by Carolyn on Aug 31st, 2012
Etienne van Heerden’s next novel, to be published in March 2013, imagines a Karoo in which commercial hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has already begun – with devastating effects.
Van Heerden grew up in the Karoo and this landscape has become a defining feature of his writing, in such books as Haai Karoo, 30 Nights in Amsterdam, The Long Silence of Mario Salviati and Ancestral Voices.
Read “Poison Karoo”, a chapter from Van Heerden’s forthcoming novel, which has been translated by Isobel Dixon, and published on LitNet, in protest against the proposed fracking:
He is an old man, grey now and with eyes that grow bluer the longer he stares at the sea, longing for the woman he has never seen again, not since those years long ago. He lives alone, and sits on his stoep gazing out over the bay, with the yo-yo spooling to and from his finger. His house is small and square, turned to face north-east, with its back to Paternoster’s harshest winds. In front of the stoep the ground slopes away, and a path leads down through low bietoubos and loose pebbles to the big, rounded rocks strewn over the beach, and further to the fish market where they gut the snoek so that even from where he sits he can see the red and white flesh, and further still, to the wide stretch of sand the locals call Voorstrand.
As a boy, his one blind eye kept him from sport and only the yo-yo gave him the chance to use his hands’ innate agility and skill. He was bored by athletics and never crazy about rugby; he was too slow to see a ball hurtling towards him, and other children avoided him because his eye made him different.
Book details
Image courtesy The Witness
» read article
by Lindsay on Aug 31st, 2012
Zubeida Jaffer has launched the second in her pocket books series. Africa: the untold story is the latest of her self-published books, following Not by Dread Alone which was a reflection on the state of journalism.
Jaffer is also the author of Love in the Time of Treason and Our Generation. She uses her website and books as a platform to talk about the issues that emerge in her professional life as a journalist.
» read article
by Lindsay on Aug 31st, 2012
Verdict: carrot
Justin Fox’s The Marginal Safari saw the author use a trip around SA’s borders as a platform for coming to terms with his father’s illness.
The formula is almost the same for Dana Snyman, whose elderly father has entrenched views that frustrate and embarrass his son, but don’t make him love the old man any less.
Book Details
» read article
by Carolyn on Aug 31st, 2012
Uitspraak: wortel
Dit is jammer as ’n mens geïrriteerd voel met ’n boek se flapteks, juis omdat dit hierdie bundel kortverhale so te na kom.
Om (onder meer) “gender, seksualiteit, kompromisloos, waagmoedig” alles in één sin te gebruik, is verstikkend, al klink dit fraai vir literêre windeiers.
Boekbesonderhede
» read article
by Lindsay on Aug 31st, 2012
The Mail & Guardian Literary Festival is currently on in and around The Market Theatre in Newtown, Johannesburg. The festival started on Tuesday 28 August and will continue until Sunday 2 September.
On Thursday evening Breyten Breytenbach, Rustum Kozain and Oswald Mtshali joined Georges Lory and Corina van der Spoel to talk about their poetry. The Mail & Guardian have been live-blogging all the sessions at the festival, including this one, and Victor Dlamini also live-tweeted this talk:
Book details
» read article
by Carolyn on Aug 31st, 2012
Caroonist Jonathan “Zapiro” Shapiro and journalist Hanlie Retief, the author of Byleveld, are among those who have received Standard Bank Sikuvile Newspaper Journalism Awards.
Zapiro received the award in the Editorial Cartoons category for “Mac Maharaj side-order”, his cartoon which incorporate Mac Maharaj’s name into the MacDonald’s sign and makes a pun on fries and lies. Retief was awarded for her article “Melanie Steyn, My man die Sondag–verkragter” in the Feature Writing category.
The migration from print to online, while rapidly transforming the media space, has little bearing on the need for quality and authoritative content. Newspapers are still the most robust source of news, and this was clearly evident at this year’s Standard Bank Sikuvile Newspaper Journalism Awards: the calibre of the winners’ stories, photographs, designs and layouts was unsurpassed by other mediums, said the judges.
The South African story of the year, ‘Shoot to Kill: Inside a South African Police Death Squad’, written by Stefan Hofstatter, Mzilikazi Wa Afrika and Rob Rose of the Sunday Times, was deemed by the judging panel, convened by Paula Fray, to be exemplary of newspaper journalism. “The story, which also topped the Investigative Journalism section, set the standard for well-researched, well-written and tenacious journalism. The trio has always delivered high quality work despite working in often dangerous conditions – thus, they all won journalists of the year too,” said Fray.
