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Henrietta Rose-Innes Chats to Michiel Heyns at the Launch of Invisible Furies

Michiel Heyns

The launch last week of Michiel Heyns’ latest book, his sixth novel, Invisible Furies, was a glorious event held at Kalk Bay Books. Fellow Sunday Times Fiction Prize shortlistee, Henrietta Rose-Innes joined him in a delicious and witty exchange. Heyns has also been shortlisted for the prestigious UJ Creative Writing Prize and Rose-Innes wished him all the very best in this “most lucrative” award.

Michiel Heyns and Henrietta Rose-InnesInvisible FuriesRose-Innes reflected on the character Christopher in Invisible Furies, a South African who arrives in Paris on a mission to retrieve the son of an old friend. There he finds himself facing his own preconceptions about the city, about life and beauty, only to arrive at an ambivalent conclusion. “Paris is the very important centre of the book,” she said to Heyns, who travels there regularly. “Why Paris? What does it mean to you?”

Heyns’ reply contains his inimitable wry understatement. “The main reason is I love Paris, which is not a very original sentiment. Thematically, it is a city that is immensely beautiful, but it is a challenging and ambiguous kind of beauty. To many it seems impenetrable. It is so complete, so finished… compared with Joburg, Cape Town. Other cities seem ragged at the edges by comparison. That lends itself very well to my theme.”

The duo of authors chatted across a range of topics: the bridges, the terrific cover design by Michiel Botha that sums up the city’s brittle brilliance, roller skaters, and the author’s knowledge (or lack thereof) of the fashion industry! Rose-Innes read an exquisitely lyrical passage that conveyed the sense of beauty that permeates the pages of this book.

A thoroughly enjoyable encounter was had by all, and a fun question and answer session concluded the evening.

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Liesl Jobson tweeted from the launch using #livebooks:

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Podcast: Imraan Coovadia Ponders His Writing Pace and the Poetry of Taxis

The Institute for Taxi PoetrySue Grant-Marshall interviewed Imraan Coovadia, author of The Institute for Taxi Poetry, at the Franschhoek Literary Festival, which took place earlier this month.

In the following podcast of Grant-Marshall’s Reading Matters radio programme, Coovadia muses about slow-paced writing versus athletic writing and the lack of transportation-related poetry around the world, and gives an analogy of taxis as re-decorated coffins.

Listen to the podcast, courtesy Radio Today:

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Introducing The State vs Anna Bruwer by Anchien Troskie as Elbie Lotter

The State vs Anna BruwerThis June from Kwela:

What happened to Anna the moment after she pulled the trigger? After she looked her stepfather in the eye, and shot him, the man who sexually abused her and her sister for so many years?

Seven years after It’s Me, Anna, a publication sensation at the time of its release, the author revisits the story of Anna Bruwer. How does one seek forgiveness for murder? Or is retribution the only way to bring about justice? These are the questions Anna – and the writer – wrestle with.

This is an excruciatingly honest depiction of Anna’s life after her stepfather’s death: a novel filled with compassion, and ultimately hope.

About the author

It’s me, Anna (Dis ek, Anna) was published under Troskie’s pseudonym, Elbie Lötter in 2005. The Afrikaans edition has sold more than 50 000 copies, and the English edition more than 15 000 copies.

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Japie Bogaards baseer Tussen middernag en dagbreek op sy eie stryd met dwelms

Tussen middernag en dagbreekJapie Bogaards se debuutroman, Tussen middernag en dagbreek, is op sy eie stryd met dwelmverslawing gegrond. Bogaards het vir Rachelle Greeff vertel presies hoe erg dit was voordat hy uiteindelik uit “die longdrop van dwelms” gekruip het en met sy groeiende skryflus die dwelmlus oorkom het:

Die laagste laagtepunt van die skrywer Japie Bogaards se ­59-jarige lewe was nie die opgooiery daardie Saterdag agter Loftus se hoofpaviljoen nie. Dit was die rondkrappery ’n bietjie later, handeviervoet in sy eie braaksel, op soek na oorblyfsels van die pille – om dit weer te sluk.

Met so ’n dwelmgeskiedenis sou die meeste ander mense lank­al óf in die graf óf in die riool­sloot gelê het, maar nie hierdie Hollander nie. Hy het oor baie, baie lang jare uit die longdrop van dwelms gekruip, duim vir duim.

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Jane Vorster Reviews Below Luck Level by Barbara Erasmus

Below Luck LevelVerdict: carrot

It’s a disease that eats away at a person’s brain, gobbling all their memories and reasoning skills, eventually making it impossible for them to carry out the simplest of tasks. There’s no cure.

When it comes to relentlessly grim subject matter not much can top Alzheimer’s and I have to admit that when Below Luck Level landed on my desk I approached it with trepidation – but by the time I’d finished the first chapter I was totally hooked and ended up devouring the book in just a few sittings.

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Karina Magdalena Szczurek resenseer No Time Like the Present deur Nadine Gordimer

No Time Like the PresentUitspraak: stokkie

Ek het nog nooit so vervreemd gevoel van ’n skrywer wat ek bewonder nie.

Om te sê Nadine Gordimer se No Time Like the Present is ’n teleurstelling is ’n gruwelike onderbeklemtoning, en tog is my agting vir dié skrywer en haar werk so groot dit maak my seer om selfs in sulke terme aan haar jongste werk te dink.

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