The second half of the year is well underway, so take a look at what lies in store, books-wise, until December.
Fiction fans have a lot to look forward to, with new novels from Fiona Snyckers, Deon Meyer, Wilbur Smith, Kathryn White, Alexander McCall Smith, Justin Cartwright and Zakes Mda, as well as eagerly anticipated second novels from Claire Robertson and HJ Golakai.
Fans of speculative fiction should look out for Tracer, the debut novel from Rob Boffard, and the new SL Grey, Under Ground.
There’s also quite a lot happening on the poetry front, with a new collection from Lesego Rampolokeng and the launch of the uHlanga New Poets series, starting with collections by Genna Gardini and Thabo Jijana.
Herman Mashaba’s Capitalist Crusader, the follow-up to his bestselling Black Like You, is out in August, and there are exciting new books by Breyten Breytenbach and Moeletsi Mbeki, as well as a collection of never-before-seen letters between André Brink and Ingrid Jonker that is sure to cause some hearts to flutter.
If you think we’ve left something out, feel free to let us know in the comments below, or on Facebook or Twitter.
Take a look at equivalent story from earlier this year to see if there was anything you missed:
Note: Covers are subject to change, and information was provided by the publishers
JULY
The Unknown Van Gogh, by Chris Schoeman
Zebra Press
Non-fiction
Much has been written about Vincent van Gogh and his tempestuous relationship with his brother Theo. But few people know that there was a third Van Gogh brother, Cornelis, who was raised in the Netherlands, but worked, married and died in South Africa.
Chris Schoeman’s biography of Cor van Gogh recreates South Africa in the last decade of the nineteenth century, tells the personal story of this young uitlander, as revealed in his letters, and describes his relationship with his famous brother Vincent. With new insights based on original research, this book is an important addition to South African and world history.
Incredible Journey: Stories that Move You edited by Joanne Hichens
Jacana Media/Burnet Media
Fiction (Short Stories)
The new Short.Sharp.Stories anthology, Incredible Journey, is out now – containing the winning short stories from this year’s Short.Sharp.Stories competition, which were announced in July.
Two Dogs/Mercury will be doing a series of interviews with the winning authors on Books LIVE – check out the first, with Andrew Salomon, here!
As the only regular collection of short fiction writing in South Africa, the Short.Sharp.Stories initiative, published in conjunction with the National Arts Festival, is playing an increasingly important role in the nurturing and development of South African writing talent. Bloody Satisfied and Adults Only were both positively reviewed, and have given widespread exposure to more than 40 local authors.
Home. Food from My Kitchen, by Sarah Graham
Struik Lifestyle
Non-fiction
Building on the success of her two previous books, and in support of her TV series, Sarah Graham’s Food Safari, Home. Food from My Kitchen encapsulates cooking throughout southern Africa.
Within the standard cookbook format of Brunch, Salads, Soups, Snacks, Meat, Poultry, Pasta, Seafood, Desserts and Baking, Sarah Graham presents food that is simple but beautiful, delicious and healthy.
Tracer, by Rob Boffard
Jonathan Ball
Fiction
Rob Boffard is a South African journalist and author who slits his time between London, Vancouver and Johannesburg. Tracer is his first novel.
Sarah Lotz calls Tracer “fast, exhilarating and unforgettable”.
Our planet is in ruins. Three hundred miles above its scarred surface orbits Outer Earth: a space station with a million souls on board. They are all that remains of the human race.
Pappa in Doubt, by Anton Kannemeyer
Jacana Media
Art
With Pappa in Doubt, Anton Kannemeyer returns to the fertile land that he explored to brilliant satiric effect in Pappa in Afrika (2010). Once again parodying Herge’s Tintin in the Congo (1931), Kannemeyer exposes the contradictions and paradoxes of life in the postcolony.
The artist is as provocative as he is playful, and does not spare himself the relentless, humorous scrutiny to which he subjects politicians, despots and his neighbours in the leafy suburbs.
Kannemeyer and Conrad Botes founded Bitterkomix as students at Stellenbosch University.
Under Ground, by SL Grey
Pan Macmillan
Fiction
Under Ground is the new high-concept thriller from the combined talents of Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenberg.
A global outbreak of a virus sends society spinning out of control. But a small group of people have been preparing for a day like this. Grabbing only the essentials, they head to The Sanctum, a luxury self-sustaining underground survival facility where they’ll shut themselves away and wait for the apocalypse to pass.