Book details
» read article
by Lindsay on Aug 31st, 2012
The National Arts Festival has introduced the Short Sharp Stories Award for fictional short stories from South Africa. An anthology of at least 20 of the stories will be published each year from the submissions, with the theme changing each year. The best story will win R20 000 and R5000 each will go to the most original story, most thrilling story and the best new voice.
Joanne Hichens, author of Divine Justice, is curating the award and has called for the submission of crime thriller fiction – which will be the subject of this year’s anthology. Deon Meyer, author of Trackers, will be writing the foreword to the first anthology and Fred Khumalo, journalist and author of Zulu Boy Gone Crazy: Hilarious Tales Post Polokwane, will be one of the judges.
Press release:
The National Arts Festival is proud to partner with author Joanne Hichens to announce the launch of the brand new Short Sharp Stories Award for South African short-story fiction. An anthology of selected stories will be published annually from submissions to the award, and the theme of the anthology will differ from year to year.
The prize-winning stories of the first collection, selected from the stories to be published by a panel of independent judges, will be announced at an annual launch event at the 2013 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. This first volume, scheduled for publication in July 2013, will be devoted to crime-thriller fiction. At least twenty stories will be published in what will be an exciting home-grown collection.
“It is the aim of this new award to encourage, support, and showcase established and emerging South African writing talent,” said Artistic Director Ismail Mahomed. “We are also thrilled to announce that internationally celebrated crime-fiction author Deon Meyer will write the foreword to this first anthology, and that acclaimed journalist and author Fred Khumalo has agreed to be a judge.”
Joanne Hichens, the curator of the Award, is calling for the submission of thrilling crime fiction stories. “We’re hoping too that a number of stories will deliver that measure of justice so sorely needed in South Africa,” she added.
In addition to being published in the anthology, the cash prizes to be won include
R20 000 (twenty thousand rand) for BEST STORY, R5000 (five thousand rand) for MOST ORIGINAL STORY, R5000 (five thousand rand) for MOST THRILLING STORY and R5000 (five thousand Rand) for BEST NEW VOICE.
The story must be set in South Africa – from the dusty streets of the Karoo in summer, to the slopes of a rain battered Table Mountain, from Durban’s beaches to the derelict streets of inner Jozi, the diversity of setting is as exciting as the diversity of voice which South Africa has to offer. The full rules and requirements for the stories can be viewed on the National Arts Festival website: www.nationalartsfestival.co.za as well as at www.shortsharpstories.com.
The competition is open to South African citizens regardless of residency, and to residents of South Africa. Entrants must be 21 years of age and older. Stories must be previously unpublished fiction, written in English. Stories are to be between 3000 and 5000 words in length (which will enable submission to the Caine Prize), and only one story per author is to be considered in any one year. Closing date for entries for the inaugural competition is 30 November 2012.
Selected writers will be invited to read at, and to participate in events at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2013. Transport and accommodation will be paid for winning writers, provided they are resident in South Africa. Copyright of stories will remain with the writers, although writers may be requested to publish in partnering online and print media.
The final panel of independent judges to choose the winning stories from the short-list of twenty-five stories will be announced in 2013. Stories will be edited by author and editor Joanne Hichens, in association with the writers, in order to ensure a publication of the highest standard.
After consulting the submission details on the National Arts Festival website, entries can be emailed to enter@shortsharpstories.com. Submissions should be accompanied by the signed entry form (available on the website from 30 August), plus a covering letter conveying contact details, plus a brief CV and biography. Stories are preferably to be set in 11 point, Times Roman, at one and half line spacing. For further information, or queries, please contact Joanne Hichens at enter@shortsharpstories.com.
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, City Press and M-Net.
Ends
Book details
» read article
by Lindsay on Aug 31st, 2012
Verdict: carrot
This is a first novel from South African journalist and creative writing lecturer Karen Jayes.
It presents the reader with a metaphoric story of a land and people deprived of water, and explores the power dynamics in such a situation. The writing is lyrical and evokes an external landscape and inner emotional field vividly.
Book Details
» read article
by Luso on Aug 30th, 2012
The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, which was announced in July, no longer has an entry fee. The complete application rules for the prize are available on the African Poetry Fund site.
Please note that as of the publishing time of this post, the rules are as yet un-amended on the site to reflect this change.
Press release:
The African Poetry Book Series is an exciting new venture created by Kwame Dawes and made possible by the African Poetry Book Fund. To learn more about the Series at our website, click here.
Of the four annually-published books in the Series, one will be the winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets. The winner of this prize will receive USD $1000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion Press in Senegal.
Attached is a poster announcing the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets. It includes useful information about the prize, such as when to send a manuscript, eligibility, judging, and more. Please note that only electronic submissions are accepted. To read how to submit to the prize, click here.
Ends
Book details
» read article
Apr
