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Tuesday – 27th August 2019
Read an extract from The Nickel Boys – the new novel by Colson Whitehead, based on a real reform school that destroyed thousands of children’s lives
Read an extract from The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead – the gorgeous, dazzling and heartbreaking new novel from the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Underground Railroad.
‘No fires were allowed. No lights. Two hours sleep, two hours on guard.’ – Read an extract from Angolsh: Scenes from an Army Camp
Read an extract from Angolsh: Scenes from an Army Camp by writer and film director Greg Latter.
[Podcast] ‘You hear this thing that the boers killed your uncle … you do not really understand’ – Gaongalelwe Tiro talks about his new book Parcel of Death
Gaongalelwe Tiro recently spoke to David O’Sullivan on Kaya FM about his paternal uncle’s life story – Parcel of Death: The Biography of Onkgopotse Abram Tiro.
This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga shortlisted for the $50,000 St Francis College Literary Prize
Tsitsi Dangarembga’s latest novel This Mournable Body has been shortlisted for the $50,000 (over R750,000) St Francis College Literary Prize in Brooklyn, New York.
Monday – 26th August 2019
Black Tax: Burden or Ubuntu? – a thought-provoking and moving anthology edited by Niq Mhlongo
Black Tax: Burden or Ubuntu?, edited by Niq Mhlongo, is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers!
[Podcast] ‘It’s not fashionable to deal with real issues’: Mcebisi Jonas discusses After Dawn: Hope After State Capture
The former Deputy Finance Minister of South Africa, Mcebisi Jonas, recently joined Bongani Bingwa on Talk Radio 702 to talk about his new book, After Dawn: Hope After State Capture.
[Video] Eminem, the Spice Girls, Emo, African funk and jazz – Rémy Ngamije shares the music behind his debut novel The Eternal Audience of One
BlackBird Books recently shared a video of Rwandan-born Namibian writer Rémy Ngamije talking about music, pop culture and his debut novel, The Eternal Audience of One.
The only way to get your child back, is to kidnap another child … you are now part of The Chain – new by Adrian McKinty
The only way to get your child back, is to kidnap another child. Adrian McKinty’s new psychological thriller The Chain is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers.
Voices from the Underground – 18 members of Umkhonto we Sizwe’s Ashley Kriel Detachment tell their stories for the first time
Voices from the Underground: Eighteen Life Stories from Umkhonto we Sizwe’s Ashley Kriel Detachment, edited by Shirley Gunn and Shanil Haricharan is out now from Penguin Random House SA.
Friday – 23rd August 2019
Don’t miss the launch of Field Guide to Mushrooms and other Fungi of South Africa at Mamma Roma in Cape Town (27 Aug)
You are invited to the launch of Field Guide to Mushrooms and other Fungi of South Africa!
‘A cool new generation of spy novel’ – The Most Difficult Thing by Charlotte Philby
Stylish and assured, The Most Difficult Thing is an irresistible combination of contemporary espionage and domestic suspense, and a compulsive, highly charged examination of betrayal.
‘Sizwe Motaung’s BMW was petrol bombed’ – Clive Barker recalls a political fight between AmaZulu and Sundowns fans in an excerpt from Coach
Jacana Media has shared an extract from Coach: The Life and Soccer Times of Clive Barker.
Thursday – 22nd August 2019
Introduce children to the local art scene with Explore! Awesome South African Artists by Cobi Labuscagne
Explore! Awesome South African Artists by Cobi Labuscagne is out in September from Jacana Media.
A slowly unfurling nightmare – Someone We Know, the gripping new thriller by Shari Lapena
Someone We Know – the new domestic suspense novel from Shari Lapena, the bestselling author of The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House and An Unwanted Guest.
Impossible to put down – Phoebe Locke’s ‘twisty and haunting’ new thriller The July Girls
The July Girls by Phoebe Locke is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers.
‘A Nearly Normal Family will make you question everything you know about those closest to you.’ – Karin Slaughter
Available now from Pan Macmillan, MT Edvardsson’s A Nearly Normal Family will have you on the edge of your seat.
Don’t miss a book discussion of Our Words, Our Worlds: Writing on Black South African Women Poets at Wits (27 Aug)
WiSER, the Governing Intimacies project and UKZN Press invite you to a book discussion of Our Words, Our Worlds: Writing on Black South African Women Poets, 2000–2018, edited by Makhosazana Xaba.
Wednesday – 21st August 2019
Watch Mphuthumi Ntabeni introduce his novel The Broken River Tent, and listen to an excerpt
Wordfest South Africa recently asked Mphuthumi Ntabeni to introduce his entrancing novel The Broken River Tent.
‘The problems are structural, they are not individual’ – Mcebisi Jonas discusses his book After Dawn: Hope After State Capture
In October 2015, the Gupta brothers offered Jonas the position of Minister of Finance in exchange for R600-million. Then the Deputy Finance Minister, Jonas turned down the bribe and a period of deep introspection followed for him.
Listen to an excerpt from Friday Black, the unforgettable and explosive debut short story collection by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Listen to an excerpt from Friday Black, the piercingly raw debut story collection from Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.