Photo competition: literature and Africa

The eighth international literature festival berlin (24.9. – 4.10.2008), with the focus on “Africa”, is organizing the photo competition 'Literature in Africa. All submissions of analogue or digital photos (300dpi) in black / white or colour are welcome: photos of book shops with their owners, libraries, children reading, youth and adults, or other motifs that are associated with the theme.

These photos, as far as possible, will be displayed in an exhibition that will take place during the festival. The 'best' photo to be selected by the jury as the main motif for the festival, which among other things will grace the festival poster and website, will be awarded with US$500. The final submission date is 30.5.2008. Additional information required: name of the photographer, contact details, place where and date when the picture was taken.

Address: international literature festival berlin, Photo Competition, Chausseestr. 5, 10115 Berlin, Germany; or:

foto_competition@literaturfestival.com. Our website: www.literaturfestival.com

The international literature festival berlin

Experiencing literary diversity in times of globalisation: it’s possible here.

Arab poets will meet with American short-story writers, South Korean poets with their Russian colleagues and South African novelists with young, budding Albanian authors.

The most interesting, newly discovered authors still stand equally beside literature’s most established and respected talents. During the twelve days and approximately 300 events of the festival, 100 authors will introduce both new and more traditional developments to the world of contemporary literature; differences will appear and similarities become noticeable.

Prose, lyric poetry, conversations with authors and political discussions, literature for children and young people, film versions of literary works – the ilb is a lively, polyglot forum by and for literature enthusiasts, as well as for those who wish to become one.

Finnish/Nordic & African writers

----- Original Message -----
From: dahl@mappi.helsinki.fi Subject: Fwd: finnish/nordic & african writers

dear recipients,

I am vice-president of Finnish PEN, and I write to you because I look for couple of (young) African authors for a co-project between Finnish/nordic & african authors. I would like to hear from you as soon as possible.

What would it be concretely?

It would be written dialogue through e-mail on certain theme/topic as an aim a common text - the correspondence would be released partially at a blog also so that the public can follow its' proceeding.

the translator would translate finnish authors'answers into english. in the end of the project this "correspondence" would be published a printed anthology. this would be in year 2009.

Possibly there will be a workshop in the end of the whole project, where African and Finnish authors meet, but this realizes only if I manage to find the funding. Blog and anthology are however already sure & combined things:
they will be realized.

First we make the selection of Africans included:

1. Could you please suggest me somebody suitable for this project and send his/her contact details so that I can contact him/her asking their willingness to participate. Note, that I only look for about 4-5 people.
They should have already released something, proved their "professionality", and they have to live in Africa still. We also prefer them being younger authors.

2. i would like to know also what themes do you consider important in this cultural exchange kind of project? what themes would you like to discuss with finnish authors?

finns have proposed following themes:

-black and white reality - black and white signify different things in different cultures, also
-black and white north and south
-childhood
-gods
-my africa - presentations of africa that affect in my mind, the reality, possible changing of these (re)presentations
-death in our cultures

yours sincerely,

Rita Dahl

Chimurenga 12/13: Dr Satan's Echo Chamber launch

How animal go know-say dem no born me as slave?
How animal go know say slave trade don pass?
And, dey wan dash us human rights
Animal must talk to human beings
Give dem human rights

I beg oh, make you hear me well-u well
I beg oh, make you hear me very well

Human rights na my property
So therefore, you can’t dash me my property

Fela Anikulapo Kuti (Beasts of No Nation)

We launch the double issue Chimurenga 12/13, Dr. Satan's Echo Chamber, on Sharpeville Day (Human Rights Day), March 21, 2008 at Distrix Cafe. An all-improv session of sound and visuals featuring: Robbie Jansen; Kesivan Naidoo; Moreira Chonguica; Kyla Rose Smith; Teba the OSW; The General S'bu; Helder Gonzaga; Toni Paco; Stacy Hardy; Jazzart Dance Theatre; Buddy Wells; Fong Kong Bantu Soundsystem and Neo Muyanga. We called it African Space Program, after the man who runs the school of sevens next door. (view the flier)

