian Jansen het op niefiksie met sy Die De Zalze-moorde besluit, terwyl Dibi Breytenbach en Martin Steyn, met Heiliger en Swartval, misdaadfiksie verkies. Heino du Plessis vra hulle uit oor die dun lyn tussen feit en fiksie, navorsing en storie.
5 Maart 09:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

KOSDEMO: THERESA DE VRIES SE DEEG
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Die enigste boek oor deeg wat jy ooit nodig sal kry! Alle soorte deeg om terte of pasteie te maak word bespreek, selfs die gewilde Marokkaanse ouarkadeeg. En boonop gee dié Kokkedoor 1-deelnemer aanwysings oor hoe om alles te versier.
5 Maart 10:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

MARK BEHR – NUSAS-LEIER OF STUDENTESPIOEN?
Met Pearlie Joubert en Gerrit Olivier
Die reuk van appels maak deesdae skoonskip van teaterpryse. Toe die gelyknamige debuut deur Mark Behr in 1993 verskyn het, het dit net soveel opslae gemaak, maar ook ‘n generasie rebelle geïnspireer. Drie jaar later het Mark egter erken hy het as ‘n student vir die Veiligheidspolisie gespioeneer – dit, terwyl hy voorsitter was van die Stellenbosse Nusas-tak. Pearlie, ‘n bekende joernalis, het ná Mark se dood in 2015 haar studentevriend se hanteerder opgespoor. Gerrit, ‘n Wits-kollega en vriend, was by die aand toe Mark siek begin voel het. Hulle gesels oor ’n briljante, maar komplekse man.
5 Maart 10:00
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

ELSA JOUBERT: SPERTYD
Met Ena Jansen
Aangebied deur Tafelberg
Ter viering van haar 95e verjaarsdag en die publikasie van die slot van haar outobiografiese trilogie, vooraf gegaan deur ’n Wonderlike geweld en Reisiger, het Ena ‘n eksklusiewe onderhoud met Elsa gevoer, wat in Berghof-aftreeoord opgeneem is waar die boek ook afspeel. Luister na die onderhoud, waarna Ena met Elsa se seun, Nico Steytler, en haar uitgewer, Etienne Bloemhof, gesels.
5 Maart 10:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

KAROOGESPREK
Met David Kramer, Eben Venter, Darryl David en Louis Botha
‘n Musiekkunstenaar, skrywer, boekfeesorganiseerder en fotograaf vertel watter rol dié magiese, droë stuk aarde in hulle werk speel. David skets die agtergrond van die bekende Karoo Kitaar Blues en van die liedjies op sy nuwe CD, Wakkerslaap, Eben lees voor uit sy roman Groen soos die hemel daarbo, Darryl (die enigste Indiër-dosent van Afrikaans in Suid-Afrika) vertel van sy Karoo-feeste soos BoekBedonnerd, en Louis gee ‘n voorsmaak uit sy nuwe koffietafel-fotoboek, Karoo.
5 Maart 11:30
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

FRANZ MARX: SPIEËLBEELD
In gesprek met Schalk Schoombie
Aangebied deur Protea Boekhuis
Die veelbekroonde TV-skrywer/veraardiger se debuut is ’n spanningsverhaal wat teen die skunnige agtergrond van Johannesburg se ontkleeklubs en die administratiewe kantore van internasionale sakeondernemings afspeel. Akteur, dramaturg en nou ook skrywer Schalk Schoombie vra Franz uit oor wat terselfdertyd ‘n speurtog, en ‘n ironiese soeklig op hedendaagse Afrikaansheid is.
5 Maart 12:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

IZAK DU PLESSIS: BOEREVERNEUKERS!
In gesprek met Martelize Brink
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
RSG se Izak vertel vir Martlize meer van sy heerlike versameling Afrikaanse swendelaars, swierbolle en swerkaters wat van ons land se grootste skelmstreke gepleeg het, en waar hy hulle almal raakgelees het. Van die karakters is minder bekend; ander het byna mitiese status in die Afrikaanse psige verwerf.
5 Maart 14:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur
 
KOSDEMO: KAREN HART TOOR MET MAALVLEIS
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
In Maalvleis deel die Toorkombuis-kok meer as 100 liplekker maalvleisresepte, soos hoe om jou eie te maak. Leer hoe om Ouma se frikkadelpastei ‘n nuwe kinkel te gee en enige maalvleis met verskillende speserymengsels in iets spesiaals om te tower.
5 Maart 14:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

MARTIE MEIRING MEETS ACHMAT DANGOR
Presented by Pan MacMillan
The Man Booker nominated writer, who shot to fame with Kafka’s Curse, then made it onto to prestigious awards’s shortlist with Bitter Fruit, chats to Martie about growing up in the extraordinary days of apartheid, the role of the women in his family (his sister is Jessie Duarte) and in his latest novel, Dikeledi – the story of a young girl born in Harlem, and her grandmother back home.
5 March 14:00
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

TANT ANNA EN DIE 25 SHAKESPEARE-SONNETTE
Met Karin Hougaard
Op 80 het Anna Neethling-Pohl, drama-doyenne en skoonsuster van NP van Wyk Louw, 25 van Shakespeare se sonnette in Afrikaans vertaal – “om te bewys dat ek nog kan “. Dié gedigte is nou op CD beskikbaar, voorgelees deur Karin Hougaard. Karin gesels oor die ontstaan van die projek met Ingrid Glorie, koördineerder van die Week van de Afrikaanse roman, en lees van die gedigte voor met musiek wat spesiaal vir die CD geskryf is.
5 Maart 14:00
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

‘BUYS’ SE HONDE – DIERLIK OF MENSLIK?
Met Michiel Heyns
Dis die dilemma waarmee dié skrywer en vertaler te doene gekry het met sy vertaling-in-wording van Willem Anker se bekroonde Buys, in dié stadium genoem Red Dog: Hoe vertaal jy die honde-voorsetsel? In Afrikaans word na honde as ‘n ‘hy’ of ‘n ‘sy’ verwys. In Engels word die onpersoonlike ‘dit’ gebruik. Tensy die hond menslike eienskappe het, of ‘n naam. ‘n Prikkelende gesprek, waartydens Michiel dié en ander vertaalprobleme aan die hand van voorbeelde (*nie vir sensitiewe lesers nie) met uitgewer Hester Carstens en die gehoor probeer oplos.
5 Maart 15:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

JONATHAN JANSEN: AS BY FIRE
In gesprek met Frans Rautenbach
Aangebied deur Tafelberg
Die voormalige rektor van die Universiteit van die Vrystaat gee ‘n binne-perspektief op wat die werklike wortels van die studenteprotes van 2015/16 was en praat met Frans (South Africa Can Work) oor wat hy glo die universiteite moet doen om die hulpbronne van die samelewing doeltreffend te kanaliseer sodat genoeg studente toegang kan kry tot hoë-gehalte onderwys.
5 Maart 15:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

MARION ERSKINE: VLERKE VIR ALMAL
Met Vicky Davis, in gesprek met Ilza Roggeband
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Die Amerikaanse Amanda Todd was 15 toe sy deur middel van flitskaarte op video vertel het hoe een dom besluit haar lewe verwoes het. Daarna het sy haar eie lewe geneem. Ilza gesels met Marion oor tieners, sosiale media en sy persoonlike en merkwaardige ervaring met boelies, terwyl Vicky vertel hoe sy haar teksverwerking en regie vir die Woordfees-toneelstuk Vlerke vir almal benader het.
5 Maart 17:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur
8 Maart 16:15 | Hoërskool Stellenbosch Marion gesels oor die toneelstuk

MIGRATIONS-MIGRASIES
Met Piet Grobler, Paddy Bouma, Dale Blankenaar en Roger Mello van Brasilië
Meer as 300 illustreerders wêreldwyd het poskaarte gemaak ter ondersteuning van vlugtelingkinders wat in dié reisende uitstalling, met Piet as kurator, versamel is. MIGRATIONS is pas terug van Bratislava in Slowakye en van die Woordfees af op pad na Japan, Engeland en die internasionale kinderboekfees in Italië in 2019. Kom kyk gedurende die fees na dié ‘vlieënde’ uitstalling in die voorportaal van die Visuele Kunste-gebou, en luister na Piet in gesprek met van die kunstenaars tydens die opening van die uitstalling.
5 Maart 18:00 Opening
60 min | Visuele Kunste-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

CONVERSE
Met Pieter Odendaal, Adrian ‘Diff” van Wyk, Koleka Putuma, Lwanda Sindaphi, Jolyn Phillips en ander
‘n Baldadige viering van gedigte in vier tale deur die InZync-span. Om dié veeltalige poësiebundel, waarin die werk van 16 vars stemme versamel is, bekend te stel gaan ‘n tiental jong digters mekaar probeer troef met heen-en-weer vertalings tussen Afrikaans, Xhosa, Engels en Tswana.
5 Maart 20:30
90 min | Drostdy-teater | Gratis

