Monthly Archives: May 2012

University of Pretoria – Winter school

Sesde Winterskool, Eenheid vir Kreatiewe Skryfkuns, Universiteit van Pretoria Beurse vir skoliere en studente  Die Eenheid vir Kreatiewe Skryfkuns aan die Universiteit van Pretoria bied sy sesde Winterskool aan tydens die week van 26 – 29 Junie 2012 op die […]

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The 2012 Ingrid Jonker Prize for english poetry

To be considered for the Ingrid Jonker Prize 2012, please submit three copies of any English poetry debut published in 2010 and 2011 for adjudication to: Ingrid Jonker Prize Committee PO Box 657 STELLENBOSCH 7599 The closing date for submissions […]

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‘New political novels’ not so political

Is Crime Fiction the New Political Novel?, 12 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. KAVISH CHETTY Let’s open with an organising axiom: crime-fiction is surging through the cultural circuits of South Africa. There are plenty of theories as to this […]

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Drawing the most fitting picture

Draw your life, publish your self, Franschoek Literary Festival, 11 May 2012. KATE ELLIS-COLE Andy Mason looks like the surfer dude who never wanted to grow up. He sits behind the microphone at the presenters’ table, which is bedecked in […]

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The gaps and silences of the Border War.

Angola’s Long Shadow, 12 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. WAMUWI MBAO For South Africans of a certain generation, the Border conflicts of the 60s, 70s and 80s have left an indelible stain on their conscience; a brutal war, South […]

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Cross-dressing P-D Uys’s Bambi and her Nazi

Pieter-Dirk Uys in Cabaret, with pianist Godfrey Johnson. 12 May, Franschhoek Literary Festival. JANA JACOBS As the day draws to a close, the festive main street of Franschhoek has finally quietened down a little after the day’s hubbub, in which […]

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Prizes are good, but healing the real gain

Prizewinning Poems, Franschhoek Literary festival, 13 May 2012. CARYN JEFTHA The event “Prizewinning Poems” was an absolute treat. The featured poets, Dawn Garisch, winner of the EU Sol Plaatje competition, and runner-up Beverly Rycroft, performed some brilliant poetry and left […]

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The pleasures and perils of fame

The Price of Fame, 13 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. MICHIEL HEYNS It is always diverting to witness a really robust ego at play, and through some inspired programming this session provided three such, in the persons of Richard […]

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Dancing with Rhumba

Film to Fiction: Michele Magwood in conversation with Elaine Proctor. Franschhoek Literary festival, 11 May. LELANIE ROUX Elaine Proctor, esteemed film maker and newly published novelist, enters the room with the elegance of an artist not only in her physical […]

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The greatest mission of all – reading

Read SA! Franschhoek Literary Festival, 13 May STEFANIE SCHNEIDER On a sunny Sunday morning in Franschoek’s library, author Zukiswa Wanner, children’s author Dianne Stewart, broadcaster Karabo Kgoleng, Dorothy Dyer of the FunDza Literary Trust, and Patti McDonald, Avusa Education publisher […]

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Techno-smart Goldstuck, Dingle disentangle the gadgetry

The Technology Tsunami, Franschhoek Literary Festival, 11 May 2012. MEGAN BURSEY The eighth event of the Franschhoek Literary Festival kicked off in the Church Hall on one of the most stunning autumn mornings of the season. The nearly full house […]

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‘If you threw the book across the room, say it!’

Novels as Entertainment, 11 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival. JUNETTE GERBER “The great European novel started out as entertainment, and every true novelist is nostalgic for it … My lifetime ambition has been to unite the utmost seriousness of question […]

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Critics on critics: a reviewer’s manifesto.

Critics on critics, 13 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. KARIN SCHIMKE Shrinking books pages, reviewers who are not paid, and “boosterism” – the idea that reviewers should say nice things about all books because they care about the South […]

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Speaking each other’s languages

Reading each other’s classics, 13 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. PIETER ODENDAAL “In order to start this session in the right spirit,” Njabulo Ndebele begins, “we should greet each other in our African languages. Sanibonani.” The crowd echoes him […]

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What is it about this place called Cape Town?

The Cape and its Town, 13 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. ROSALIND J DE WAAL Arrested by a splendid autumn view of the Franschhoek mountains as I left the Congregational Church in Franschhoek following this event, I was torn […]

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Questions of belonging central to writing Africa

Writing Africa, 12 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. KAVISH CHETTY An “archive of images” has journeyed through centuries, containing and curtailing the image of Africa: the “dark continent”. It is a darkness of projection, a darkness cast by the […]

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Tweeting for Africa: The newest form of storytelling

Tweeting for Africa, May 12 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. KIM NARBY The annual Franschhoek Literary Festival was well into its second day when I sat down for Tweeting for Africa, a discussion about one of the biggest and most […]

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Rhumba: Proctor’s ‘bare-boned music’

Launch of Rhumba by Elaine Proctor, 9 May 2012, The Book Lounge, Cape Town. ANNEL PIETERSE A real winter chill has settled in for the season and a rogue ship is seeking sanctuary in False Bay as we make our […]

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The 1980s: ‘How do we write about a place that was changing?’

The in-between 80s, 11 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek WAMUWI MBAO There’s a lot of wordshedding going on in Franschoek right now, so you’ll have grasped from the other reports in the Slipnet’s FLF Reporting Attack that it’s a […]

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Midnight oil burners

The midnight oil burners, 11 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. KARIN SCHIMKE There is no magic trick for turning yourself into a full-time writer, observes Ndumiso Ngcobo, somewhat drily stating what he already knows as a novelist himself. “There […]

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Gendered genre

Beyond Chick Lit, 11 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. MICHIEL HEYNS Beyond Chick Lit: Lynda Gilfillan discusses the dismissive label genre fiction with Zukiswa Wanner (Behind Every Succesful Man) and Cynthia Jele (Happiness is a Four-letter Word). I was […]

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Exploring our land, step by step

Launch of This Is My Land, 11 May 2012, Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek. ANNEL PIETERSE It’s half past two on the first afternoon of the Franschhoek literary festival. The Church Hall is almost full, and I’m deeply gratified to see […]

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‘No leafy suburbs’ in new Andrew Brown novel

Launch of Solace by Andrew Brown, 8 May 2012, The Book Lounge, Cape Town. LUCY GRAHAM By the time Andrew Brown is seated on the small podium, along with Michiel Heyns, who will interview Brown on his latest novel, Solace, […]

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Khanyisile Mbongwa radiates queendom

Umthi Omnyama presents Khanyisile Mbongwa: Performance Art and Poetry, 17 April 2012, English Department, Arts and Social Sciences Building, Stellenbosch. FRANCES STROOH Hailing from Gugulethu, Khanyisile Mbongwa is an established performing artist, dance facilitator and poet. On the poster for […]

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