The thing itself, Chimurenga 12/13: Dr. Satan's Echo Chamber

12 is an all-faxion issue on black technologies no longer secret, featuring words and images by Allan “Botsotso” Kolsky, Koffi Kwahule, Joao Barreiros, Olufemi Terry, Doreen Baigaina, Stacy Hardy, Akin Adesokan, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, JG Ballard, Emmanuel Dongala, Blank du Blanc, Jean Malaquais, Liesl Jobson, Peter Kalu, Dominique Malaquais, Basim Magdy, Jean Lamore, Femi “Rage” Dawkins, James Sey, Minette Vari, Teju Cole and Rana Dasgupta

13 documents the (un)making of: Dr. Satan's Echo Chamber (Louis Chude-Sokei; Victor Gama); Mannenberg (John Edwin Mason; Abdullah Ibrahim); The Last Angel of History (John Akomfrah and Edward George and BAFC); Les Saignates (Jean-Pierre Bekolo Obama); Les Saignantes 2 (Lionel Manga), SAPE (Baudouin Mouanda); a painting (Pume Bylex); Julumbu (Abu Bakarr Mansaray); Palestinian Walls (Eyal Weizman); Beaubourg (Luca Frei) and Slackers like Nkrumah and Sartre (Shirana Shahbazi, Tirdad Zolghadr and Faouzi Rouissi)

Stephen Simm launches Miss Kwa Kwa "II"

See http://www.jacana.co.za/Mailers/invites/kwakwabraai

A new novel by columnist and satirist Tom Eaton

KALK BAY BOOKS AND PENGUIN SA invite you to join them at the launch of THE WADING

On the beautiful island of Cape Formosa, the days still pass in heat and wind and silence. Separated from the ravaged Mainland by a shallow channel known as the Wading, the Cape seems a tropical idyll, intact and at peace. But when the regular supply aircraft is crippled in a storm, stranding the pilot and his granddaughter Claudette on the island, the dreamy calm of the Cape is broken, and a long-delayed confrontation between two of its most enigmatic figures can no longer be avoided.

Tom Eaton's eagerly-awaited literary novel promises something new from this highly-accomplished writer. Don't miss it...

Where: Kalk Bay Books, 124 Main Road, Kalk Bay
When: Saturday 8 March 2006
Time: 6 for 6.30pm
RSVP: books@kalkbaybooks.co.za or 021 788 2266 by 6 March
(please indicate number of people who will attend)

Drinks and snacks will be served

Join us for a reading introducing poets and poetry

Johannesburg Poets @ BOEKEHUIS Saterdag 23 Februarie @ 12:30 Andries Bezuidenhout lees uit sy debuutbundel, Retoer

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers reads from her book, Taller than Buildings When: Saturday 23 February 2008 At 12:30

Where: BOEKEHUIS, cnr Lothbury & Fawley Streets, Auckland Park RSVP: by 21 Feb 08 boekehuis@boekehuis.co.za or 011 482 3609

Oor die digter:
Andries Bezuidenhout het veral bekendheid verwerf as lid van die rockgroep Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes en vir sy rubrieke op LitNet en in Rapport. Hy is dosent in Sosiologie aan die Universiteit van die Witwatersrand.

About the poet:
Phillippa Yaa de Villiers

After winning the runner-up best writer award and the audience appreciation award in the Pansa Festival of Contemporary Theatre Readings in 2005, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers started exploring her poetic voice. Last year she performed at the Jozi Spoken Word Festival, Word Power Festival of Black Literature and Book Fair in the UK, as well as Poetry Africa, and represented South Africa at the 12th International Poetry Festival in Havana, Cuba. In 2007 she wrote her one-woman show Original Skin and performed in Bloemfontein and Cape Town. It will appear in May and June at the Market Theatre. After winning a grant from the Centre for the Book in November 2006, she published her first volume of poetry, Taller than Buildings, which is now in its second edition.