BOEKKLUB: MY LAASTE GESPREK MET KAREL SCHOEMAN
Met Willem Landman in gesprek met Frederik de Jager; en Antoinette Kellermann
“Moenie moeite doen om hierop te reageer nie … ek is van plan om my rekenaar nou simbolies af te skakel.” Met dié woorde sluit Karel Schoeman sy e-pos aan Willem op 1 Mei verlede jaar af voordat hy sy lewe beëindig. Willem, ‘n lid van Dignity SA se uitvoerende komitee, vertel in dié eerste Woordfees-Boekklubgesprek eksklusief van sy laaste gesprekke met en besoeke aan Schoeman. Ook van die keer toe Schoeman hom gevra het om op sy bed te gaan sit en te sien wat hy laaste sou sien. Frederik, ‘n oud-uitgewer, voer die gesprek en Antoinette Kellermann lees voor uit Slot van die dag.
5 Maart 19:15 vir 19:45
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur (glas wyn is ingesluit)
 

Dinsdag 6 Maart

BLOEDGELD IN IRAK
Met oud-Recce Johan Raath, in gesprek met Jaco Kirsten
Aangebied deur Jonathan Ball Uitgewers
’n Oud-Recce plaas sy lewe op die spel om BBP’s en ingenieurs te beskerm wat Irak na die oorlog moet opbou. Johan se dramatiese Blood Money gee vir die eerste keer inlsae in wat dit verg om vandag in Irak diens te doen. Hy skets vir Jaco die breër, dikwels gewelddadige prentjie van private militêre kontrakteurs se rol in hedendaagse konflikte.
6 Maart 09:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

REHANA ROSSOUW: NEW TIMES – BUT NO MANDELA
In coversation with Karina Szczurek
Presented by Jacana Media
As Ali Adams starts a new job as a political reporter at The New Times, a weekly newspaper in Cape Town, her stories make front page. But back home in Bo-Kaap the community has expectations, and none of them involve a woman running all over the place chasing stories. Apartheid, religion, homosexuality, Mandela The Sellout, politics of the newsroom, and post-traumatic stress all come to the fore in this gritty novel by a veteran political reporter.
6 March 09:30
60 min | HB Thom seminar room | R50 | R60 at the door

KOSDEMO: KOOK & GENIET MET LISE SWART!
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Een TV-reeks (op kykNET) en een onbeholpe aanbieder (Lise) later, en die immergroen kookboek deur SJA de Villiers is vir die soveelste keer die nr. 1-verkoper! Dié slag wys Lise hoe almal-se-kosbybel relevant bly vir vandag se kok, en demonstreer sy en Tannie Ina se dogter Eunice van den Berg ‘n paar nuwe toevoegings tot die boek.
6 Maart 10:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

ROGER MELLO: ‘KWAAI PAPEGAAI’
In gesprek met Piet Grobler
Piet, seker een van ons bekendste illustreerders en deesdae professor van illustrasie aan die Universiteit van Worcester in Engeland, gesels met dié multibekroonde illustreerder uit Brasilië. Roger, ‘n gewilde en gesogte gas by boekfeeste wêreldwyd, het in 2014 die hoogste eer vir kinderboekillustrasie ontvang, die Hans Christian Andersen-medalje, vir sy delikate, kleurryke werk wat heeltyd in die Visuele Kunste-gebou te sien en te koop is. Piet gesels met hom oor sy lewe, visuele taal en temas.
6 Maart 10:00
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

TEETYD IN IDASVALLEI
Met Piet Matipa en Kuier se Marilyn Gantana
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House en LAPA Uitgewers
Ja, hy’t in ‘n weeshuis grootgeword, ja, hy’s swart, Afrikaans en gay, ja, hy haat wit yskaste. Maar verder is hy vervelig, sê Piet, skrywer van die skreeusnaakse stories in Dwarsklap. Marilyn het háár sin vir humor weer leer slyp as ‘n pasgetroude domineesvrou op die platteland. En dis waar sy ook leer kook het – om die susters uit haar hare te hou. Kom luister hoe gesels die twee met WOW se Shereen Crotz en geniet daarna tee, met happies geïnspireer deur Marilyn kuier en kook.
6 Maart 10:30
120 min | Idasvallei-biblioteek | R80 | R90 (Plek is beperk.)

TANNIE EVITA EN PIK ONTHOU MADIBA
Met Pieter-Dirk Uys, Pik Botha, Denis Cruywagen en Melanie Verwoerd
In die eeufeesviering van Madiba se geboortejaar onthou vier mense wat oor ons eerste demokraties-verkose president geskryf het die mens agter die woorde. Tannie Evita én Pieter-Dirk is daar, Pik huldig die man met wie hy ‘n ‘onbekende en intieme verbintenis’ gehad het, en Denis die spirituele leier. En in volle sirkelgang lei ‘n Verwoerd die gesprek!
6 Maart 10:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

INGRID JONKER – DIE LAASTE BIOGRAFIE
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
Petrovna Metelerkamp het al die inligting wat sy oor dié kultusdigter versamel het nou bygewerk met indringende nuwe navorsing en eksklusiewe foto’s. Sy vertel vir Karin Schimke hoe talle voorheen onbeantwoorde vrae oor Ingrid se lewe en dood beantwoord word en hoe die beeld weerlê word wat die wêreld van Ingrid het. Sy wys van die foto’s en speel ook ‘n opname van ‘n voorlesing deur Ingrid self.
6 Maart 11:30
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

RIANA SCHEEPERS: STORMKIND
In gesprek met Dave Pepler
Aangebied deur Tafelberg
Bekroonde skrywer Riana Scheepers gesels met Dave oor magiese realisme en die San-verhale waaruit haar jongste roman voortgevloei het. Dis die storie van ‘n meisietjie wat net drie jaar oud was toe haar ma spoorloos verdwyn het. Snags het die wind Jana geroep en as sy mooi geluister het, kon sy die note van haar ma se fluit hoor. Maar een stormnag was daar iemand buite …
6 Maart 12:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

WOORD-EN-WYNETE
’n US Woordfees-aanbieding in samewerking met Stellenbosch Wynroete.
Kom kuier op Simonsig saam met RSG se Martelize Brink – deesdae ook ‘n kosboekskrywer – en die plaas se wynmaker oor ’n heerlike langtafel-ete, met van die landgoed se beste wyne!
6 Maart 13:00
120 min | Simonsig | R300

GABRIËL BOTMA: POLEMIEKE
In gesprek met Lizette Rabe
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
Onthou jy nog die pennestryd wat in koerante gewoed het oor Dan Roodt se teenwoordigheid by die Woordfees? Of die fel woordewisseling nadat NP van Wyk Louw se Die pluimsaad waai ver tydens Republiekdagviering opgevoer is, of die “Boetman is die bliksem in”-briewestorm? Kom verkneuter jou in die bekgevegte wat die land en Afrikaner-kultuur help slyp het in dié gesprek tussen twee veteraanjoernaliste.
6 Maart 14:00
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

PHILIP DE VOS: VANDAG IS EK ’N WINDLAWAAI
Met Piet Grobler en Lina Spies
Aangebied deur Protea Boekhuis
Stuitige rympies is sy kos, maar ook insiggewende radioreekse oor klassieke komponiste. Met Vandag is ek ’n windlawaai, geïnspireer deur Robert Schumann se klavierwerk Kinderszenen, kombineer Philip dié twee talente en saam met Tertia Visser-Downie se klavierspel en die vertoning van Piet Grobler se sensitiewe illustrasies, word die aanbieding ‘n speelse, maar ook dromerige hunkering na kindwees.
6 Maart 14:00
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

ANDRÉ PRETORIUS: REISE DEUR DIE KERKHERVORMING
In gesprek met Cas Wepener
Aangebied deur Naledi
Aan die vooraand van die 500ste herdenking van die begin van die Protestantse Kerkhervorming loop dié reisskrywer terug op die spore van Martin Luther en Johannes Calvyn. Hy besoek die plekke waar grootse omwentelinge hulle afgespeel het, eet, drink en gaan kerk toe daar en soek raakpunte met sy eie kerkgeskiedenis in verre Suid-Afrika.
6 Maart 15:30
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

DERICK VAN DER WALT: TUSSEN VRIENDE
In gesprek met Alta Cloete
Aangebied deur Queillerie
Rugby en seer-snaakse grootwordervarings het Derick al heelparty pryse vir sy jeugromans besorg én ‘n fliekkontrak. Maar nou skryf hy oor 50-plussers en hulle alledaagse bestaan uit ‘n man se oogpunt – van vriendskap, skuldgevoelens en ‘n affair, tot ‘n huweliksmaat se swaarkry en kommer oor ‘n dwarstrekkind.
6 Maart 15:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