But when a body is discovered, they realise that the greatest threat to their survival may be trapped in The Sanctum with them.
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AUGUST
Homeless Wanderers: Movement and mental illness in the Cape Colony in the nineteenth century by Sally Swartz
UCT Press
Non-fiction
Lunatic asylums in the colonies in the nineteenth century mirrored those of “home”, in Britain. But in a European settler context, the administration and policies of the asylums, and the treatment of their patients, took on many different nuances.
There was a complex interface between lunacy legislation, colonial government, families and communities, and the ways in which these elements affected individuals’ experiences of treatment before and after committal to a lunatic asylum. Homeless Wanderers breaks new ground in tracing the route of people thought to be “of unsound mind” from their homes and families to eventual committal to a lunatic asylum in the Cape Colony in the late nineteenth century.
A Half Century Thing by Lesego Rampolokeng
Black Ghost Books
Poetry
Lesego Rampolokeng will be launching his eighth collection of poetry, A Half Century Thing, on Saturday, 1 August, as he celebrates his 50th birthday.
The publication comes 25 years after his debut, Horns for Hondo. His most recent collection is Head on Fire: Rants / Notes / Poems 2001-2011.
Hour of Darkness, by Michéle Rowe
Penguin Books
Fiction
A page-turner from one of South Africa’s exciting new crime novelists. Readers familiar with Michéle Rowe’s exhilarating plot twists and authentic South African characters will love her latest spine-chilling thriller.
Hour of Darkness sees the return of Rowe’s popular Detective Percy Jonas, who has to investigate a series of child abductions that evoke her own childhood abandonment.
What Hidden Lies, Rowe’s first crime novel, won the 2011 Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award.
The Seed Thief, by Jacqui L’Ange
Umuzi
Fiction
The debut novel from Jacqui L’Ange, The Seed Thief is an entrancing and richly imagined modern love story with an ancient history, a tale that moves from flora of Table Mountain to the heart of Afro-Brazilian spiritualism.
L’Ange was born in Durban and grew up across five continents. She has worked in advertising, television, film, and multimedia over the past 20 years, and has a MA in creative writing from the University of Cape Town. She is also the author of the children’s book Miss Helen’s Magical World.
Signs for an Exhibition by Eliza Kentridge
Modjaji Books
Poetry
Eliza Kentridge’s poems are autobiographical. She was born in Johannesburg shortly after her father defended Nelson Mandela in the Treason Trial. She was a teenager when he represented Steve Biko’s family at his inquest. In her twenties, at the height of apartheid, she left South Africa for England. Against this dramatic backdrop, her focus is quieted, small and interior. With her mother now afflicted by a serious neurological illness, she writes about family, love and place, as a woman who vividly recalls her girlhood self, gently and almost incidentally approaching one of the biggest questions: how does one live a life?
Real Food – Healthy, Happy Children by Kath Megaw, Daisy Jones, Phillippa Cheifitz and Jane-Anne Hobbs
Quivertree
Non-fiction
Sustained energy? Check. Reduced sugar cravings? Check. Improved concentration? Check.
Check-marks, too, for: increased health and vitality, enhanced athletic performance, longer and deeper sleep, improved digestion, strategies for fussy eaters, and helping your child reach and maintain a healthy body weight.
All these topics are addressed by South Africa’s leading paediatric dietician Kath Megaw in Real Food – Healthy, Happy Children, Co-written with Daisy Jones, Phillippa Cheifitz and Jane-Anne Hobbs. Set to be released in August this year, the book offers a low-carb solution for the whole family – with recipes for moms, dads and kids of all ages.
The Low-Carb Solution for Diabetics, by Vickie de Beer and Kath Megaw
Quivertree
Non-fiction
A book that marries science with good sentiment, strategies with real solutions, The Low-Carb Solution for Diabetics is an invaluable guide to understanding and practically managing Type-1 diabetes.
Beyond the science of diabetes and the advice of both Vickie and Kath lies a fantastic low-carb cookbook with meals that the whole family can enjoy.
Focusing on a move to healthy, natural food shared in a loving family environment, The Low-Carb Solution for Diabetics is an inspiration. It’s not about what’s ‘allowed’, it’s about what’s healthy – for diabetic children and their families.
Capitalist Crusader: Fighting Poverty Through Economic Growth by Herman Mashaba and Isabella Morris
Bookstorm
Non-fiction
The much anticipated follow-up to Herman Mashaba’s bestselling Black Like You, in which self-made entrepreneur Herman Mashaba outlines his crusade for economic freedom for all South Africans.