She writes for television, magazines and newspapers. Find an interview with Phillippa by Victor Dlamini at

http://victordlamini.book.co.za/2008/02/08/podcast-with-wordsmith-phillippa-yaa-de-villiers/#more-106

Find the audio recordings of poets reading their work at The Poetry Archive

The Poetry Archive is the world's premier online collection of recordings of poets reading their work.

You can enjoy listening here, free of charge, to the voices of contemporary English-language poets and of poets from the past.

Appeal for worldwide reading on anniversary of the political lie on March 20, 2008

For the third time the Peter Weiss Foundation for Art and Politics calls upon cultural institutions, radio stations, theatres and interested individuals to join in a worldwide reading on March 20th, the anniversary of the political lie. The essay “In Memory of the Forgotten” by the Chinese writer Lu Xun (1881-1936) will be read.

It is especially meaningful now, right before the Olympic Games (August 8-24, 2008 in Beijing), to draw attention to the censorship, the silence decreed on matters related to China’s most recent history, Tibet, the enormously high number of death sentences, the collaboration with the regime in Sudan and, not least, the imprisonment of civil rights activists. As recently as three weeks ago the 34 year-old activist Hu Jia, known for his commitment to human rights and rights for those infected by HIV, was put in prison after a six-month house arrest.

China is a country without any memory when it comes to certain issues. The majority of those who grew up in China in the nineties have no clear notion of what happened during the massacre in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Research into the Cultural Revolution is forbidden. Public commemoration of the 500,000 intellectuals who were imprisoned or sent to labour camps during the Hundred Flowers Campaign of 1956-57 is also not allowed. The regime preaches harmony. Because he continually called upon the Chinese to remember their past, the regime slowly grew suspicious of Lu Xun, who had always been presented as a strong supporter of the Revolution.

In the summer of 2007, after Lu Xun’s work vanished from the reading lists of a few American universities, China’s minister of education ordered certain of his texts, those that had been read out on June 4, 1989, to be struck from schoolbooks and substituted by the feudal sagas of Jin Yong. Lu Xun was already threatened by censorship during his lifetime. Even after 1949 his work and photos were edited and reinterpreted due to political circumstances.

The aim of our events and activities is to raise awareness of the form and content of political communication. Since lies belong to the equipment of political groups at the start of the twenty-first century, it is crucial that the strength of those who protest against them is not weakened.

On occasion of the third anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, the Peter Weiss Foundation initiated for the first time a worldwide reading on March 20, 2006. On this “anniversary of the political lie” Eliot Weinberger’s text “What I Heard about Iraq” was read at events and over the radio. On March 20, 2007 over 1.2 million people listened to two reportages by Anna Politkovskaya.

The text by Lu Xun in all universal languages is available through the Peter Weiss Foundation for Art and Politics.

The first authors, who signed this appeal, are Yuri Andrukhovych, Paul Auster, Nuruddin Farah, Siri Hustvedt, Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Bahman Nirumand.

To sign up for this reading on the third anniversary of the political lie please contact: info@peterweissstiftung.de This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or visit the website www.peter-weiss-stiftung.de

KZN Literary Tourism

KZN Literary Tourism has hit the ground running in 2008. We aim to have the Cato Manor Writers Trail published by the end of this month and have plans to develop three more trails. These are the Albert Luthuli/Benedict Vilakazi Trail, the Midlands Writers Trail (including John van de Ruit) and the Indanda Writers Trail (focusing on Ghandi and his descendants). Contact us for more information on these trails. Here are the latest additions to our website.

Reviews

Fanie Fourie’s Lobola by Nape ‘a Motana

Fanie Fourie’s Lobola is, without doubt, unlike any book I’ve ever read. And not only because it’s written from an Afrikaner’s perspective (by a Sepedi man). Not only because it tackles the subject of inter-racial relationships with humour and candour. But because it is filled with the richness of an African traditional storyteller, only told in English.

This is most likely because it was originally written in Sepedi, and then translated into English by the author, Nape ‘a Motana, who retained much of the original colour and flavour in the language usage. What does this mean? Flowery descriptions, emotions bordering on melodrama and plenty of emphasis on ‘this beauty whom the gods of Afrika had undoubtedly blessed with splendid dimples.’ But somehow, it isn’t distracting, and simply adds to the book’s appeal.
Read more...