WINSTON WICOMB – DIE ‘MECHANIC’ IN CHRIS BARNARD SE SPAN
Met Winston Wicomb, Amos van der Merwe en Hanlie Retief
Aangebied deur Naledi
Anders as sy broer, die sanger Randall Wicomb, is dié baanbreker-navorser grootliks onbekend in sy geboorteland. Die geskiedenis van sy stryd teen verwerping weens sy velkleur, sy sukkelbestaan as jeugdige en die verstommende storie van hoe ‘n Volkswagen-werktuigkundige in Prof. Chris Barnard se laboratorium en toe teater beland het, lees soos ‘n moderne sprokie. Kom luister hoe Winston en Amos, sy biograaf, met Hanlie gesels.
6 Maart 15:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

ANDRÉ BARTLETT: WEERLOSE WEERSTAND
In gesprek met Jean Oosthuizen
Aangebied deur Protea Boekhuis
Jean lei dié reguit gesprek met die bekende teoloog en predikant oor sy in-diepte ondersoek na die NG Kerk se omstrede gay-beleid. Deelnemers is die gay teoloog Pieter Oberholzer, wat weens sy seksuele oriëntasie nie toegelaat is om sy roeping in die NG Kerk te beoefen nie, en LGBTI-aktivis Michelle Boonzaaier, een van die mense wat die Kerk hof toe geneem het oor die laaste sinodebesluit.
6 Maart 17:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

LEWENSMAATS OF ‘SUSTERS’
Met Celesté Fritze en Hester van der Walt, in gesprek met Ena Jansen
Ena Jansen gesels met twee debuutskrywers wat skaamte en geheimhouding oor lesbiese-seksualiteit as tema het in ’n tyd toe dit gesien is as taboe. Celesté se Verlorenkop, wat vir bykans elke groot literêre prys verlede jaar benoem is, verken die seer en impak van besluite wat geneem word om die skyn te bewaar oor drie generasies vroue heen, terwyl Hester in haar memoires Sê my, is julle susters? die geestelike isolasie beskryf van alle “vlugtelinge” wat die onversoenbare waardes van hulle tuiste opsy skuif.
6 Maart 17:00
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

JOHANNES DE VILLIERS: KALMTE IN DIE MALLE GEJAAG
In gesprek met Erns Grundling
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Jy wil stilstaan by dit wat saak maak, maar dit voel onmoontlik. Kom luister hoe Johannes aan Erns vertel wat dit beteken om “bewus”, of mindful, te lewe en na sy praktiese raad. Of kom 30 minute vroeër, laat hy jou wys hoe om die stilte te ervaar en in die oomblik te lewe.
6 Maart 17:45 Mindfulness-oefening | 18:30 Gesprek
105 min | Botaniese Tuin | R40 studente | R50 | R60 by die deur (Botteltjie water ingesluit)

WILLEM SAMUEL: SKREE ALLEEN, ’N ‘SINGENDE’ UITSTALLING
Skree Alleen is ‘n stilgebore, vroeë naughties punk band wat dié multi-dissiplinêre kunstenaar her-animeer deur ‘n samevlegting van installasie, musiek en animasie. Die lirieke is die katalisator vir ‘n singende uitstalling wat die besoeker ‘n anderwêreldse ervaring van musiek en digkuns gee en heelweek ervaar kan word. Skree Alleen tree eksklusief op tydens die openingsgeleentheid – kom luister en kyk.
6 Maart 18:00 Opening
60 min | Visuele Kunste-Seminaarkamer 1008 | R50 | R60 by die deur

‘BOEKKLUB’: ALEXANDRA FULLER – A RHODESIAN CHILDHOOD
In conversation with Ingrid Winterbach
She grows up during the bush war that helped turn Rhodesia into Zimbabwe –the family’s bombproof Landrover is nicknamed Lucy. She survives a terrible, avoidable death that turns her fun-loving Scottish mother into a crazy drunk and for which she, as a child of eight, feels responsible … These last days of colonialism are at the heart of Alexandra Fuller’s internationally acclaimed 2002 memoir, Don’t Let’s go to the Dogs Tonight. She talks to Ingrid about a world of taboos and projected shame, about living in Wyoming after being separated from her all-American husband of 20 years, and “the beautiful and terrible” she wrestles with in writing.
6 March 19:15 for 19:45
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 at the door (glass of wine included)


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Woensdag 7 Maart

ZUMA – VYAND NOMMER EEN
Met Adriaan Basson, Pieter du Toit, Pieter-Louis Myburgh, in gesprek met Max du Preez
Aangebied deur Jonathan Ball Uitgewers
Max ondervra ‘n nuwe generasie ondersoekende joernaliste wat weet waar om vir die waarheid te krap en nie skroom om dit te publiseer nie – ondanks die prys. Adriaan en Pieter ontleed Zuma se grootskaalse korrupsie en hoe ‘n nasie begin terugveg het in Zuma – Enemy of the People, en Pieter-Louis verklap meer omtrent die manne wat die staatskoffers plunder in The Republic of Gupta – A Story of State Capture.
7 Maart 09:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

ANTJIE KROG – SUSKE EN WISKE EN MANDELA
Ook met Daniël du Plessis, Willem Samuel en Loyiso Mkize
Honderd jaar ná Mandela se geboorte kyk Antjie hoe hy – én Suid-Afrika – uitgebeeld word in twee Vlaamse comics uit die Suske en Wiske-reeks. Ná die visuele aanbieding gesels sy met drie jong plaaslike comics-kunstenaars.
7 Maart 09:30
90 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

HENK GOUS: BREEKPUNT
In gesprek met Simon Bruinders en Benescke Janse van Rensburg
Aangebied deur CUM Uitgewers
Te veel stres en langdurige spanning kan tot ernstige ligaamlike siektes en emosionele uitbranding lei. Henk, wat ook ‘n berader is, bespreek maniere om breekpunt te vermy, gesonde streshantering en die redes waarom slagoffers van trauma veg, vlug of vries met Simon en radio-omroeper Benescke.
7 Maart 09:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

KOSDEMO: HERMAN VIER 30
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
SARIE se kosredakteur is 30 – en dit vier Herman Lensing op allerhande maniere, maar hoofsaaklik met kos. Leer saam met hom watter geregte net 30 minute neem om te maak, wat die 30 dinge is wat jy van wyn moet weet, en ook sommer 30 goeie kosgewoontes.
7 Maart 10:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

GEORGE BIZOS: 65 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP
In conversation with Edwin Cameron
Presented by Penguin Random House
The world-renowned human-rights lawyer talks to Judge Edwin Cameron about his new book, a touching homage to his friendship with Nelson Mandela and a fascinating tale of two men whose work affected the lives of all South Africans– arguing in favour of the Constitution, which is under threat in the current political climate.
7 March 10:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

VADERLAND, MOEDERBAND, BROEDERLIEFDE
Met SJ Naudé en Eben Venter
In altwee dié romans word ‘n wêreld anderkant geografiese grense verken, maar ook grense van die band met ‘n ma en seksualiteit. In Die derde spoel projekteer SJ (of Fanie) ‘n donker poëtiese beeld van liefde tussen mans op ‘n steeds verskuiwende doek, terwyl Eben in Groen soos die hemel daarbo ritueel van erotiese ervarings en die ontginning van selfkennis daaruit. Frederik de Jager gesels met hulle.
7 Maart 11:30
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

IRMA JOUBERT EN HANS DU PLESSIS
Aangebied deur LAPA-Uitgewers
Ilse Salzwedel vra twee topverkopers uit oor die inspirasie vir hulle jongste historiese verhale. Irma se Mentje – kind van Pas-Opkamp vertel van ‘n Nederlandse oorlogwesie, wat alleen ‘n onderduikkamp en die berugte Hongerwinter van 1944 en 1945 moet oorleef. Hans skryf ook oor ‘n kinderkarakter in Drie vroue en ‘n meisie, wat handel oor vier geslagte vroue op die Hoëveld en hulle droom van ‘n beter lewe.
7 Maart 12:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

FRIK DU PREEZ BY TOWERBOSCH
In gesprek met Mannetjies Roux en Johnny Davids
In 2015 is hy verkies as ons Rugbyspeler van die 20e Eeu, maar Frik du Preez kan ook lekker spot dat hy op sy dag die kortste slot in die wêreld was. Hy was een van die grotes in ‘n tyd van amateurrugby, toe die Bokspan voor ‘n oorsese toer deur die bestuur vermaan is om hulle tande deeglik te laat versorg en darem “een goeie sportsbaadjie [sic]” in te pak. Dié rugby-ikoon, wat kon drop, place én score, is vanjaar die US Woordfees se eregas wanneer die universiteit sy eie eeufees vier. Kom ontmoet die bul van ‘n oud-rugbyspeler, wat – ondanks kanker en ‘n hartaanval – jare jonger as 82 lyk wanneer hy saampraat met oud- Bok-”kollega” Mannetjies Roux en Supersport se Johnny Davids oor ‘n somerse feesmaal.
7 Maart 12:30
150 min | Towerbosch | R400 (Plek is beperk.)