Mashaba suggests concrete macroeconomic solutions to South Africa’s poverty crisis, deftly combining biography, politics and business.
Deliberate Concealment: An Insider’s Account of Cricket South Africa
and the IPL Bonus Saga, Mtutuzeli Nyoka
Pan Macmillan
Non-fiction
In 2008, Mtutuzeli Nyoka was appointed as the President of Cricket South Africa (CSA), a position he held until October 2011 when, after a protracted battle with the CSA board, he was dismissed.
In Deliberate Concealment, Nyoka shares his behind-the-scenes experiences and personal journey as events unfolded, including his own mistakes, the repercussions of the scandal on the game of cricket in South Africa, and his fight for the truth to prevail.
The Democratic Republic of Braai by Jan Braai
Bookstorm
Non-fiction
Over 60 000 Jan Braai books have been sold – from South Africa to the USA and the Czech Republic! Jan Braai is a South African phenomenon – he started Braai Day in 2005 and the day has grown from strength to strength.
It is your democratic right to gather with friends and family around braai fires throughout the country and celebrate with a meal cooked over the coals of a real wood fire. This is the promise of Jan Braai’s Democratic Republic of Braai.
Raising Superheroes, by Tim Noakes, Jonno Proudfoot and Bridget Surtees
Jacana Media
Non-fiction
Jacana Media will be distributing the latest book published by the Real Meal Team. Raising Superheroes, by Tim Noakes, Jonno Proudfoot and Bridget Surtees will revolutionise the way you feed your kids.
The Real Meal Revolution was all about taking on the global obesity epidemic with a revolutionary approach to eating; it challenged ingrained beliefs, it sold (and still sells) in record-breaking numbers throughout South Africa, and it changed people’s lives.
With Raising Superheroes the authors have now set out to revolutionise the way we feed our children. It’s time, they believe, to challenge the kids’ food industry and our old assumptions; it’s time to give our children the best nutrition possible, and the best start in life.
Rape Unresolved: Policing sexual offences in South Africa by Dee Smythe
UCT Press
Non-fiction
More than 1 000 women are raped in South Africa every day. Around 150 of those women will report the crime to the police. Fewer than 30 of the cases will be prosecuted and no more than 10 will result in a conviction.
Rape Unresolved is concerned with the question of police discretion and how its exercise shapes the criminal justice response to rape in South Africa.
Agent 407: A South African Spy Tells Her Story, by Olivia Forsyth
Jonathan Ball
Non-fiction
Olivia Forsyth was a Lieutenant in the South Africa Security Police in the 1980s. She spent four years at Rhodes University where she infiltrated various anti-apartheid organisations.
Having reached the end of her studies, she turned her attention to the ANC in exile. But what should have been her greatest triumph as a spy turned into disaster when the ANC threw her into Quatro, the notorious internment camp in Angola.
Here, for the first time, South Africa’s most notorious apartheid spy lays bare the story of her remarkable life.
Icarus, by Deon Meyer
Jonathan Ball
Fiction
The new novel from South Africa’s leading crime writer, featuring his much loved detective Benny Griessel.
After 602 days dry, Captain Benny Griessel of the South African police services can’t take any more tragedy. So when he is called in to investigate a multiple homicide, it pushes him close to breaking point – a former friend and detective colleague has shot his wife and two daughters, then killed himself. Benny wants out – out of his job, his home and his relationship with his singer girlfriend, Alexa. He moves into a hotel and starts drinking. Again.
Dagga: A Short History, by Hazel Crampton
Jacana Media
Non-fiction
This book is not intended as a comprehensive take on dagga, aka cannabis, marijuana, bhanga, ganga, pot, zol, weed, etc., but as a conversation piece. It is, as a pocket book, simply a brief overview. Its hope is to provide a background to dagga in South Africa and, by putting all the dope into one joint, so to speak, ignite debate on emerging issues such as licensing, legalisation and taxation.
Hazel Crampton is the author of The Sunburnt Queen (2004) and The Side of the Sun at Noon (2014), and was coeditor of Into the Hitherto Unknown: Ensign Beutler’s Expedition to the Eastern Cape, 1752 (2013).