Ja, No, Man by Richard Poplak

Take the nostalgia bred from having spent sixteen years growing up in South Africa, and then sixteen years out of it, and combine it with a lot of thought around the responsibility of white South Africans during Apartheid, and you have Ja, No, Man in a nutshell.

Described as ‘a memoir of pop culture, girls, suburbia*. and Apartheid’, Ja, No, Man is Richard Poplak’s story of the first sixteen years of his life, which is special because (as he says), ‘What makes my experience remarkable and my perspective unique is that I lived in South Africa only under the Apartheid regime* My South Africa, the universe I inhabited as a boy, died three months after I left it.’
Read more...

Podcasts

A conversation with Lindy Stiebel

Lindy Stiebel discusses literary tourism, the KZN Literary Tourism project and literary trails in KwaZulu-Natal.

Lindy Stiebel is project leader of KZN Literary Tourism. She is also Professor in English Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Stieble is the author of Imagining Africa: landscape in H.Rider Haggard's African romances (Greenwood Press 2001), Thomas Baines and the 'Great Map' (Campbell Collections 2001), and co-editor of Still Beating the Drum: Critical Perspectives on Lewis Nkosi (Rodapi and Wits University Press 2006). She has published articles on South African literature, spatial discourse and literary tourism.

A conversation with Bridget McNulty

Bridget McNulty discusses her novel Strange Nervous Laughter, the connection between place and writing, and her hometown of Durban.

Bridget was born and grew up in Durban, a city she is still strongly attached to - in real life and literary. After finishing high school, she went to America to study Creative Writing and Theatre at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She returned to Durban after graduating in 2005, and spent a year writing at home, soaking up the sounds and smells and vibrancy of the city of Durban, and transforming them into text for her novel, Strange Nervous Laughter.

A conversation with Peter Machen

Peter Machen talks to Niall McNulty about his book Durban - A Paradise and its People, the city of Durban and how it influences his writing.

Durban - A Paradise and its People is a unique guide to the city from the perspective of those who live here. Writer and designer Peter Machen uses minimal text and rich, vibrant photographs to display the diversity of everything from architecture, music, fashion, art, dance and theatre, to film, museums and sport. For the serious minded, there are views on city government and sustainability. Published by eThekwini Municipality, the book has had rave reviews in the local and national media.

Tribute

Mynhardt verlang na Patrick -Byebye, Bethulie Boy, Byebye

At the beginning of 2004, whilst registering students at UKZN, I happened to find myself next to the head of the Drama Department. I tell him about my PhD on Literary Tourism. He tells me that he has heard that Patrick Mynhardt, the Bard of the Bosveld, has stacks of paraphernalia that he doesn't know what to do with. Ever the optimist. I decide to try 1023. " Do you have the number of a Patrick Mynhardt", I ask Yes, they tell me. I dial the number waiting to hear that I have the wrong Patrick Mynhardt.

Photographs Required

We are looking for two photographs for our Cato Manor Writers Trail - one is of the playwright Kessie Govender and the other is of the Indian community (market gardens, shops, homes) in Cato Manor. If you could assist us, please contact me at niall@literarytourism.co.za

Book Launch

Penguin Books and Exclusive Books takes pleasure in inviting you to the official launch of Durban in a Word, Contrast and Colours in eThekwini, edited by Dianne Stewart. This collection of contemporary writings by contributors who have a strong connection to Durban/KwaZulu-Natal captures the essence of Durban. Di Stewart, Greg Ash (NOAH), John van de Ruit and Devi Rajab will be saying a few words.

Date: Wednesday 27 February 2008
Time: 5:30 for 6:00pm
At: Exclusive Books Pavilion, Westville

Tours

Grey Street Writers Trails

Just a reminder, we run regular tours based on our popular Grey Street Writers trail. These tours are open to tourists and Durban residents alike and we encourage as many people as possible to join us. For more on the tour, see Grey Street Literary Trail.