WOORD-EN-WYNETE
’n US Woordfees-aanbieding in samewerking met Stellenbosch Wynroete
Kom kuier op Somerbosch saam met fliekkenner en skrywer Leon van Nierop en die plaas se wynmaker oor ’n heerlike langtafel-ete, met van die beste landgoed se beste wyne!
7 Maart 13:00
120 min | Somerbosch | R300

OORKANT JOU: ’N VERHAAL UIT DIE BINNEKAMER
Met Juliana Coetzer, in gesprek met Riette Rust
Aangebied deur Jonathan Ball Uitgewers
Sy het háár persoonlike reis met haar baie siek dogter in Bloedvreemd beskryf. Nou skryf Juliana oor die uiteenlopende mense – veral vroue – wat haar pad as psigoterapeut kruis. Riette gesels met haar oor swaarkry en herstel en hoe sy die leser op ‘n reis neem wat eintlik ons almal sʼn is: van grootword en eienaarskap neem.
7 Maart 14:00
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

WHOSE HISTORY IS IT ANYWAY?
With Fred Khumalo, Alexandra Fuller and Achmat Dangor
How important is it to keep telling accurate and unembellished stories about the past – even if it’s offensive or hurtful? Three writers discuss this with Sandra Swart. Fred used the sinking of the crew ship SS Mendi during the First World War as backdrop for Dancing the Death Drill. Alexandra wrote about growing up during the Rhodesian war in her debut and for her new novel, Quiet Until the Thaw, investigates the history of two Native American boys in a South Dakota reserve, while Achmat returns to the apartheid history in Dikeledi.
7 March 14:00
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

KLEINBOER: HIERDIE HUIS
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
Kleinboer (Fanie de Villiers) se nuwe boek voltooi die drieluik wat hy met sy bekroonde Kontrei en Werfsonde begin het. Dit is die roerende verhaal van ’n kompulsiewe, obsessiewe en seksverslaafde skrywer – een van die laaste wit inwoners van Yeoville in Johannesburg. Die gesprek met joernalis Albertus van Wyk word voorafgegaan deur Niel van Deventer se doccie om 15:00 oor die lewe van Kleinboer en sy oorlede vrou, Lungi.
7 Maart 15:00 Fliek | 16:00 Gesprek
45 min Fliek | 60 min Gesprek | Pulp Cinema Neelsie | R40 | R50 by die deur

ADAM SMALL: DENKER, DIGTER, DRAMATURG
Met Sandra Kotze, Cobus Rossouw, Steward van Wyk en Pieter Odendaal
Aangebied deur Protea Boekhuis
In 1974, tydens die eerste professionele opvoering van Kanna hy kô huis toe in die toe Nico Malan-teater, was die wit gehoor in vervoering oor dié poëtiese “nuwe stem”. Sandra was Makiet onder regie van Pieter Fourie en Cobus, Kanna. In ‘n gesprek met Heindrich Wyngaard onthou dié twee teatergrotes daardie vroeë verhoogdae, terwyl Steward terugkyk na Small se letterkundige nalatenskap en Pieter sy aangrypende gedig voorlees oor sy pa en Adam Small.
7 Maart 15:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

GRIEKELAND EN ROME IN SUID-AFRIKA
Met Amy Daniëls, Philip Bosman, Jo-Marie Claassen en Samantha Masters
Aangebied deur Cambridge University Press
Is die Klassieke oudheid handlanger van die kolonialisme? In South Africa, Greece, Rome: Classical Confrontations, ‘n bundel essays met Grant Parker van Stanford University as die redakteur, word aspekte van antieke Grieks-Romeinse kultuur in Suid-Afrika bespreek – van Romeinse reg tot die Grondwet, argitektuur en kuns tot opvoeding, die kolonialis Rhodes tot die bevryder Mandela, en die bevrydende invloed van Griekse drama. Annemaré Kotzé lei die gesprek.
7 Maart 15:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

RECCES KAN OOK KOOK
In gesprek met Alexander Strachan
Aangebied deur Jonathan Ball Uitgewers
Oud-Recces Justin Vermaak en Johnny Maass lig in ‘n gesprek met Zander, ‘n bekroonde skrywer van onder meer Bosoorlogromans en self ‘n oud-Recce, die sluier oor ‘n geheime vaardigheid van dié elite-groep soldate: Hulle kon kos maak. In Recce-resepte vir kos, die bos, die lewe vertel hulle van gebraaide luislang, of goudvis-sushi, afgewissel met stories oor die Forte, die daaglikse roetine en ‘n besonderse lewensfilosofie.
7 Maart 15:30
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

ANTOINETTE PIENAAR: DIE LANG MAN SONDER SKADUWEE
In gesprek met Dave Pepler
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
Die geliefde RSG-kruievrou en topverkoper-skrywer van Kruidjie roer my sit in haar jongste boek haar roeping as geneser voort. Sy en haar getroue vennoot, Oom Johannes, vertel Dave hoe Karookruie ingespan kan word om allerhande kwale te genees, en watter krag in die ou stories, raaisels en rympies van die Griekwa-mense skuil.
7 Maart 17:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

SCHALK VAN DER MERWE: ON RECORD
Met Andries ‘Roof’ Bezuidenhout
Aangebied deur African Sun Media
In On Record; Music an Society in Recorded Popular Afrikaans Music Records, 1900-2017 bekyk Schalk die geskiedenis van opgeneemde populêre musiek – van die eerste opnames van die Transvaalse volkslied tydens die Boereoorlog, tot Steve Hofmeyr se optredes die afgelope twee jaar. Hy en Andries gesels oor wat hy raakgesien het en maak daarna saam musiek.
7 Maart 17:00
85 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

SKOLLIE KUIER IN IDASVALLEI
In gesprek met Heindrich Wyngaard
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
Noem my Skollie, die fliek wat op die lewe van John W Fredericks gegrond is, het gehore landwyd ontroer. Kom hoor hoe gesels Oom John met RSG se Heindrich oor sy aangrypende verhaal en die mag van ‘n beginselbesluit. Want dis in die tronk dat dié man besef het hy is by ‘n kruispad en net hy kan hom red.
7 Maart 19:30
120 min | Idasvallei-biblioteek | R50 | R60 by die deur

BOEKKLUB: ANDRÉ P BRINK EN DIE SPEL VAN LIEFDE
Met Leon de Kock, in gesprek met Tim Huisamen
In ‘n eksklusiewe steelkykie in Leon se biografie-in-wording oor André P Brink verklap die skrywer meer oor Brink se sikliese liefdesintriges en word sy 50-jaar lange joernaalskrywery vir die eerste keer onder oë geneem. Tim, lank ‘n kollega van Brink aan Rhodes-universiteit op Grahamstad, vra Leon veral uit oor die Ingrid Jonker-storie, wat in dié boek vir die eerste keer deur Brink se eie oë vertel word – met verbysterende nuwe detail.
7 Maart 19:15 vir 19:45
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur (glas wyn is ingesluit)

 

Donderdag 8 Maart


 
ALEX MOUTON: IRON IN THE SOUL
In gesprek met Hermann Giliomee
Aangebied deur Protea Boekhuis
Dit neem uitsonderlike karaktereienskappe – of “iron in the soul”, om Van Zyl Slabbert aan te haal – om die leier van die amptelike opposisie te wees. Alex en Hermann, skrywer van Die laaste Afrikanerleiers, bespreek die loopbane van die sogenaamde politieke “verloorders” voor 1994.
8 Maart 09:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

DIE SMIT-MOORDE – ‘EK IS LIZA SMIT’
Met Liza Smit, in gesprek met Ilse Salzwedel
Angebied deur Jacana Media
Veertig jaar sedert die raaiselmoorde op NP-politikus Robert Smit en sy vrou in hulle Springs-tuiste, met RAU TEM teen die muur geverf as enigste leidraad, is die moordenaars steeds soek. Liza, hulle dogter, was toe 13. Deur die jare het sy haar eie ondersoeke gedoen en selfs ‘n verslag daaroor aan die WVK voorgelê. Weens doodsdreigemente moes sy en haar kinders selfs in ‘n getuiebeskermingsprogram geplaas word. In ‘n eksklusiewe voorskou vertel sy haar verhaal, wat later vanjaar in boekvorm verskyn, aan Ilse Salzwedel.
8 Maart 09:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

PIETER-DIRK UYS: WEERKLINK VAN ’N WANKLANK
Aangebied deur Missing Ink
Pieter-Dirk vind in sy 72e jaar die moed om die storie agter die stories te vertel in dié teatermemoires, wat saam met sy Engelse weergawe, Echo Of A Noise, nou in boekvorm verskyn. Hy bied ‘n kaleidoskoop van ‘n lewe vol gelag en gesag – van sy familie in Pinelands met Ma Helga en Pa Hannes, wat met liefde, musiek en dissipline sy lewensiening help vorm het, tot die latere spartelings met sensuur en Nasionale Party-kaskenades. Kom beleef dele van die boeke as opvoering, maar hoor ook hoe die verwerking die storie help ontwikkel het.
8 Maart 09:30
90 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

TAALSPELETJIES MET GERHARD VAN HUYSSTEEN
8 Maart 09:30
60 min | Die Plataan | Gratis