Rape – A South African Nightmare, by Pumla Dineo Gqola
Jacana Media
Non-fiction
South Africa has a complex relationship with rape. Pumla Dineo Gqola unpacks this relationship by paying attention to patterns and trends of rape, asking what we can learn from famous cases and why South Africa is losing the battle against rape.
Gqola looks at the 2006 rape trial of Jacob Zuma and what transpired in the trial itself, as well as trying to make sense of public responses to it. She interrogates feminist responses to the Anene Booysen case, among other high profile cases of gender-based violence.
This is a conclusive book about rape in South Africa, illuminating aspects of the problem and contributing to shifting the conversation forward.
The Black Sash, by Mary Burton
Jacana Media
Non-fiction
This is the story of a remarkable organisation of white South African women who carved out a unique role for themselves in opposing the injustices of apartheid and working towards a free and democratic country.
It is written by Mary Burton, herself national president of the Black Sash for many years and, later, one of the Truth and Reconciliation commissioners.
The Refined Player: Sex, Lies and Dates, by Stevel Marc
Jacana Media
Non-fiction
The Refined Player: Sex, Lies and Dates is the first publication under Jacana’s exciting new imprint, BlackBird Books.
The book not only helps men to understand their role in relationships, but it also inspires women to be empowered and to expect and demand better from their men.
Stevel shows us that it is possible to have those difficult conversations about money, sex, honesty and trust. With Stevel’s help you can transition from singlehood into a meaningful relationship.
Lusaka Punk and Other Stories
Jacana Media
Fiction (Short Stories)
Now entering its 16th year, the Caine Prize is Africa’s leading literary prize, and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere.
This collection brings together the five 2015 shortlisted stories, along with stories written at the Caine Prize Writers’ Workshop, which took place in Ghana in April 2015.
Zambia’s Namwali Serpell won the 2015 Caine Prize for her short story entitled “The Sack” from Africa39 (Bloomsbury, London, 2014).
Stoked! by Chris Bertish
Zebra Press
Non-fiction (Biography)
Stoked! is an inspiring true story about courage, determination and the power of dreams. Chris Bertish was a skinny little kid from Cape Town when he started surfing with his brothers. Fiercely driven and constantly pushing his boundaries, Chris was not content with conquering “ordinary” big waves. What began as a personal quest to prove to himself that he was one of the best in the ‘big-wave brotherhood’ culminated a decade later with Chris being crowned South Africa’s first Mavericks BigWave Champion.
With his infectious enthusiasm, Chris tells how he pulled off death-defying antics time and again, overcame overwhelming obstacles and fears, and parried every blow that fate dealt him, all without ever losing faith or focus on his dreams.
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SEPTEMBER
The Magistrate of Gower, by Claire Robertson
Umuzi
Fiction
The new novel from Claire Robertson, who won the 2014 Sunday Times Fiction Prize for The Spiral House.
When an illicit affair in British Ceylon comes to light in 1902, 17-year-old Boer prisoner-of-war Henry Vos is disgraced. Months before, a short film made his face widely recognisable, but now he is shunned by Boer and Brit alike. Three decades later, Henry is the magistrate of Gower …
Impeccably written and researched, The Magistrate of Gower is a sweeping, exquisitely told story about the courage to choose love over fear.
The Shouting in the Dark, by Elleke Boehmer
Jacana Media
Fiction
Ella is locked in a battle for creative survival with her domineering father, and apartheid South Africa, the troubled country in which he passionately believes. While seeking political refuge in Europe, Ella makes an unexpected discovery that forces her to confront both her father’s war ghosts and the shape of her own future. In the country of his birth, her father, Ella finds, never officially recognised her existence. Boehmer has written a raw, intense and involving story.
“The story, as disturbing as it is enthralling, of a girl’s struggle to emerge from under the dead weight of her father’s oppression while at the same time searching for a secure footing in the moral chaos of South Africa of the apartheid era.” – JM Coetzee
Elleke Boehmer is the author of, among other books, Screens against the Sky (short-listed David Hyam Prize, 1990), Bloodlines (shortlisted SANLAM prize) and an edition of Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys that was a 2004 summer bestseller. Her acclaimed biography of Nelson Mandela (2008) has been translated into Arabic, Malaysian, Thai, Kurdish, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. She is a judge of the Man Booker International Prize 2015 and lives in London.
Anna Peters’ Year of Cooking Dangerously, by Kathryn White
Umuzi
Fiction
Anna Peters’ Year of Cooking Dangerously is the new novel from Kathryn White, author of Emily Green and Me and Things I Thought I Knew.
