Orange-Senqu: Artery of Life attempts to provide a simultaneously historical, contemporary and personal account of the Orange-Senqu River basin, a large water catchment area which serves communities in four southern African countries.
Covering a wide range of issues regarding development and access to water, the book offers a chance for the outsider to see the area with new eyes. Kruchem achieves this by combining personal anecdote with historical detail and, while some of the details may seem unnecessary, he displays a passion for his subject which carries with it a respect for the region and its people. The book is accompanied by a multi-media “Orange-Senqu River Awareness Kit” DVD.
San of the Kalahari; mountain farmers in Lesotho; township activists near Johannesburg; diamond miners at the mouth; scientists and eco-philosophers – these are just a sampling of the scores of people interviewed by Thomas Kruchem to tell the rich and multi-faceted story of this great African river.
It is a story steeped in cultural history, economic opportunity and overwhelming environmental challenge. And the whole thing is told against the backdrop of a global problem – the escalating shortage of potable water.
Water shortage is one of humanity’s greatest challenges. It comes into sharp focus through the real-world issues faced along the river named Orange in South Africa and Senqu in Lesotho. In addressing these issues this compelling and beautifully illustrated book is part travelogue, part in-depth analysis and part a compendium of touching stories. The attached “Orange-Senqu River Awareness Kit” on DVD provides comprehensive multimedia material on water issues in Southern Africa.
This month, Lesotho will be hosting the Ba Re E Nere Literary Festival, conceptualised and curated by Liepollo Rantekoa. The Litfest will pay homage to the authors and musicians that have been nourished and inspired by Lesotho’s culture, such as Njabulo Ndebele, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Zakes Mda, Ayi Kwei Armah, Thomas Mofolo, Polo “Malehlohonolo”, Patrick Bereng, Morabo Morojele, Mpho Brown, Bhudaza, and Mary Bosiu.
You can experience the work of these writers through the Chimurenga Library, which will be made available at the Vodacom Internet Shop in Maseru. There will also be screenings and weekly discussions taking place throughout the whole of March.
Below is a sketch of some of the festival’s events. Note that some of the scheduled dates are subject to change. Updates are available via Ba Re Literature | Facebook.
Saturday 5 March: 18h00 – 20h00
Morabo Morojele in discussion with Kgafela oa Magogodi and Lesego Rampolokeng; Satchmo
As before, the editors have made quite a bit of content from the issue available online – but browsers beware! It’s rather tricky to determine just what is free-to-read and what isn’t. On the issue’s homepage, which lists the complete contents, some of the indexed works are hyperlinked and some not, and, among those that are linked, the clicks either lead to teasers or to the entire article/story/poem, without any clear system for discerning which is which. (Some of the links are marked with a small red “R”, and these tend to be the free-to-read ones, but not in all instances.)
BOOK SA has done the requisite sleuthing, however, and here presents a sampler of the sampler. We ought further to point out that BOOK SA member Zukiswa Wanner features in the issue, with a piece on “Books worth Re-reading”, as does SA poet laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile, who shares “A Brief Word on Poetry” (purchase/subscription required for both).
Now, on to the goods. A smart essay by Sarah Ladipo Manyika (Nigeria):
Author for sale
The man in the bookshop says, just do whatever makes you feel most comfortable. So I reflect on his words thinking that had this been a more traditional book tour, I would know what to do. I would read passages from my novel, answer questions and then sign books. But this is something different and because I no longer live in England, I do not know if this is now the norm or merely unique to the Birmingham bookshop in which I stand. It is certainly not as glamorous as book readings, but given the dismal state of the economy, perhaps it’s more sensible.
‘Excuse me sir, excuse me madam, could I interest you in a new novel?”
‘A what?”
‘Can I interest you in a new novel? I’m the author and I’m signing …”
Seta stopped breathing in the late afternoon. The lorry carrying him was inches away from reaching the concrete road. The cows were returning home as he slipped from life. The shadows of the mountains were reaching out too far over the dry ground, chasing the lorry like ghosts unfed. He had watched those shadows, thinking they would catch him and freeze him solid – but he had resisted, and said to himself, No, I am not dying yet, not today.
The last thing he heard was a cowbell dinging too slow, its fading sound coming at him in fragments from different directions. Then, in the distance, a long line of grandfathers and great grandfathers wearing yellow blankets emerged, to accompany him on a narrow and steep uphill path. He felt he was all alone on this path, despite the smiling faces of the old men with leathery skins which he recognised but had never seen before. His ripped chest began to feel cold. He tried to look back but realised that he could not turn his head. He could only walk forwards.
Alert! The shortlists for the 2010 M-Net Literary Awards have been announced – including the lists for second annual film awards, given for works of fiction that are, erm, eminently filmmable.
Alert!SA PEN has issued its call for entries for the £10 000 2011 PEN/Studzinsky Literary Awards – which are judged by JM Coetzee – and has announced that Margie Orford is set to replace Shaun Johnson on the PEN executive.
In a not-altogether-welcome shift of policy, SA PEN has reverted to the geographical scope of its award that was in place before it secured sponsorship from current benefactor John Studzinski. That is, only residents of SADC‘s fifteen countries may enter, whereas the inaugural award was open to the whole of Africa. (See the press release below for the full list of eligible countries.) Happily, the lack of any age restriction on entrants appears to remain intact.