Lindy Stiebel and Niall McNulty
niall@literarytourism.co.za

Wordsworth's author choice evening

Guest author is Susan Mann, author of Quarter Tones.

Date: Wednesday, 20 February 2008 Time: 17h30 for 18h00 Venue: WORDSWORTH BOOKS, Shop 7103, Victoria Wharf, V&A Waterfront.

Susan will be discussing what inspires and motivates her to write, as well as sharing some of her favourite books and authors.

RSVP before Monday, 19 February 2008 Tel: (021) 425-6880 Email: waterfront@wordsworth.co.za Quarter Tones will be available at a 20% discount.
Snacks & drinks will be served.

Quarter Tones The most important things are hardest to find words for, her father once said. That's why people make music.

When Ana returns to the ramshackle cottage of her youth in the seaside village of Noordhoek, near Cape Town, she does so with the intention of sorting out her father's affairs. It soon becomes clear that more is at stake. After a decade in London, where she has failed to find work as a musician, her return to South Africa puts further distance into an already strained marriage, not only because she is out of reach, but because Michael, her husband, has lost faith in the country.

Quick to welcome her is her neighbour, Franz van der Veer, an architect searching for redemption. This is further complicated by the arrival of his eccentric brother, Daniel. Against a tangle of childhood memories, scarred histories and renewed hope, Ana finally starts to confront the death of Sam, her Irish luthier father, and with it, questions of guilt and belonging.

Lyrical and beautifully told, Quarter Tones is a story about music and love and loss.

About the author Susan Mann was born in Durban in 1967. She has worked in the media and taught at the University of Cape Town. She is currently doing research in France.

Inaugural Book Lounge poetry evening

Inaugural Book Lounge poetry evening with Ingrid de Kok and Jeremy Cronin reading from their latest collections:

Seasonal Fires and More Than A Casual Contact

Monday 18th February, 5.30pm Corner Buitenkant & Roeland Street

Please RSVP on 021 462 2425 or booklounge@gmail.com

Lunch hour with author @ 12:30 on Friday 8 Feb '08

Lunch hour with author @ 12:30 on Friday 8 Feb '08
@ BOEKEHUIS Bookshop for South African and World Literature

BOEKEHUIS cordially invites you to a short talk by former World Bank official, Robert Calderisi author of, The Trouble with Africa Why foreign aid isn't working

Where: BOEKEHUIS, Cnr. Lothbury and Fawley streets, Auckland Park
When: Friday 8 February 2008, at 12:30 RSVP:: by Thurs 7/02/2008 on
011 482 3609 or boekehuis@boekehuis.co.za Drinks & sandwiches available

About the author:

Robert Calderisi.has had a thirty-year career in international development, principally at the World Bank, where between 1997 and 2000 he was the Bank's international spokesperson on Africa. He studied at the Universities of Montreal, Oxford, Sussex and London.

About the book:

In the introduction to Calderisi's The Trouble with Africa, he reminds us that Africa is the only continent that has grown steadily poorer over the last thirty years and the only part of the globe where population growth has been out of control. It's the only region of the world where savage wars break out on a regular basis and it's no accident that two thirds of the world's AIDS cases are in Africa but where African government have largely ignored the problem.

Drawing on many years of first-hand experience, The Trouble with Africa highlights issues which have been ignored by Africa's leaders but have long worried ordinary Africans, diplomats, academics, business leaders, aid workers, volunteers and missionaries. It ripples with stories which only someone who has talked directly to African farmers - and heads of state - could recount.

Calderisi argues that Africa is now responsible for most of its own problems and that outsiders can help only if they are more direct and demanding in their dealings with the continent. It's time to move beyond the hand-wringing and politeness that dominate most discussions of Africa and to suggest concrete steps that Africa and the world can take to liberate talent and enterprise on the continent.

Quotes:

".. a blast of fresh air over a continent that has for decades been suffocating under a blanket of well-meant concern, ineffectual at best, and harmful at worst." -
Michael Holman, former Africa Editor, Financial Times

Have you a book or author in need of a media platform?

