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Fraught relations: Tiah Beautement speaks to Zinzi Clemmons about her book...
Published in the Sunday Times What We Lose Zinzi Clemmons (Fourth Estate) **** This is a debut work of great beauty and depth, a poignant fictional memoir that began as a series of journal entries...
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Dark mirrors: readers are lapping up stories about our bleak times
Published by Jennifer Platt for the Sunday Times Dystopian fiction has knocked the glistening vampire off the young adult shelf. It is hardly a new genre – think Lord of the Flies, 1984 – but there has...
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Book bites: 30 July 2017
Dying to Live Michael Stanley (Orenda Books) **** Book mystery When a witchdoctor goes missing and a body is discovered in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, detectives David “Kubu” Bengu and Samantha...
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Panel discussion: Literary Crossroads with Rehana Rossouw (SA) & Fiston...
Literary Crossroads is a series of talks where South African writers meet colleagues from all over the continent and from the African diaspora to discuss trends, topics and themes prevalent in their...
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Rehana Rossouw (SA) & Fiston Mwanza Mujila (DRC), 5 September
Literary Crossroads is a series of talks where South African writers meet colleagues from all over the continent and from the African diaspora to discuss trends, topics and themes prevalent in their...
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Book Bites: 3 September
Published in the Sunday Times How to Stop Time Matt Haig, Canon **** Book hug Tom Hazard has anageria — a condition that causes him to age very slowly. So he might look as if he is 40 now but he is...
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12 Quick Questions with Anthony Horowitz
Published in the Sunday Times The Word is Murder Anthony Horowitz, Century Has a book ever changed your mind about something? Yes. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, by Yuval Noah Harari, changed...
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Paradise found: Rosa Lyster reviews Patricia Lockwood’s memoir Priestdaddy
Published in the Sunday Times Priestdaddy Patricia Lockwood, Allen Lane ***** Patricia Lockwood’s career has always seemed like an exception to the rule. She is a very famous and successful poet at a...
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Enter the 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Deadline: 1 November Entries for the 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize have opened! This prestigious prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished fiction (2000 – 5000 words) in English....
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Man Booker Prize 2017 shortlist announced
The six authors shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize have been announced. First awarded in 1969, the Man Booker Prize is recognised as the leading prize for high quality literary fiction...
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Book Bites: 10 September 2017
Published in the Sunday Times Gather the Daughters Jennie Melamed, Tinder Press **** Given how long it takes to write and publish a book, it is unlikely that Jennie Melamed timed her debut novel to...
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Q&A with Nathan Hill
Published in the Sunday Times The Nix Nathan Hill, Pan Macmillan If you could require our world leaders to read one book, what would it be? For my own country’s leader, I would recommend Trump read...
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Mysteries, myths, and military facts: Archie Henderson looks at two books...
Published in the Sunday Times Cuito Cuanavale Fred Bridgland, Jonathan Ball Publishers ***** A Far-Away War Ian Liebenberg, Jorge Risquet and Vladimir Shubin (Editors), Sun Press ** It’s been...
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Private tragedy is now national tragedy: Salman Rushdie tells Michele Magwood...
Michele Magwood finds Salman Rushdie on fine and furious form in his latest novel. The Golden House is a glorious fusion of knowing social commentary and compelling mystery, packed with wit and...
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Jacket Notes: Maxine Case tells of why she needed to write about her...
Published in the Sunday Times Softness of the Lime Maxine Case, Umuzi As a descendant of slaves, this was a story I always wanted to write. My grandmother’s grandmother was born to a slave and her...
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Book Bites: 24 September 2017
Published in the Sunday Times Let Go My Hand Edward Docx, Picador **** Larry Lasker is dying. Louis, his youngest son, is taking him in a camper van on the kind of road trip they enjoyed as a young...
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A crisis but cosy: Jennifer Platt reviews the new Marian Keyes The Break
Published in the Sunday Times The Break Marian Keyes, Michael Joseph **** Gemütlichkeit. It’s a German word that describes being in a state of absolute comfort. Where your entire being is wrapped in...
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Book Bites: 1 October 2017
Published in the Sunday Times King Kong: Our Knot of Time and Music Pat Williams, Portobello Books **** Award-winning author Pat Williams documents the jazz opera King Kong. The musical is centred on...
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Harry Hole is back with more bleakness: William Saunderson-Meyer reviews the...
Published in the Sunday Times The Thirst Jo Nesbo, Harvill Secker ***** It’s been four years since we last saw Harry Hole, the conflicted but brilliant Oslo detective. Now he is back in harness,...
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Q&A with Jack Higgins
Published in the Sunday Times The Midnight Bell Jack Higgins, HarperCollins Which book changed your life? As a child, Oliver Twist and in my teens, The Great Gatsby made me think I had to be a writer....
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