KOSDEMO: TEETYD MET MARTJIE
Aangebied deur Quivertree
Koekedoor se Martjie Malan publiseer binnekort haar eerste bakboek wat enige bakgierige sal inspireer met sy resepte en delikate waterverf-illustrasies deur Claudia Liebenberg. Sy gee wenke oor hoe om met ‘n basis te begin en dan voort te bou op variasies daarvan. Proe van dié bakjuwele saam met ‘n koppie tee en kry daarna die gratis resepkaartjies.
8 Maart 10:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

HIGH TEA MET KRISTEL LOOTS
Aangebied deur LAPA-Uitgewers
Liefdesverhaalveteraan Kristel Loots vier haar verjaarsdag in styl, maar sy vermoed daar’s fout op haar ID. Daar’s geen manier waarop sy nou al 70 kan word nie – sy voel dan nog so jonk! Elias P Nel, bekend om sy droë sin vir humor, vra haar uit oor waar haar inspirasie vir haar nimmereindigende stroom vermaaklike boeke vandaan kom, of sy gebore is met haar rooi hare, en hoe sy oor ouer hoofkarakters voel. (Sy luister af, sê sy!)
8 Maart: 10:30
120 min | Oude Werf Hotel | R250 | R270

KAREL SCHOEMAN SE LAASTE STEMME
Met Dan Sleigh, Louise Viljoen, Cas Wepener en Tim Huisamen
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Dié historiese improvisasie is een van die laaste literêre nalatenskappe voor Schoeman se afsterwe in 2017. Dit is ook die laaste teks waar hy sy hand aan fiksionele stemme waag – die opklink van ‘n menigte immigrante aan die Kaap. Aan die hand hiervan, word gekyk na dié skrywer se bydrae tot die Afrikaanse letterkunde en hoekom hy ‘n “anderster” Sestiger was, waarna elke deelnemer sy/haar mooiste Schoeman-roman kies.
8 Maart 10:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

HANNELIE GROENEWALD: TERREUR IN KABOEL
In gesprek met Juliana Coetzer
Aangebied deur Lux Verbi
Vier jaar gelede is ‘n Pretoriase ma se man en twee kinders uitgewis in ‘n terreuraanval op hulle huis in Kaboel, waar Hannelie se man opheffingswerk gedoen en sy as dokter gewerk het. Net hulle een hondjie, Chico, het oorleef. Hanneli vertel aan skrywer en terapeut Juliana Coetzer (Oorkant jou) van daardie dag en hoekom sy vergifnis bo bitterheid kies.
8 Maart 11:30
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

RUDIE VAN RENSBURG: HANS STEEK DIE RUBICON OOR
In gesprek met Kerneels Breytenbach
Aangebied deur Queillerie
Hans wil op 90 op sy éie terme oud word en sommer gou neem hy Huis Madeliefie op horings met ’n properse ouetehuisopstand. Kerneels vra die bekende misdaadskrywer uit oor sy bitterlik snaakse roman, waar daggakoekies, ontkleedansers en vet sports aan die orde van die dag is.
8 Maart 12:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

WOORD-EN-WYNETE
’n US Woordfees-aanbieding in samewerking met Stellenbosch Wynroete.
Kom kuier op L’Avenir saam met die bekende TV-persoonlikheid en nou ook misdaadskrywer Franz Marx en die plaas se wynmaker oor ’n heerlike langtafel-ete, met van die landgoed se beste wyne!
8 Maart 13:00
120 min | L’Avenir | R300

HARTEBREKER: CHRIS BARNARD EN DIE EERSTE HARTOORPLANTING
Met James-Brent Styan, in gesprek met Gilbert Gibson
Aangebied deur Jonathan Ball Uitgewers
Die flambojante liefdeslewe, huwelike (en egskeidings) van hartchirurg Christiaan Barnard het soms die impak van sy historiese eerste hartoorplanting en verstommende mediese suksesse oorskadu. Maar 50 jaar later is sy prestasie des te meer merkwaardig – veral as gekyk word na eksklusiewe foto’s (wat ook gewys sal word). Gilbert, mediese dokter en digter, vra James uit – ook oor Hamilton Naki, die swart tegnikus wat saam met sy vriende die chirurg agter die skerms gehelp het.
8 Maart 14:00
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

REDI TLHABI: KHWEZI
In conversation with Adriaan Basson
Presented by Jonathan Ball Publishers
The book touched a nerve: More than 400 people attended the launch; 10 000 copies were sold in a week. Adriaan Basson asks the well known talk show radio host and author why, and what price Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo – better known as Khwezi – ultimately paid as the woman who dared to accuse Zuma of rape.
8 March 14:00
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

FRANSJOHAN PRETORIUS: VERSKROEIDE AARDE
In gesprek met Carel van der Merwe
Aangebied deur Tafelberg
Die redakteur van dié bygewerkte glans-weergawe van 2001 se topverkoper oor die Britte se verskroeide aarde-beleid tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog vertel meer omtrent die nuwe inhoud, soos die storie van Lizzie van Zyl (die foto van ‘n uitgeteerde meisie op ‘n bed), swart sterfgevalle in die kampe, en Emily Hobhouse se lewe ná die oorlog. Hy gesels met Carel, wat self navorsing oor die oorlog gedoen het vir Donker stroom.
8 Maart 15:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

GERARD SEKOTO: FIELIES EN POTE
Met Melvyn Minnaar, Barbara Lindop en Marelize van Zyl
Op 60 het die kunstenaar Gerard Sekoto ‘n prenteboekie vir kinders – oor twee stout honde – geskryf en geïllustreer. Dié storie is in 2013, 100 jaar ná sy geboorte, in 12 tale vertaal, insluitende as Fielies en Pote in Afrikaans.. ‘n Beperkte oplaag van net 100 van dié pragboekie is spesiaal vir die 100-jaarviering van die US herdruk en te koop. Kunsjoernalis Melvyn gesels met Barbara, voorsitter van die Sekoto Trust, wat Sekoto tydens sy selfopgelegde ballingskap in Frankryk hoor sing het (een manier waarop hy aan die lewe kon bly), en Marelize van Aspire Art, oor die gesogtheid van sy werk vandag – iets wat hy nooit beleef het voor sy dood in ‘n ouetuis in die vreemde nie.
8 Maart 15:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

VROUE IN VERANDERING
Met Christi van der Westhuizen, Sylvia Vollenhoven, Annie Klopper en Bettina Wyngaard
Wat haar fassineer van ’n manlike teenwoordigheid, sê Antjie Krog nadat sy die Hertzogprys vir poësie ontvang het, is “mans gaan nooit net weg nie, mans vat ook die mag saam met hulle weg en dan bly daar nou net ’n klomp vrouens oor en skielik daal die statuur van daardie beroep”… Op Internasionale Vrouedag debatteer vier skrywers oor vroue en hulle identiteit in Suid-Afrika vandag: Hoe het dit verander, hoe kry dit in hulle werk beslag, is daar so iets soos vroue wat mekaar bemagtig, of is presies die teenoorgestelde waar? Lou-Marie Kruger doen die vrawerk.
8 Maart 15:30
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

DAMES EN HERE, LEONARD COHEN!
Met Danie Marais, Kerneels Breytenbach en Andries ‘Roof’ Bezuidenhout
Die Kanadese digter-troebadoer, skepper van ‘Suzanne’ (1967) en ‘Hallelujah’ (1984), is in November 2016 op 82 dood ná ‘n verstommende oplewing laat in sy loopbaan. ‘n Deeglike evaluering van die poësie in sy lirieke, met nuwe insigte, baie bewondering en heelwat heimwee. As bonus sing Andries die onbekender lang weergawe van ‘So long, Marianne’.
8 Maart 17:00
75 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

HARTLAM – LIEFDE MET TANDE
Met Malene Breytenbach, Pieter van Zyl en Gerda Taljaard
Aangebied deur Tafelberg
Liefde het vele gedaantes: Erotiese liefde, moederliefde, gewelddadige liefde, verbode liefde, liefde tot die dood toe… Verken die vele gesigte van liefde, en nie almal is mooi nie. Madri Victor doen die vrawerk.
8 Maart 17:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

JOGA & VEGETARIES
Met Marlien Wright
Aangebied deur Jacana Media
Haar resepteboek The Yoga Kitchen – 100 Easy Superfood Recipes was só gewild dat die joga en Pilates-instrukteur Marlien Wright dit verlede jaar met ’n gereelde nuusbrief, die Secret Supper Club, opgevolg het. Hierin gee sy inligting, wenke en resepte oor die jongste tendense in gesonde kos en konsentreer sy veral op hoe om weerstand teen veroudering op te bou. Sluit by haar aan vir ’n uur se joga in ’n groen binnehof langs ’n fontein, kry pitkos oor gesondheid, en ontspan dan buite of binne met ’n heerlike vegetariese ete, geïnspireer deur Marlien se resepte.
8 Maart 18:00
120 min | Debut @ The Private Hotel School | R180 | R190 by die deur (Plek is beperk)