Wordfest is an independent festival within the national arts festival in Grahamstown that provides just such a platform in June/July each year.

Authors and publishers who appear on our programme may benefit from some or all of the following:

an interview broadcast by Safm that reaches about 100 000 people an interview with other language radio services on the SABC that reaches about 10 million people overall an interview and review published in WordStock a daily newspaper dedicated to Wordfest that reaches about 20 000 festinos a free listing in the National Arts Festival Souvenir Brochure that is distributed nationwide prior to the festival and is on sale during the festival a chance to retail the book through Exclusive Books in the outlet set up in the venue a free venue in a prime festival centre - with catering facilities, the Readers’ and Writers’ Restaurant, exhibitions, lecture halls, the Winter School, a retail book outlet (Exclusive Books) and the editorial office of Wordstock on the same floor


Please note that Wordfest provides the media with access to writers and publishers. The media staffers and not Wordfest chooses who will appear on radio or in the print-media.

In addition to the above publishers can take out low cost ads in WordStock. They can also brand the venue they use for no charge and rent display space at a nominal charge.

As Wordfest aims to help promote a culture of reading and writing in South Africa and as we receive public funds we are able to offer these services for little or no charge for a limited period only.

The catering costs of a launch, sending out the invitations and hosting the event are the responsibility of the publisher. Book early to ensure you have a favourable slot in the programme.

Book launches also require a press kit comprising the following:

a copy of the book cover in jpeg a photo of the author in jpeg a synopsis of the book a brief cv of the author and contact details for the reviewers

Wordfest 2008 runs from Saturday 28 June to Saturday 5 July. Please let me know by 10 February 2008 whether you would like to take up this invitation.

Dr Chris Mann Convenor Wordfest, ISEA, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140 phone: +27 (0)46 603 8335 direct, 622 6093 reception fax: +27 (0)46 603 8566 email: c.mann@ru.ac.za

Rustum Kozain winner of 2007 Olive Schreiner Prize

Rustum Kozain is the winner of the 2007 Olive Schreiner Prize for his poetry collection 'This Carting Life' published in 2005 by Kwela Books & Snailpress. The judges noted that Kozain’s ‘imagery and his use of poetic lines are of an extremely sophisticated nature’, and he is to be ‘heartily congratulated on a very fine, beautiful and evocative collection that challenges and pleases in equal measure’.

Chris Thurman was chosen as the winner of the 2007 Thomas Pringle Award for Reviews for a portfolio of work that appeared in The Weekender. The adjudicators noted that ‘it is Thurman’s ability to synchronise separate elements into coherent structured response that marks his excellence as a reviewer’.

Chris Mann’s ‘Seahorse’ (published in New Contrast, Vol. 33 No 2 Winter 2005) was chosen as the winning poem of the 2007 Thomas Pringle Award for Poetry. The panel felt that Chris Mann’s poetry ’sweetens and expands our existence by evoking the beauty and holiness of life in the vast emptiness of the universe’.

Ambrose Chimbganda’s ‘Profiling the “native speaker” of English: myths and implications for ESL learning and teaching’ (published in the SAALT Journal for Language Teaching, Vol. 39, No 1 June 2005) is the winning article of the 2007 Thomas Pringle Award for articles on English Education. The committee agreed that ‘the research presented by Ambrose Chimbganda is significant in that it explores the role of English in southern African education, and identifies challenges to English language education and usage in the region’.

Award ceremonies for the winners will be held later in the year.

For more information, please contact Naomi Nkealah on 011 717 9339 (on weekdays 09:00-12:00) or at englishacademy@societies.wits.ac.za .

Ellen Banda-Aaku wins 2007 Commonwealth Short Story Competition

Ellen Banda-Aaku, a Crossing Borders participant from Zambia, won the 2007 Commonwealth Short Story Competition for her story 'Sozi's Box', about the thoughts of a young girl at her brother's funeral. The prize was established 11 years ago with the aim of increasing appreciation between different Commonwealth cultures. It is proving to be a nursery for star young writers, including the bestselling Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Half of a Yellow Sun. This year's runners-up are Catherine Palmer (New Zealand),Sarah Totton (Canada), Hema S. Raman (India) and Emily Pedder (UK). Wame Molefhe, a Crossing Borders' participant from Botswana was Highly Commended for her story 'Six Pack'.