Anna Peters has been dumped by her long-term love, Garry, and needs to figure out what to do with her broken heart. Tackling her misery by trying to cook her way back into her beau’s life, she learns a few things …
Witty, irreverent and highly entertaining, with food descriptions will have readers salivating, Anna Peters’ Year of Cooking Dangerously will appeal to readers of popular fiction and romantic novels as well as aspiring chefs.
Two, by Seline and Leandri van der Wat
Struik Lifestyle
Non-fiction
During the screening of the MasterChef South Africa 2013 series, TV viewers were both fascinated by, and impressed with, the Van der Wat sisters. Since then their foodie careers have taken off, albeit in differing directions.
But in Two, they are back in collaboration to present a really fascinating cookbook concept: taking the same main ingredient and creating two different
dishes from it, or taking a classic recipe and making one for family and casual dining, and the other version to impress for serious entertaining.
Stray, edited by Diane Awerbuck and Helen Moffett
Modjaji Books
Fiction (Short Stories and Poetry)
A collection of stories and poems by mostly well-known South African writers. Some of the pieces have been previously published, and others are new. Each story and poem explores different ways in which animals and humans live together, co-exist and change each other.
List of writers includes: Arthur Attwell, Diane Awerbuck, Andre Brink, Gabeba Baderoon, Robert Berold, Sarah Lotz, Edyth Bulbring, Margaret Clough, Michael Cope, Richard de Nooy, Phillippa Yaa De Villiers, Finuala Dowling, Isobel Dixon, Nerine Dorman, Tom Eaton, Martha Evans, Tracey Farren, Cat Hellison, Lily Herne, Michiel Heyns, Joanne Hichens, Colleen Higgs, Jenny Hobbs, Karen Jennings, Liesl Jobson, Rustum Kozain, Julia Martin, Jenna Mervis, Niq Mhlongo, Helen Moffett, Kagiso Lesego Molope, Paige Nick, Yewande Omotoso, Sally Partridge, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Beverly Rycroft, Fiona Snyckers, Kelwyn Sole, Zukiswa Wanner, Kate White, James Whyle, Makhosazana Xaba.
Now Following You, by Fiona Snyckers
Modjaji Books
Fiction
Jamie Burchell is a digital native – social media comes as naturally to her as breathing. She Instagrams, tweets and Facebooks her every move. Then a stalker starts using social media to track her movements. As his behaviour escalates, so does her fear. But her blog has never been more popular. The fans can’t get enough of reading about her stalker. She is closer than ever to achieving her dream of becoming a writer. Should she take herself offline out of fear for her own safety or should she refuse to be intimated? Soon the stalker starts threatening the people she cares about. But now it’s too late for Jamie to go offline, because he is already following her in real life.
Piggy Boy’s Blues, by Nakhane Touré
Jacana Media
Fiction
Nakhane Touré’s debut novel is for all intents and purposes a portrait of the M family. Centred mostly on the protagonist, Davide M, and his return to Alice, the town of his birth, the novel portrays a Xhosa royal family past its prime and glory.
Piggy Boy’s Blues will be published under Jacana’s new imprint, BlackBird Books.
Touré is a multimedia artist born in Alice in the Eastern Cape. His album Brave Confusion won a South African Music Award for Best Alternative Album in 2014.
Sweet Medicine, by Panashe Chimugadzi
Jacana Media
Fiction
Sweet Medicine, set in Harare at the height of Zimbabwe’s economic woes in 2008, is a thorough and evocative attempt at grappling with a variety of important issues in the postcolonial context: tradition and modernity, feminism and patriarchy; spiritual and political freedoms and responsibilities; poverty and desperation; and wealth and abundance.
Panashe Chimugadzi is a young and upcoming media executive, passionate about creating new narratives that work to redefine and reaffirm African identity.
Sweet Medicine will be published under Jacana’s new BlackBird Books imprint.
The Book of Memory, by Petina Gappah
Jonathan Ball
Fiction
The stunning debut novel from the award-winning author of An Elegy for Easterly, a short story collection that won the Guardian First Book Prize in 2009.
Petina Gappah is a Zimbabwean writer with law degrees from Cambridge, Graz University and the University of Zimbabwe. She will be at the 2015 Open Book Festival in Cape Town in September.