STORIEVUUR: RECCE-RESEPTE VIR KOS EN DIE LEWE
Aangebied deur Jonathan Ball Uitgewers
Recces kén van stories vertel. Hulle deel net nie alles nie. Wat Justin Vermaak en Johnny Maass wel deel, saam met Zander Strachan en nog ‘n paar oud-kollegas, is stories uit Recce-resepte vir kos, die bos, die lewe: wat hulle geëet het, waar – en hoe – hulle dit gemaak het, die Forte en die bos.
8 Maart 18:30
60 min | Die Plataan | Gratis

BOEKKLUB: RAY KLUUN, DIE ONWILLIGE SUPERSTER
In gesprek met Francois Smith
Moontlik gemaak deur SASNEV
Dit sit nie in enigeen se broek om 1,2 miljoen eksemplare van ‘n boek te verkoop nie. Te meer as dit jou debuut is en jy dit eintlik geskryf het om skuld en rou op papier uit te stort. Dis die storie van Raymond van de Klundert, kortweg Ray Kluun, of net Kluun, ‘n kultusfiguur in Nederlandse skrywerskringe. Komt een vrouw bij de dokter, (in Engels Love Life en in Afrikaans as ‘n Vrou gaan dokter toe) was ‘n fiktiewe weergawe van sy ervaring as ‘n jong man wat sy vrou, vir wie hy baie lief was, se terminale siekte net kon verwerk deur al hoe meer klubs toe te gaan en by ander vroue te slaap. Sy jongste roman is DJ. Francois Smith, wat sy debuut in Afrikaans vertaal het, vra hom uit oor die geweldige reaksie wat die boek uitgelok het en of hy dinge anders sou wou doen as hy kon.
8 Maart 19:15 vir 19:45
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur (glas wyn is ingesluit)

OUERAAND IN IDASVALLEI
Met Pieter van Jaarsveld
Aangebied deur Lux Verbi
Hoe maak jy ‘n gelukkige kind groot? Dis iets waarna elke ouer streef. Kom luister na Pieter, wat wêreldwyd as leierskapontwikkelingskonsultant vir maatskappye optree, wanneer hy gesels oor sy boek, ‘n Gelukkige kind. Pieter gee hierin raad oor hoe jy jou kinders kan grootmaak om positiewe en gelukkige mense te wees deur hulle “reg te bedraad” met wetenskaplik getoetste speletjies en oefeninge. Eindig die aand met ‘n koppie tee en ‘n kans om die skrywer persoonlik uit te vra.
8 Maart 19:30
120 min | Idasvallei-biblioteek | R80 | R90 by die deur
 

Vrydag 9 Maart


 
FRANS RAUTENBACH: SOUTH AFRICA CAN WORK
In gesprek met Edwin Cameron
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
In sy uitdagende boek oor wat Suid-Afrika kan laat werk, stel dié arbeidsregadvokaat ‘n volledige hervorming van beleidsdenke voor. Maar dit kom nie sonder ‘n hele paar ongewilde stellings nie – veral in die oë van die regerende party. Edwin Cameron, regter in die Grondwetlike Hof, is net so goed met omstredenheid bekend nadat hy in Witness To Aids (2005) lynreg van Thabo Mbeki se vigsbeleid verskil het. Die twee bespreek wanneer dit die regte tyd is om teen die stroom te praat, hoe jy jou tyd kies, en hoe jy weet of jou waarheid dié waarheid is.
9 Maart 09:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

CARINA STANDER: DIE BERGENGEL
Aangebied deur Protea Boekhuis
Die verhaal van ‘n mitiese bergengel en die jong Eron Verberger se lewensveranderende avontuurreis deur die land Gabriëllië is die onderwerp van Carina se fantasieverhaal. Sy vertel meer omtrent haar karakters en inspirasie aan die hand van die 30 sketse wat sy vir haar boek gemaak het.
9 Maart 09:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

KOSDEMO: ANNA-CAROLINA SKEP BOTTER EN LIEFDE
Aangebied deur Quivertree
‘Kom sit ‘n bietjie,’ is die leuse van die jong kosskrywer en plaaskind van Pipeklipberg in Mpumalanga, deesdae ‘n bekende TV-kosstilis in die Kaap. Anna-Carolina – of Caro – Alberts wys hoe jy die waarheid en eenvoud van gister in die mooi en modern van vandag kan omskep – of sommer ‘n plaastafel in ‘n onthaaltafel.
10 Maart 10:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

TAALSPELETJIES MET GERHARD VAN HUYSSTEEN
9 Maart 09:30
60 min | Die Plataan | Gratis

MARLENE VAN NIEKERK – DIE DIGTER
Met Louise Viljoen
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Vier jaar ná Kaar verskyn twee digbundels deur dié Hertzogpryswenner vir poësie. Louise Viljoen ontsluit die beeldgedigte van In die stille agterkamer en Gesant van die mispels aan die hand van foto’s van die werk van die Nederlandse skilders Adriaen Coorte (1659-1707) en Jan Mankes (1889-1920), waarop die gedigte gegrond is. In ‘n opname kan Marlene ook gehoor word waar sy self van die gedigte voorlees.
9 Maart 10:00
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

DANA SNYMAN EN NATHAN TRANTRAAL – DIE KLEURE VAN ONS LAND
Aangebied deur Tafelberg en Kwela
‘n Reisskrywer en digter vertel elkeen skrynend eerlik die stories van hulle mense – Dana in sy reisverhaalbundel Op pad, en Nathan in Wit issie ‘n colour nie, oor die lewe in die buitewyke van die Kaapse Vlakte. Loftus Marais vra hulle uit.
9 Maart 10:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

DIE RESTAURANT AS MISDAADTONEEL
Met Schalk Schoombie en Irna van Zyl, in gesprek met Kerneels Breytenbach
‘n Bekende kosresensent sterf onverklaarbaar en ‘n ongewilde sjef word ná ‘n hewige tantrum die volgende oggend dood in sy kombuis gevind. Oud-joernaliste Schalk (Rooi haring) en Irna (Gifbeker) gesels met Kerneels Breytenbach oor hoe ons jongste koshebbelikhede en die moderne onthaalwese vrugbare teelaarde is vir ‘n komiese misdaadsatire, of hoëoktaan-spanningsverhaal.
9 Maart 11:30
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

LAG-LAG DIE MOEILIKSTE
Met Rudie van Rensburg, Bennie Fourie, Beer Adriaanse en Ernest van der Kwast
Moontlik gemaak deur die Kaapse Forum vir Neerlandistiek en SASNEV
Twee romanskrywers en twee draaiboekskrywers het een ding in gemeen: Hulle stories is snááks! Rudie skryf oor ‘n ouetehuisopstand en die Nederlander Ernest van der Kwast oor sy Indiese mama met die koekroller, terwyl Bennie en Beer TV-kykers laat skaterlag met kykNET se Hotel. Hulle vertel vir Bibi Slippers hoe swaarkry lekkerkry word.
9 Maart 12:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

KOSDEMO: GEURE VAN DIE BO-KAAP
Aangebied deur Quivertree
Hulle noem haar Laysa, maar eintlik sien sy haarself as Liza Minnelli. Want sien, as ‘n mens nie personality het nie, hoe oorleef jy die dag wanneer jou man loop om brood te koop en terugkom met ‘n ander vrou? Nee wat, vandag leef Ms Jabaar haar passie voor die kospotte uit in al die eksotiese geure so reg uit die glansboek Bo-Kaap Kitchen. Kom leer by haar en vriendin Shireen Narkedien omtrent die geheimenisse van speserye en tradisionele Maleier-kerries, knibbel aan happies soos bollas en ope bekkies, en hoor wat jy nooit by ‘n begrafnis kan voorsit nie!
9 Maart 14:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

GERDA TALJAARD: DIE LAKSMAN SE DOGTER
In gesprek met Marita van der Vyver
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
Wat doen dit aan ‘n dogter om te hoor haar pa was ‘n laksman in die vorige politieke bedeling? Was dit wat Rosaria van haar dogter vervreem het en wat tot dié jong rock-ster se dood gelei het en Rosaria se eie makabere fassinasie met opgestopte voëltjies? Marita hoor meer by die skrywer wat bekend is vir haar romans ‘n Engel in die hoenderhok en Kelder.
9 Maart 14:00
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

LEON VAN NIEROP: KATELKNAAP
In gesprek met Francois Bloemhof
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
Die vervaardiger, skrywer en fliekresensent gee nou die voorafstorie van Plesierengel, waarin ons vir Tristan Hansen leer ken het – die jongman wat deur die rykste vroue in Johannesburg vir sy “dienste” betaal word. Nou hoor ons wat hom sy lewenspaadjie laat kies het en onmoet ook die vroue wat hom gelei, gevorm en opgelei het. Francois Bloemhof gesels met Leon oor dié witwarm gigolo-storie.
9 Maart 14:00
60 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