Invitation to launch of new collection of poems by Azila Talit Reisenberger

Modjaji Books is proud to invite you to the launch of a new collection of poems, Life in Translation, by well known feminist Bible scholar Azila Talit Reisenberger.
The poems are mostly in English, a few are in Hebrew.

The launch will be on Wednesday 30th January, 17h30 for 18h00, at the Centre for the Book, 62 Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town.

Wine, water, snacks and a reading are on offer… Copies of Life in Translation will be on sale.

RSVP cdhiggs@gmail.com
0727743546 sms

Life in Translation is full of wry humour, longing, bitterness, sweetness, playfulness, and subversions of traditional meanings and texts – a delightful book that charms and surprises anew with each reading.

Tenderly and candidly these poems lay bare the experiences of a woman who feels herself an ousider, in between two lives, two countries, two languages. Mostly translated from the original Hebrew, these fresh moments of insight and nostalgia make an important contribution to the multi-lingual nature of South African poetry.
– Marcia Leveson

Not to be heard. Not to be understood. Azila Reisenberger's poetry makes us overwhelmingly aware how often we have to translate ourselves in order to mattter.
– Antjie Krog

More about the author:

Azila Talit Reisenberger is an award winning author who has had poetry and short stories published in Israel, the USA, UK, Germany and South Africa. Two of her plays: "Adam's Apple" and "The loving father", were staged at the Grahamstown Festival. She is a senior lecturer in Hebrew and Jewish Studies in the School of Languages and Literatures at the University of Cape Town, and renowned for her passionate lectures and articles on gender issues and feminist theology in the Bible. For the past 18 years she has served as the Spiritual Leader of Temple Hillel, a progressive Jewish community in East London. She lives in Cape Town with her husband and three children.

Talk by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf at the C-Factory

You're invited to a talk by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf at the C-Factory on Wednesday 28 November, from 6:30pm. Bibi Bakare-Yusuf is a feminist scholar and the publisher of Cassava Republic Press based in Abuja, Nigeria (www.cassavarepublic.biz). She'll present a piece titled "Fanon Can't Dance".

Fanon Can’t Dance: Antiphonies of the Gaze

The Chimurenga Factory is at: 3rd floor, The Pan African Market, 76 Long st, Cape Town. Cash bar.

Chimurenga 12: Satan's Echo Chamber - www.chimurenga.co.za

SA Writers' College short story competition

SA Writers' College announces a short story competition, open to anyone who has not been previously published in the commercial press. (Letters to the editor, church news bulletins etc don't count as published.)

Prize money:

First prize R2000
Second prize R500

Free to enter, by e-mail only as a Word Attachment.
Address entries to Nichola@sawriterscollege.co.za

2000 words, Theme: Unfinished Business.

Deadline March 31 2008

One entry per writer

Cover page must include Your name, email address, title of story, word count

Each page to be numbered

The writer's name must not appear on any page as judging will be done blind

Invitation to launch of The Book Lounge - Cape Town's new bookshop experience

Shimmer Chinodya wins Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 2007

The Noma Award for Publishing in Africa announces that Shimmer Chinodya has won the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 2007 for his novel Strife. The book was published in 2006 by Weaver Press, Zimbabwe.

The Jury’s citation reads:

“The brilliance of this powerful and haunting story, in notably innovative form, brings a new dimension to African writing. The novelist reverses the traditional relationship between family and nation, concentrating on the social energies in an African family, rather than the individual or the nation. Powerful and haunting, with memorable portraits of individuals, the story is driven by a deep and distinctive sense of the tragic. The novelist’s psychological sensitivity illuminates the dominant themes of disease and death; and the constant tension between the pull of the past and the aspiration of modernity is expressed in a prose that makes everything original and new, recasting old themes.”