Innovation: Shaping South Africa through Science, by Sarah Wild
Pan Macmillan
Non-fiction
Sarah Wild is an award-winning science journalist. She is the Mail & Guardian’s science editor and in 2013 was named the best science journalist in Africa. In 2012, Wild published her first full-length non-fiction book, Searching African Skies: The Square Kilometre Array and South Africa’s Quest to Hear the Songs of the Stars.
Innovation takes a look at inventions – developed in South Africa by South Africans – to address issues in the areas of healthcare, energy, environment and industry, showcasing the country’s excellence.
Up Against the Night, by Justin Cartwright
Jonathan Ball
Fiction
“History . . . is seldom able to convey the essence of being human”
Justin Cartwright possesses that rarest of novelist’s skills – the ability to create fiction which is intensely serious but which also vividly encompasses the absurdity and comedy of life. Up Against the Night is a subtle, brilliant novel about South Africa, its beautiful, superbly evoked landscape, its violent past and its uncertain present.
Golden Lion, by Wilbur Smith
Jonathan Ball
Fiction
Fans of Wilbur Smith will be delighted to hear that his next book – Golden Lion – will be released across the world in September.
In this sweeping adventure full of danger, action, and intrigue, the master returns to his longest-running series, taking fans back to the very beginnings of the Courtney family saga.
Let’s Talk Frankly: Letters to Influential South Africans About the State of Our Nation, by Onkgopotse JJ Tabane
Pan Macmillan
Non-fiction
Onkgopotse JJ Tabane is one of South Africa’s leading media and communications specialists, a community activist and a business executive. In a series of letters, addressed to people of influence from Helen Zille to Gwede Mantashe and from Revd Ray McCauley to Steve Hofmeyr, Tabane praises for work well done and castigates for poor judgement.
Let’s Talk Frankly tells some home truths in a satirical sense and is meant to offend sensibilities as well as raise things that people often say around dinner
tables but are too afraid or too constrained to say in the open.
The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine, by Alexander McCall Smith
Jonathan Ball
Fiction
The new Botswana book from bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith, this is Mma Ramotswe’s 16th wonderful adventure.
Mma Ramotswe is not one to sit about. Her busy life gives her little time for relaxation (apart from the drinking of tea, of course, which is another matter altogether). Nonetheless, she is persuaded to take a holiday from the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.
But Mma Ramotswe finds it impossible to resist the temptation to follow the cases taken on by her business partner, Mma Makutsi, and to interfere in them – at one remove. This leads her to delve into the past of a man whose reputation has been called into question.
The Food of Love: Book 1, Laura’s Story, by Prue Leith
Jonathan Ball
Fiction
The first installment of an epic three-volume multi-generational family saga by award-winning restaurateur Prue Leith.
The novels centre around an Anglo/Italian family that founds a restaurant business, from the 1940s to the present day. Television rights for the series have already been optioned.
Leith was born in South Africa, and is a cook, restaurateur, food writer and businesswoman. After publishing 12 cookbooks she changed tack and has now authored five contemporary romance novels. She lives in London.
Sugar Man: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez, Craig Bartholomew Strydom and Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman
Penguin
Non-fiction
The fascinating story of the American musician who was famous in South Africa and Australia, but unknown anywhere else … until the Oscar-winning documentary.
Based on the authors’ first-hand knowledge, Sugar Man: The Birth, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez carefully outlines three separate journeys and the obstacles and triumphs that each presented: Rodriguez’s quest to make a life from music and his subsequent failure; the odyssey of two Rodriguez fans to find out what had happened to their hero; and the pursuit of die-hard filmmaker Bendjelloul to bring the story to celluloid, and his untimely death shortly thereafter.
The book covers topics and events that weren’t included in the film: the story of Rodriquez’s two wives, his tours to Australia in 1979 and 1981, his South African, British and American tours after the 1998 concert that forms the film’s climax, and events subsequent to the film itself.
Taking to the Witness Stand, by Jestina Mukoko
KMM Review Publishing
Non-fiction
Jestina Mukoko is a former Zimbabwean broadcast journalist turned a human rights activist, who was incarcerated in 2008 and “disappeared” by the Zimbabwe government.
Told through flashbacks intertwined with information related to her childhood, her family and her work at the Zimbabwe Peace Project, Mukoko’s recollections give a birds-eye view of the social, economic and political situation during one of the most turbulent and repressive times in Zimbabwe’s history.
