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Margaret von Klemperer reviews The Child Garden by Catriona McPherson
Originally published in The Witness The Child Garden has been published with puffs from the likes of Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Ann Cleeves – all prominent and excellent members of the school of...
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The extraordinary incident of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s BBC Newsnight interview
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says she felt “upset” and “ambushed” by her recent interview on BBC Newsnight. The interview, which took place just after the United States election, made international...
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“Finding your voice”: Announcing the 2016 Ba re e ne re Literature Festival...
Alert! The annual Ba re e ne re Literature Festival will take place from Friday, 9 December, to Sunday, 11 December. The theme of this year’s Lesotho-based festival is “Finding your voice” and the...
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Genesis of a drummer: Michele Magwood interviews Phil Collins about his...
Phil Collins’s excesses were mild by rock star standards, but he still feels plenty of guilt, writes Michele Magwood Not Dead Yet: The Autobiography Phil Collins (Century) **** “Music made me, but it...
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Book Bites: 27 November 2016
Published in the Sunday Times Fifty Shades of Feminism Edited by Lisa Appignanesi, Rachel Holmes & Susie Orbach (Virago) Book buff The term feminism has never left my mouth; simply because I was...
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Happy Birthday to The Book Lounge
This Thursday, 1 December, The Book Lounge turns nine years old! To celebrate, they are giving 10 per cent off everything in store for the day, and free tea and coffee. From 6 PM there will be...
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Win a signed copy of Zadie Smith’s Swing Time
We have five signed copies of Zadie Smith’s new novel Swing Time to give away, courtesy of Penguin Random House South Africa! Swing Time is Smith’s fifth novel, after White Teeth, The Autograph Man,...
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Tango and tears: Annetjie van Wynegaard reviews Zadie Smith’s Swing Time
Swing Time is a dramatic dance, but it’s also about race, class, sexuality, and identity, writes Annetjie van Wynegaard for the Sunday Times Swing Time Zadie Smith (Hamish Hamilton) ***** Win a signed...
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Book bites: 4 December 2016
Published in the Sunday Times The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton) Book mystery **** Readers will rejoice at this reunion with venerable Inspector Chopra,...
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Winners of the 2016 Short Story Day Africa Prize for Short Fiction announced
Alert! “A Door Ajar” by Sibongile Fisher has won the 2016 Short Story Day Africa Prize for Short Fiction. TJ Benson is first runner-up for his story “Tea”, and Megan Ross is second runner-up for...
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Abubakar Adam Ibrahim awarded $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature in...
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim: The man, his dreams and prize Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, who emerged from Nigeria’s generation of “intellectual terrorists”, recently won the Nigeria Prize for Literature. The...
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‘Deeply sobering’– Margaret von Klemperer reviews Into the Laager: Afrikaners...
First published in The Witness Picking up this book, I couldn’t prevent a visceral doubt about the value of an outsider’s view – Kasja Norman is a Swedish journalist. It’s a knee-jerk response: we live...
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Book Bites: 11 December 2016
Published in the Sunday Times Minds of Winter Ed O’Loughlin (Quercus) ***** Book buff A novel as wide and daring in its execution as its subject – centuries of mystery, horror and human courage in...
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The long arm of Reacher: Joanne Hichens talks to Lee Child about his latest...
Published in the Sunday Times Night School Lee Child (Bantam Press) **** Lee Child is chatty, generous with his time, this genius author who created Jack Reacher, possibly the most enigmatic series...
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Jacket Notes: Christa Kuljian talks about her latest book Darwin’s Hunch:...
Published in the Sunday Times Darwin’s Hunch: Science, Race, and the Search for Human Origins Christa Kuljian (Jacana) When I studied the history of science at university in the ’80s, I learned that...
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Men’s rage and regret in a cold season of snow: Michele Magwood chats to...
By Michele Magwood for the Sunday Times Midwinter Fiona Melrose (Little Brown, R295) ***** It is rare for a debut novel to land with such assurance, with such a distinctive voice and sapient wisdom....
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2017 Caine Prize for African Writing judging panel announced
Alert! The five judges for the 2017 Caine Prize for African Writing were announced in London recently. The Caine Prize is awarded for a short story by an African writer published in English....
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Imagining ourselves into existence: First ever Abantu Book Festival in Soweto...
Words and images by Thato Rossouw “A conquered people often lose the inclination to tell their stories.” These were the words of former Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke at the inaugural Abantu Book...
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Famine, war and love: Bron Sibree talks to Sebastian Barry about his new...
In his new novel Sebastian Barry writes as if galloping with the wind in his hair. By Bron Sibree for the Sunday Times Days Without End Sebastian Barry (Faber & Faber) **** Sebastian Barry once...
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“A mesmeric, marathon read”: Moira Lovell reviews Paul Auster’s 4321
This review was originally published in The Witness. Audacious in conception and execution, Paul Auster’s 4321 is a mesmeric, marathon read (866 pages) and a major contribution to contemporary...
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