Shimmer Chinodya is a Zimbabwean writer, who has published eight novels, children’s books, educational texts, radio and film scripts, and has contributed to numerous anthologies. He has won many awards, including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Africa region). He seeks primarily to present an African worldview, but wants his literature to speak to the world as a whole. He describes his works as “experiments on the effects of time and change on humans, and human relationships tangled in the eternal quest for happiness and fulfilment”.

The Noma Award, under the auspices of UNESCO, will be presented to Shimmer Chinodya at a special ceremony details of which will be announced later.

107 titles, from 66 African publishers, in 12 countries, in 5 languages, were submitted for the 2007 competition. The Jury singled out a further four titles for Honourable Mention:

(alphabetical by publisher):

Le Lièvre et la Pintade by Gina Dick
Illustrated by Mossoun Ernest Teki
Abidjan: CEDA & Les Nouvelles Editions Ivoiriennes, 2006
An enchanting children’s story, beautifully illustrated in colour,
and published to a high standard in hardback. The story tells how the
animals lived in harmony, until the drought struck. The wicked hare
breaks ranks and behaves selfishly, until he is finally outwitted by the
guinea fowl. Rich in language, the story illustrates the importance and
values of loyalty.

Room 207 by Kgebetli Moele
Cape Town: Kwela Books, 2006
Set in a dilapidated building in Hillbrow, the notorious suburb of
Johannesburg, this novel is preoccupied with the theme of a new South
Africa trying to cope with the burden of its past and its ambivalent
presence in Africa. The tone is of celebration and mourning, and the
writing is very strong, poetic, vivid, and often moving.

Readers’ Theatre: Twelve Plays for Young People by Mabel Segun
(Lagos: Maybelline Publications, 2006)
Twelve short plays for children, with clear objectives and excellent
presentation, both educational and entertaining. The plays for the
youngest are based on folktales, and for the older children on heroes
and heroines, both legendary and historical. Some clever narrative
devices are employed, with a real awareness of the voice of children and
their skill as performers.

At Her Feet by Nadia Davids
(Johannesburg: Oshun Books, 2006)
Created for a one-woman performance, the play is an exceptional piece
of work: probing, acutely perceptive, with a superb ear for individual
characters’ speech patterns. Dealing with the relationship between
women and Islam specifically in the South African context, the material
is thought provoking and moving, and the writing distinctive and often
poetic.

The Noma Award Jury is chaired by Walter Bgoya from Tanzania, one of Africa’s most distinguished publishers, with wide knowledge of both African and international publishing. The other members of the Jury in 2007 were: Professor Simon Gikandi, Professor of English at Princeton University; Professor Peter Katjavivi, Ambassador of the Republic of Namibia to the Federal Republic of Germany and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Namibia; and Mary Jay, Secretary to the Managing Committee (the Jury). The Award is sponsored by Kodansha Ltd, Japan.

For further information about the Award, please contact:
Mary Jay, Secretary to the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, PO Box
128, Witney, Oxon OX8 5XU, UK. Tel: +44-(0)1993-775235 Fax:
+44-(0)1993-709265 Email: maryljay@aol.com www.nomaaward.org

Johannesburg Literary Festival

http://www.joburg.org.za/literary_fest/index.stm

JoLiFe 2008

The City of Johannesburg Library and Information Services in partnership with Write Associates held the first Johannesburg Literary Festival in March 2006. It was named JoLiFe. The first two years of the event were well received and attended. A few ideas were tested and the City has decided that from 2008 the development of the art of writing as well as the promotion of indigenous languages should become the focus areas of the festival. Communities and especially the youth should be encouraged to read, to learn, and to talk and write about our literary icons and heroes as well as to develop their own skills in the art of writing. The festival will also help enhance the stature of the city in South Africa's literary calendar.

Objectives

* To celebrate and promote literature, literary icons both past and present in a manner that advances literary excellence and national identity.
* To become a major source of celebration and critical appraisal of African, South African and in particular Johannesburg seasoned and aspirant writers.
* To highlight the role played by Public Libraries in making literature more accessible to communities
* To promote literature in indigenous languages