When Time Fails, by Marilyn Cohen de Villiers
Fiction
The follow-up to A Beautiful Family, When Time Fails is set on a farm in South Africa during the death throes of the apartheid era and the emergence of the “new” South Africa.
The book follows Annamari and her family as they struggle to come to terms with a changing world and the past she has kept hidden for decades.
OCTOBER
Matric Rage by Genna Gardini
uHlanga New Poets
Poetry
uHlanga is proud to announce the launch of the uHlanga New Poets series, a platform for the publication of debut collections from South Africa’s most promising young voices.
Genna Gardini, based in Cape Town, is one of South Africa’s most decorated young poets and playwrights. She is the winner of the 2012 DALRO/New Coin Award for poetry, and a 2013 Mail & Guardian Young South African. Her plays WinterSweet (2012) and Scrape (2013) both won Standard Bank Ovation Awards at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
Supported by a grant from the Arts and Culture Trust, uHlanga New Poets will publish two debut collections in 2015: Matric Rage and Failing Maths and My Other Crimes by Thabo Jijana.
Failing Maths and My Other Crimes by Thabo Jijana
uHlanga New Poets
Poetry
Thabo Jijana, based in Port Elizabeth, is a rising star in South African literature. In 2011, he won the Anthony Sampson Foundation Award. In 2014, he won the Sol Plaatje/European Union Poetry Award. That same year, he also published his first book, the memoir Nobody’s Business, published by Jacana.
Gridlocked, by Moeletsi and Nobantu Mbeki
Pan Macmillan
Non-fiction
“The reorganisation of South Africa’s economic system cannot, however, be postponed indefinitely as conflicts in the economic system are already threatening to undo the gains made with the new political system. This should come as no surprise since South Africa’s economic system has always generated major conflicts, many of them extremely violent.” – From Gridlocked
South Africa is immersed in a new phase in the long struggle to develop and consolidate democracy and to build an economy that is both sustainable and serves the needs of its entire people instead of the selfish interests of small elites as has been the case over the past 360 years. Moeletsi and Nobantu Mbeki explore the different dynamics of this reinvention and its chances of success or failure.
Chaka, by Thomas Mofolo
Kwela
Fiction
Thomos Mofolo’s Chaka is the first of many works of literature that take Shaka, the great Zulu leader, as its subject. A mythic retelling of Shaka’s rise and fall, the novel was written in Sesotho in 1909, translated in 1931, and forms the foundation for every subsequent telling of the Shaka legend. Chaka is a study of origins, passion, and uncontrollable ambition leading to the moral destruction of the human character.
Parole: Collected Speeches, by Breyten Breytenbach
Penguin
Fiction
Breyten Breytenbach is hailed in South Africa and internationally as an influential writer and critical thinker. Parole is a collection of some of his most memorable and poignant speeches, which, through their resonating subject matter, continue to light literary, political and philosophical fires.
The speeches in Parole, many of which have not been published before, will provide valuable insights into the mind of a literary icon. Available in Afrikaans as Parool.
I Ran for My Life, by Kabelo Mabalane with Nechama Brodie
Pan Macmillan
Non-fiction (Biography)
Kabelo Mabalane, known by his stage name as Kabelo or “Bouga Luv”, is a kwaito musician, songwriter and actor. He was a member of the kwaito trio TKZee.
In I Ran for My Life, South Africa’s number one self-proclaimed “pantsula for life” shares his journey and insights, from the highs and lows of drug addiction, to finding hope and life again through running and staying in shape.
Crashed, by Melinda Ferguson
Jacana Media
Non-fiction (Memoir)
To celebrate her 14-year clean and sober birthday, Ferguson organises to take a R3.2 million Ferrari California out on a test drive for the day. 20 minutes before she returns the car, she is involved in a spectacular car crash, during which she experiences a near-death collision.
Over the following months her long-term relationship implodes and she is faced with a litany of legal and financial nightmares as a result of the Ferrari being written off, while certain members of the dog-eat-dog motoring journo industry relish in her downfall.
Written in Ferguson’s trademark gritty tell-it-all and often hilarious style, Crashed is the highly anticipated final book of the three-part memoir trilogy, following in South African bestsellers Smacked (2005) and Hooked (2010).
NOVEMBER
What if there were no whites in South Africa?, by Ferial Haffajee
Pan Macmillan
Non-fiction
In What if there were no whites in South Africa? Ferial Haffajee examines South Africa’s history and its present circumstances and dynamics in the light of a provocative question that yields some thought-provoking analysis for the country.