3 000 to 5 000 word short fiction entries in English are invited from 1 March 2010; submission details will be posted to the SA PEN website on that date; no final closing deadline appears to have yet been set.
Here’s the complete press release from SA PEN:
2011 PEN/STUDZINSKI LITERARY AWARDS
Entries invited from 1 March 2010
The South African Centre of International PEN (SA PEN) is pleased to announce the launch of the second in the series of PEN/STUDZINSKI Literary Awards.
Entries for the award for original short stories in English are called for from 1 March 2010 and AFRICAN PENS, a compilation of the short-listed stories, will be published in mid-2011.
Prizes totalling £10 000 will once again be donated by American philanthropist and global investment banker, John Studzinski. The first, second and third prizes will be £5 000, £3 000 and £2 000, respectively.
Nobel Laureate and SA PEN Honorary Member, J.M. Coetzee, will once again select the winning entries.
The 2011 PEN/STUDZINSKI Literary Award aims to encourage creative writing in southern Africa and will offer talented writers an exciting opportunity to launch or develop a literary career. Twelve contributors to our earlier HSBC/SA PEN series have now published their own books, including Ceridwen Dovey who won the 2008 Sunday Times Fiction Prize. Petina Gappah, an early winner, went on to sign a three-book contract with Faber & Faber in the UK and Farrar Strauss & Giroux in the US. Three of the five short-listed stories for the Caine prize for African Writing first appeared in AFRICAN PENS 2007 – the model for AFRICAN PENS 2011. The story POISON, set in a threatened Cape Town, and written by author Henrietta Rose-Innes, was chosen by J.M, Coetzee as the winner of the 2007 HSBC/SA PEN Literary Award and it went on to win the 2008 Caine Prize of £10 000.
Our 2009 project, led by author Shaun Johnson, received over 800 entries from writers throughout Africa, but this year we revert to appealing only to writers living in the fifteen countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC*). The genre is still the short-story, this time between 3 000 and 5 000 words.
SA PEN is pleased to announce that author Margie Orford has agreed to take Shaun’s place on the SA PEN executive and that the Editorial Board for the 2011 award will comprise:
Anthony Fleischer (Chairman), novelist and President of SA PEN
Dianne Case, popular children’s author
John Gardener, English teacher, retired Head of Kingswood College & Bishops, published numerous articles and Bishops’ 150 year history of the school
Jeremy Lawrence, writer who has worked in journalism and publishing in London and South Africa
Adré Marshall, retired academic, author of book on Henry James and sundry poems, translator (French/English)
Peter Merrington, novelist, professor extraordinaire at the University of the Western Cape, ceramicist and motorcyclist
Margie Orford, writer and sometime journalist
Anne Schuster, novelist, poet, creative writing facilitator and publisher
J.M. Coetzee – Nobel Laureate (Final judge)
Writers who are citizens of SADC countries* are encouraged to prepare short stories for submission. Further information and detailed rules of entry will be posted on the SA PEN website, www.sapen.co.za, from the 1 March 2010.
Previous publications featuring the shortlisted and winning stories from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 HSBC/SA PEN, and 2009 PEN/STUDZINSKI Literary Awards are: AFRICAN COMPASS (2005, New Africa Books), AFRICAN ROAD (2006, New Africa Books), AFRICAN PENS (2007, New Africa Books), NEW WRITING FROM AFRICA 2009 (2009, Johnson & KingJames Books).
* SADC countries: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
December with its heat and holidays is one of those wind-down months when nothing much happens except mornings at the beach, long lunches and long glasses of wine. Not for nothing is my city below the mountain nicknamed Grape Town. So at the beginning of 2010 crime fiction news from the bottom of Africa is more a wrap of 2009 than an anticipation of the new year. I’m sure we’ll catch up with the rest of the world one day, but probably not till the end of the month. That’s Africa time for you.
Jane Rosenthal picks up three of the latest SA thrillers:
For the past three to four years, new South African thrillers have been arriving like a great river pouring through the sluices of local publishers and providing much entertaining reading as well as a window on to everyday life.
As we all know, crime is an everyday matter in South Africa, and thrillers, though they do not occupy a high spot on the ladder of literary genres, provide fiction that seems light yet deals with some horribly serious subjects.
They are, in a way, a positive spin-off of murder: vengeance, retribution and justice are powerful storymakers. Though still relatively new names to readers, Deon Meyer, Mike Nicol and Margie Orford are the old guard in this new wave.
BOOK SA is set to move from the “beta” to the “alpha” phase this World Book Day, Monday April 23rd! Join us for a proper launch in the Cape Town CBD – watch out for the details soon.
***Original Beta-Phase Launch Post***
Welcome to BOOK SA! It’s my great pleasure to cut the ribbon on this new enterprise, and start bringing you news and views on Southern African literature – mostly, but not strictly, from the English side of it – as well as to afford members of the local literary community the advantages of powerful online tools for their own projects.
In February this year, German-based publishing company Brandes & Apsel released Orange-Senqu: Artery of Life: Water and Peace in Southern Africa by award-winning journalist Thomas Kruchem. 
Verdict: carrot, carrot and carrot again
Apr