CECILE CILLIERS: DIE OU VROU EN DIE PRIESTER EN ANDER KORTVERHALE
In gesprek met Martie Meiring
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Een van die bekende Boeksusters (met sus Madeleine van Biljon nog op M-Net) en gewilde rubriekskrywer het eindelik haar eerste eie kortverhaalbundel die lig laat sien. Sy gesels met Martie oor haar temas, soos wat in ’n huwelik ongesê bly, die oorweldigende blindheid van ’n eerste liefde, die menigte vorms wat verlies kan aanneem, en bowenal die uitdagings wat met ouderdom gepaardgaan.
9 Maart 15:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

’N ANDER MANIER VAN DRUK*
HAT: druk: (deur ‘n pers) op papier aanbring
Met Pieter-Dirk Uys, Brent Meersman, Joan Kruger, Jaco van der Merwe en Wikus de Wet, in gesprek met Riana Barnard
Vandag kan ‘n president die wêreld met 140 karakters regeer en ‘n sakeman sy onderneming via ‘n Wolk bestuur. En die boek is nog hier as boek! Of hulle nou hulle eie drukkery bedryf, soos Pieter-Dirk en Brent, ‘n familie-uitgewery soos Joan, of crowdfunding as finansiering gebruik soos Jaco en Wikus – daar ís deesdae vele opsies om boeke (goedkoper) te maak. Riana Barnard vind uit.
9 Maart 15:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

TOT DIE DOOD ONS SKEI
Met Schalk Schoombie en Julian Jansen, in gesprek met André le Roux
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau en Tafelberg
Wat dryf iemand om sy vrou of lewensmaat te vermoor? Of sy ouers? In Tot die dood ons skei kyk Schalk indringend na die verskynsel van ‘intieme vrouemoord’ en diep grusame voorbeelde op, terwyl Julian vir Die De Zalze-moorde die storie agter die storie vertel van dié skokkende Stellenbosse gesinsmoord. André, wat in Narsiste, psigopate, stalkers en sadiste verskeie moordenaarsprofiele ontleed, soek saam antwoorde.
9 Maart 17:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

LOFTUS EN BIBI: SLEGTE SEKS & GIN
Met Loftus Marais, Bibi Slippers, Desmond Painter, Ryan Pedro, Annie Klopper, Andries Bezuidenhout en Charlotte van den Broeck
Daar is te min gedigte oor slegte seks in Afrikaans, en te veel oor die natuur, voëls, God en die liefde. Ses Afrikaanse digters, een Vlaming en ‘n studentedigter is genooi om as deel van ‘n Vrydagaandse gin bar ‘n nuwe gedig oor slegte seks te kom voorlees saam met ‘n paar ander.
9 Maart 18:00
85 min | Drostdy-teater | R50 | R60 by die deur

STORIEVUUR: ANTOINETTE PIENAAR EN OOM JOHANNES
Angebied deur Penguin Random House
Antoinette is die kruievrou van RSG en saam met haar getroue vennoot, Oom Johannes, vertel sy stories uit haar nuwe boek, Die lang man sonder skaduwee, en oor die genesende, soms selfs towerkragte van kruie.
9 Maart 18:30
60 min | Die Plataan | Gratis

BOEKKLUB: 55 VOOR 12/ 55 TO 12 – SKRYWERS OM DIE LANGTAFEL
Met Jacques Pauw, Valda Jansen, Alexandra Fuller, SJ Naudé, Masande Ntshanga, Eben Venter, Fred Khumalo, Ghaireyah Fredericks, Jolyn Phillip, Sean Christie, Marita van der Vyver en Heindrich Wyngaard, in gesprek met Jean Meiring
Twaalf skrywers – Afrikaans en Engels – kom bymekaar teen die agtergrond van toenemende vreemdelingehaat en onrus wêreldwyd en die verkrummeling van magstrukture om vrae uit te trap, soos wat beteken dit om in vandag se werklikheid te skryf en wie kry die reg om sê wat dié werklikheid is? Kan jy nog as skrywer ‘n bydrae maak om 55 minute voor 12? Regsgeleerde en gereelde boekresensent Jean Meiring is die gespreksleier.
9 Maart 19:15 vir 19:45
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur (glas wyn is ingesluit)

STORIEVUUR: ONS BESTE SPOOKSTORIES
Kom sit ounag en luister na van die beste spookstories versamel in Constant Companions: South African Tales of the Supernatural, bymekaargemaak deur Annel Pieterse en geskryf deur studente van UWK en US en deelnemers aan InZync se INKcredible-poësieslypskole vir skoliere.
9 Maart 22:00
60 min | Die Plataan | Gratis
 

Saterdag 10 Maart


 
KOM BAK SAAM MET DIE KOKKEDOORTJIES!
Met Martjie Malan
Spesiaal net vir kinders: Kom kuier saam met twee deelnemers aan die Kokkedoortjie TV-reeks en leer bak saam met Martjie Malan, wat haar eie kookskool vir kinders het en medeskrywer was vir die Kokkedoortjie én nuwe Koekedoortjie-reekse. Jou sintuie sal gons, jou vingers sal woel en jou kakebeen sal wikkel! Ingesluit: bakpret met twee heerlike resepte in The Private Hotel School se professionele opleidingskombuis, werk in ‘n span met ‘n maat, eet wat jy bak en neem die res huis toe plus as bonus ‘n verrassingspakkie met geskenkies en ‘n gratis Kokkedoortjie-kookboek ter waarde van R310! Vir ouers wat moet wag, is daar koffie en eetgoed, of ‘n spesiale ontbytdemo – sien Ontbytdemo vir ouers.
3, 10 Maart: 09:00-11:30
150 min | Debut @ The Private Hotel School | R350 (Net 20 plekke vir kinders 9-13 per klas)

ONTBYTDEMO VIR OUERS
Aandag alle ouers van woelige kinders. Terwyl die klein Kokkedoortjies by die Private Hotel School bak en brou, word ’n weglê-ontbyt vir die ouers voorgesit. Die professionele sjefs wys jou hoe ’n ou gunsteling, Eggs Benedict, in ’n japtrap opgetower kan word sonder om op eiers te loop in die kombuis.
3, 10 Maart: 09:00-11:30
150 min | Debut @ The Private Hotel School | R115

KOSDEMO: MARILYN KUIER EN KOOK!
Aangebied deur LAPA-Uitgewers
Kuier se tuiskok het as jong bruid van ‘n dominee op Loeriesfontein beland en dáár geleer van tydbestuur. Ook kosdiplomasie, want dis met haar maklike, vinnige en lekker resepte dat Marilyn Gantana die susters se guns kon wen!
10 Maart 10:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

RIAN VAN HEERDEN: DINGE WAT EK NIÉ MOES GESÊ HET NIE
In gesprek met Ivor Price
Aangebied deur Tafelberg
Met sy eerste verskyning op TV as hoërskool-laaitie het Rian van Heerden reeds die volk die josie in gemaak. En sedertdien het dinge nie beter gegaan nie! Op sy aweregse manier en met ‘n goeie skoot humor vertel dié radio- en TV-persoonlikheid aan Ivor van sy boek, waarin hy wonder oor dáárdie dinge wat hom in die warmwater laat beland het.
10 Maart 10:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

ANDRÉ LE ROUX: WAAROM MANS ALTYD REG IS (EN ANDER ONNOSELHEDE)
In gesprek met Michélle van Breda
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Dié bundel bevat van die laaste (en skreeusnaaksste) rubrieke wat André le Roux vir SARIE geskryf het. Wat is dit met vroue en alewig inkopies doen? En hoekom wil mans nooit dokter toe gaan nie? André gesels met SARIE se redakteur, Michélle, oor (volgens hom) die hemelsbreë verskille tussen mans en vroue. En hoe jy eintlik net jou hart kan vashou oor hoe blind die liefde steeds is.
10 Maart 12:00
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60

JOHN W FREDERICKS: SKOLLIE
In gesprek met Herman Lategan
Aangebied deur Penguin Random House
Suid-Afrikaanse gehore was in verlede jaar in vervoering oor Noem my Skollie, die fliek wat op die lewe van John W. Fredericks gegrond is. Herman praat met John oor Skollie, sy aangrypende memoires, getik met net met één vinger, sy lewe as ‘n bendelid en Pollsmoor-tronkvoël, en hoe sy talent om stories te vertel hom laat oorleef het sodat hy hom vandag “‘n skrywer” kan noem.
10 Maart 12:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

THULI AND TIM AT GUARDIAN PEAK
With Thuli Madonsela, in conversation with Tim du Plessis
Adv Thuli Madonsela shows without question that dynamite comes in small packages. In seven years the former Public Protector has achieved what few accomplish in a lifetime, often praised and vilified in equal measures. Looking back at her time in office, she said the role is akin to that of the Venda traditional spiritual female leader, the Makhadzi, who whispers truth to the king or the ruler. And a ruler who ignores the Makhadzi does so at his peril. Sample a three-course meal prepared by the legendary Rust en Vrede chef, listening to former Rapport editor and columnist Tim du Plessis enjoying some rare personal time with this woman of steel.
10 March 12:30
180 min | Guardian Peak Winery and Restaurant | R950