Ferial Haffajee is highly respected as one of South Africa’s thought leaders and commentators. She effectively uses her media platform to raise and discuss issues pertinent to the state of the nation. Before becoming the editor-in-chief at City Press, Haffajee headed up the Mail & Guardian. She sits on the boards of the International Women’s Media Foundation, the World Editors Forum, the International Press Institute and the Inter Press Service, and she has won several awards, including international ones, related to media freedom and independence as well as for her reporting over the years.
Flicker in the Snow: The Love Letters of André Brink & Ingrid Jonker, by André Brink & Ingrid Jonker
Umuzi
Non-fiction
More than 50 years on, the poignant, often stormy relationship between Ingrid Jonker and André Brink still grips readers’ imaginations.
In December 2014, three months before his death on 6 February 2015, Brink offered these never-before-seen letters, as well as personal photographs, for publication.
The letters provide astonishing new insights into the minds, writing and legendary love affair of two of South Africa’s greatest writers. Umuzi will be publishing a limited, numbered edition in Afrikaans and in English to coincide with the publication of this collection.
Karkloof Blue, by Charlotte Otter
Modjaji Books
Fiction
Greenwashing, corporate intransigence and bloody secrets. Maggie Cloete’s back. After working in Berlin and Joburg, she returns to present-day Pietermaritzburg as the day news editor for The Gazette. When a well-known environmentalist commits suicide, Maggie finds herself caught in the crossfire of conflicting interests. Sentinel, a national paper company, intends to log a piece of natural forest in the Karkloof, home to an endangered butterfly. While her brother joins a group of environmental activists determined to stop the logging at any cost, The Gazette itself is ensnared in complicated negotiations with Sentinel over paper prices. When the loggers unearth a gruesome find in the forest, Maggie discovers a litany of secrets, lies and betrayal. As South Africa’s present confronts its past, Maggie herself faces the most bitter surprise of her life.
The Score, HJ Golakai
Kwela
Fiction
The Score is the follow-up to the internationally acclaimed The Lazarus Effect.
Voinjama Johnson, aka Vee, has been banished. And to Oudtshoorn, of all places … and for what? For daring to do her job, for daring to be an investigative reporter. Luckily for Vee, and her ever-faithful sidekick Chlöe – and unluckily for everyone else – they are barely checked in to their lodge when the first body is discovered. Sex, drugs and BEE (or should that be B-BBEE), The Score is an unflinching romp through what remains of the dream of the rainbow nation …
Unnatural Relations, Casey B Dolan
Kwela
Fiction
All psychiatrists have a patient that gets under their skin. For Dr Felicity Sloane, forensic psychiatrist, Archie Ferber is that patient. Archie seemingly only needed one thing to make his life complete – a child. And Hannah was born. But somehow it all went wrong and now Archie is on trial in South Africa for murdering the surrogate. Unnatural Relations is the follow-up to the internationally acclaimed When the Bough Breaks.
Justice Served: The Trial and Conviction of Bob Hewitt, Jamaine Krige
Zebra
Non-fiction
The fascinating legal account of how a sporting legend was brought to book by his victims, 30 years later.
In 2012 former Grand Slam tennis champion Bob Hewitt was indefinitely suspended following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct from women he coached as girls. On 23 March 2015, Hewitt was found guilty of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault after a watershed trial.
Jamaine Krige was the court reporter from the start of the trial and has conducted extensive interviews with all the relevant parties.
AB: The Autobiography, by AB de Villiers
Pan Macmillan
Non-fiction
AB de Villiers is one of South Africa’s most celebrated sporting heroes. He has captained the national ODI team since June 2011, and has been a member of the national team for 11 years since his debut test as a 20-year-old in December 2004. AB has excelled on the sporting field throughout his life and today he is considered one of the leading batsmen in the world in all forms of the game.
AB: The Autobiography will cover key events and influences that have shaped his life and career, and AB will offer access to the man behind the bat and beneath the helmet, exploring career-defining moments, on-and-off the field events and his relationship with various mentors. The autobiography will also explore AB’s interests in music and business and how he pursues these alongside his international cricket career.
DECEMBER
Little Suns, by Zakes Mda
Umuzi
Fiction
Zakes Mda’s new novel, a work of historical fiction titled Little Suns, will be published by Umuzi in 2015.
Little Suns intertwines an unusual love story with little-told, brutal history.
Click here for more
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