Fiction

Monday – 23rd October 2023

Trouble in paradise – Sara Ochs on writing her debut novel, The Dive

Sara Ochs’s The Dive is an unputdownable thriller about the dark side of paradise.

Friday – 13th October 2023

Dianne Stewart on how to journal your way to a novel

Journaling is an accessible way for writers to hone their craft and keep track of details while writing a book, says Dianne Stewart, author and recipient of SA Children’s Laureate Award for her lifelong contribution to children’s literature.

‘Regret belongs to the past’ – Mikki Brammer on the ideas behind her novel The Collected Regrets of Clover

Mikki Brammer’s The Collected Regrets of Clover is a big-hearted and life-affirming debut about a death doula who, in caring for others at the end of their life, has forgotten how to live her own.

Saturday – 30th September 2023

Footnotes, September 2023: Book links from around the web

At The Reading List, we’re trainspotters when it comes to interesting book links, and here are a number that caught our eye. …

Monday – 25th September 2023

‘Really, I knew, I had lost my way long before.’ – Read an excerpt from Jane van der Riet’s debut novel How to Hide Inside a Three

Penguin Random House has shared an excerpt from How to Hide Inside a Three, the debut novel by Jane van der Riet.

Joanne Joseph’s tender and lyrical novel Children of Sugarcane is out now as an audiobook!

Children of Sugarcane by Joanne Joseph – a novel of love, heartache and the indestructible bonds between family and friends – out now as an audiobook from Jonathan Ball Publishers!

Come and meet Joanne Joseph in Sandton and Midrand and get your copy of Children of Sugarcane signed (19 and 21 Sep)

Joanne Joseph will be at the Sandton and Midrand Gautrain stations this week to meet her readers and sign copies of her novel Children of Sugarcane.

Friday – 15th September 2023

Win one of three copies of Lauren Beukes’s new dazzlingly inventive speculative thriller Bridge

Ready to cross over into a captivating tale? Penguin Random House SA is giving away three copies of Bridge by acclaimed author Lauren Beukes!

Thursday – 14th September 2023

[Watch] Stephen King reads from his chilling new thriller Holly

Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a Mid-western town.

Wednesday – 13th September 2023

Joanne Joseph and Roshina Ratnam discuss the making of Jonathan Ball Publishers’s first audiobook

This week on Pagecast, author Joanne Joseph and narrator Roshina Ratnam take us behind the scenes for the making of Jonathan Ball Publishers’s first ever audiobook, Children of Sugarcane.

[Watch] Find out more about the new Thursday Murder Club novel by Richard Osman – The Last Devil To Die!

British national treasure Richard Osman introduces the fourth book in the record-breaking Thursday Murder Club series, The Last Devil To Die!

Tuesday – 12th September 2023

Find out more about The Fraud by Zadie Smith – a writer at the peak of her powers

From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, The Fraud is a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who deserves to tell their story – and about who deserves to be believed.

Friday – 8th September 2023

Find out more about Bridge, the new book by Lauren Beukes

Bridge by Lauren Beukes is out now from Penguin Random House SA!

Wednesday – 6th September 2023

Calling all writers! Submissions are now open at Jacana Media

Jacana Media is calling for submissions! If you’re a writer who is looking for a publisher, this is a rare chance to have your work read and considered by one of the country’s best.

Finding inspiration in the ancient world – Conn Iggulden on writing his bestselling historical fiction

Stories and myths from the ancient world have transcended millennia, and it’s from these that author Conn Iggulden draws inspiration for his bestselling historical fiction.

Friday – 1st September 2023

New book alert! At Fire Hour by Barry Gilder – an unforgettable and deeply moving tale

Join Jacana Media in celebrating the release of Barry Gilder’s latest novel, At Fire Hour.

‘Most families are bound not just by blood but by secrets’ – Abraham Verghese on his masterful new novel The Covenant of Water

From Abraham Verghese, author of the bestselling novel Cutting for Stone, comes a stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith and …

Thursday – 31st August 2023

Shari Lapena chats about her unputdownable new thriller Everyone Here is Lying

Author Shari Lapena chats to The Penguin Post about her thrilling new novel, Everyone Here is Lying, and what draws her to writing about domestic bliss gone wrong.

Wednesday – 30th August 2023

‘I’ve been betrayed by people a few times, and it hurts’ – In conversation with Lesley Pearse on her new novel, Betrayal

Lesley Pearse worked her way through a number of jobs, including nanny, bunny girl, dressmaker and full-time mother before, at the age of 49, she became a published writer.

Tuesday – 29th August 2023

Five Minutes with Douglas Kruger on his new psychological thriller Character Scan

Read an interview with Douglas Kruger on his new novel Character Scan!