KOSDEMO: BOEREKOS MET ’N TWIST
Aangebied deur Human & Rousseau
Annelien Pienaar ’n kwyllekker kinkel aan die eenvoudige huiskos wat jou ma, ouma en oumagrootjie gemaak het. Sy deel van haar 140 familieresepte, wat elkeen die “resep-met-’n-les”-konsep voortsit wat haar blog so suksesvol maak.
10 Maart 14:00
60 min | Die Khaya | R70 | R80 by die deur

TREE AAN: DIGTERS IN AKSIE!
Met Churchil Naudé, Jolyn Phillips en Charlotte van den Broeck, met Danie Marais aan die stuur
Moontlik gemaak deur NB-Uitgewers, die Kaapse Forum vir Neerlandistiek, SASNEV en die Vlaamse Regering
Van die Kaapse Vlakte tot Antwerpen wys dié digters wat van ‘n gedig ‘n show maak. Die Kaapse rapper en woordtowenaar Churchil ‘Meneer Naudé’ Naudé, die Gansbaaise digter Jolyn Phillips en die veelbekroonde Vlaamse digter en verhoogkunster Charlotte van den Broeck vertel – en wys – hoe jy poësie voordra, uit jou kop lees, met die gehoor speel, kletsrym, en jou verhoogvrees beheer sónder om beheer te verloor.
10 Maart 14:00
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

VAN LIEF EN LEED EN ALLES TUSSEN-IN
Met Elsa Winckler
Aangebied deur Kwela en Human & Rousseau
Elsa gesels met Jacolet van den Berg en Juanita Aggenbach, skrywers van Hoë hakke met hoogwater en Gister is verby oor lekkerleesromans en hoe belangrik dit is om van die werklikheid en swaarkry te ontsnap, of is dit hoe jy lesers lok: deur stories te vertel wat soos hulle eie voel.
10 Maart 14:00
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

DIE INTIMITEIT VAN SKRYF
Met Dominique Botha, Valda Jansen, Kluun en Ernest van der Kwast
Moontlik gemaak deur NB-Uitgewers, die Kaapse Forum vir Neerlandistiek, SASNEV en die Vlaamse Regering
Vier skrywers gesels met Andries Visagie oor watter ryk stof jou naaste familie vir fiksie bied, maar watter verantwoordelikheid dit ook is. Vir Dominique, ook die vertaler van Camp Whore, was haar broer die inspirasie vir Valsrivier, vir Valda ‘n verlore geliefde in Hy kom met die skoenlappers, vir Kluun die dood van sy jong vrou, en vir die Nederlandse Ernest sy Indiese ma met die koekroller.
10 Maart 15:30
60 min | HB Thom-seminaarkamer | R50 | R60 by die deur

HYKIE BERG: ‘MY LEWE MET DWELMS’
In gesprek met Helana Olivier
Aangebied deur Lux Verbi
Ons hoor by die bekende akteur wanneer hy sy deurbraak gemaak het. En wanneer hy aan dwelms verslaaf geraak het. Hykie se persoonlike verhaal, wat sy laagtepunt het in ’n maksimum-sekuriteitsel in die Weskoppies-hospitaal, is een van suiwer genade.
10 Maart 15:30
60 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

DIGTERSPARADYS
Met Daniel Hugo, Gilbert Gibson, Jolyn Phillips, Pieter Fourie, Fourie Botha, Clinton V du Plessis, en Nuwe Stemme 6 se Remona Voges en Jaco van der Merwe
Aangebied deur NB-Uitgewers, Naledi en Penguin Random House
‘n Jaarlikse hoogtepunt wanneer bekende en debuutdigters uit hulle werk voorlees.
10 Maart 17:00
90 min | ATKV-Boektent | R50 | R60 by die deur

No Longer Whispering to Power

Book details

 
 

Rule of Law

 
 
 

Kokkedoortjie

 
 
 

The President's Keeper

 
 
 

Die DJ

 
 
 

Die Vrou in die Blou Mantel

 
 
 
 

Love Life

 
 
 
 

'n Vrou gaan doktor toe

 
 
 

The Book Club Cookbook

 
 
 

Reuben at Home

 
 
 
 

Huilboek

 
 
 
 

Hoezit, Antie. Vrikkie Hier.

 
 
 

Ramaphosa: The man who would be king

 
 
 

Die De Zalze-moorde

 
 
 

Deeg

 
 
 
 

Die reuk van appels

 
 
 

Spertyd

 
 
 

Groen soos die hemel daarbo

 
 
 

Spieëlbeeld

 
 
 

Boereverneukers!

 
 
 

Maalvleis

 
 
 
 

Kafka's Curse

 
 
 
 

Bitter Fruit

 
 
 
 

Dikeledi

 
 
 
 

Buys – ’n Grensroman

 
 
 
 

As By Fire

 
 
 
 

South Africa Can Work

 
 
 

Slot van die dag

 
 
 

Blood Money

 
 
 

New Times

 
 
 

Kook en Geniet

 
 
 

Dwarsklap

 
 
 
 

Stormkind

 
 
 

Die pluimsaad waai ver

 
 
 

Vandag is ek 'n windlawaai

 
 
 

Tussen vriende

 
 
 

Weerlose weerstand

 
 
 

Verlorenkop

 
 
 

Sê my, is julle twee susters?

 
 
 

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

 
 
 

Enemy of the People

  • Enemy of the People: How Jacob Zuma stole South Africa and how the people fought back by Adriaan Basson, Pieter du Toit
    EAN: 9781868428182
    Find this book with BOOK Finder!

 
 
 

The Republic of Gupta

 
 
 

65 Years of Friendship

 
 
 

Die derde spoel

 
 
 

Groen soos die hemel daarbo

 
 
 

Mentje: Kind van Pas-Opkamp

 
 
 

Drie vroue en 'n meisie

 
 
 

Bloedvreemd

 
 
 

Dancing the Death Drill

 
 
 

Quiet Until the Thaw

 
 
 

Werfsonde

 
 
 

Kontrei

 
 
 

Hierdie Huis

 
 
 

Kanna hy kô huistoe

 
 
 

Adam Small: Denker, digter, dramaturg - 'n Huldiging

 
 
 

Recce-Resepte

 
 
 

Kruidjie roer my

 
 
 

On Record

 
 
 

Skollie

 
 
 

Die laaste Afrikanerleiers

 
 
 

Hans steek die Rubicon oor

 
 
 

Hartebreker

 
 
 

Khwezi

 
 
 

Verskroeide Aarde

 
 
 

The Yoga Kitchen

 
 
 

Die Bergengel

 
 
 

In die stille agterkamer

 
 
 

Gesant van die mispels

 
 
 

Wit issie 'n colour nie

 
 
 

Rooi Haring

 
 
 

Bo-Kaap Kitchen

 
 
 

Tot die dood ons skei

 
 
 

Narsiste, psigopate, stalkers en sadiste

 
 
 

Marylin kuier en kook!

 
 
 

Hykie Berg - My Storie van Hoop

 
 
 

Nuwe Stemme 6

 
 
 

Valsrivier

 
 
 

Hy kom met die skoenlappers

↧

Entertaining, yet saccharine – Margaret von Klemperer reviews Tom Hanks’s Uncommon Type

February 22, 2018, 5:08 am
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Published in the Witness (21/02/2018)

Uncommon Type
Tom Hanks
William Heinemann Ltd

TOM Hanks has what I hope is a deserved reputation as Hollywood’s Mr Nice Guy, making him probably the most unlikely person there to be outed as yet another of the industry’s serial gropers.

It’s hard to even imagine him playing a villain, though apparently he did once play Proteus in Two Gentlemen of Verona. Now that he has turned his hand to fiction with this collection of short stories it would be pointless to expect anything dark or villainous here. Hanks is no Roald Dahl.

Apparently he is a collector of old typewriters – I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that and they must take up a lot of room, even if you have a Hollywood-style mansion – but never mind. Typewriters provide a tenuous connection between the stories, featuring more prominently in some than in others, but getting at least a mention in all of them. And some of the characters also appear more than once.
 

The two best stories have a hint of sci-fi about them. One, “Back from Back in Time”, deals with time travel, back to the World’s Fair in 1939. It is the only story in the collection that doesn’t have an entirely upbeat ending, of which more later.

The other, “Alan Bean Plus Four”, has four friends (who turn up in several of the stories) building a rocket in the back yard and setting off on a mildly hilarious trip round the moon, and back.

Obviously the publisher reckons that the author’s name will sell the book. Fair enough. There are plenty worse things being published, and as long as the reader treats this as something to dip into, rather than settle down to read from cover to cover, Uncommon Type offers entertainment. But the relentless happy endings do begin to pall. It’s a bit like living on an unvaried diet of lemon meringue pie – or watching endless re-runs of Forrest Gump. Once is fine, but something a little darker or more astringent would be welcome.

Just a bit less Mr Nice Guy to add some bite.

Book details

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