by Tracey on May 16th, 2012
On her Radio Today show “Reading Matters”, Sue Grant-Marshall talks to Patrick Flanery, author of Absolution about imagining narratives, the ongoing translation of the book into 9 different languages and the bidding war between three UK publishers for this extraordinary debut:
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Cats: Fiction,
Misc,
South Africa
Tags: Absolution,
English,
Fiction,
Interview,
Misc,
Patrick Flanery,
Penguin,
Penguin SA,
Podcast,
Radio Today,
Reading Matters,
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Sue Grant-Marshall
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by Tracey on May 13th, 2012
by Tracey on May 10th, 2012
Penguin Books and The Book Lounge take pleasure in inviting you to the launch of Bubbles by Rahla Xenopoulos.
Join Xenopoulos in conversation with Pnina Fenster, editor of Glamour, on 24 May at 5:30 for 6:00 PM. The theme is 40′s glamour and there will be a photobooth, so dress to impress. The launch will also feature an exhibition by Kathryn Smith.
See you there!
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Cats: Events,
Fiction,
South Africa
Tags: Book Launch,
Bubbles,
Cape Town,
English,
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Kathryn Smith,
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Pnina Fenster,
Rahla Xenopoulos,
South Africa,
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by Tracey on May 10th, 2012
The Guardian‘s Sarah Crown recently spoke to Patrick Flanery, author of Absolution, about how an American came to write a novel set in post-apartheid South Africa.
Keeping with the theme of debut novels, Crown also spoke to Justin Torres, author of We the Animals, as well as to editors Selina Walker (publisher of SJ Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep) and Leah Woodburn (publisher of Sarah Winman’s When God Was a Rabbit). They discuss the ins-and-outs of publishing first time novels.

Podcast with Patrick Flanery [38:09m]:
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Not playing? Listen at The Guardian
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Cats: Fiction,
International,
Misc,
South Africa
Tags: Absolution,
English,
Fiction,
International,
Justin Torres,
Leah Woodburn,
Misc,
Patrick Flanery,
Penguin,
Penguin SA,
Podcast,
Sarah Crown,
Selina Walker,
South Africa,
The Guardian,
The Guardian Books Podcast
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by Tracey on May 9th, 2012
JB Roux het met Mark Behr, skrywer van Kings of the Water, gesels oor die paneelbesprekings oor gay-literatuur en die Grensoorlog waaraan hy hierdie naweek by die Franschhoek literêre fees gaan deelneem. Behr gee ‘n voorsmakie van die onderwerp van “manlikheid” wat hy in hierdie sessies sal aanraak:
By die Franschhoek-fees neem jy deel aan ’n paneelbespreking oor gay-literatuur as hoofstroomliteratuur. Die program sê jy tree op saam met die “gay uitgewer” Robin Malan, “gay skrywer” Peter Krummeck (sy Adam and Luke het pas verskyn) en die “straight” Richard de Nooy (The Big Stick). Hoe voel jy oor dié etikette?
’n Mens wonder, het die “straight” skrywer self gevra om so geëtiketteer te word, dalk om hom van ons drie mowwe te onderskei?
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Cats: Events,
Fiction,
South Africa
Tags: 2012 Franschhoek Literary Festival,
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FLF 2012,
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Franschhoek Literere fees,
Gay,
Gay-literatuur,
Grensoorlog,
Kings of the Water,
Manlikheid,
Mark Behr,
Penguin,
Penguin SA,
South Africa
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by Tracey on May 8th, 2012
Bubbles by Rahla Xenopoulos is a fictional account of a real murder mystery that gripped South Africa in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The book follows Bubbles Schroeder as she grows up in Lichtenburg and then moves to Johannesburg to follow her dreams, only to find things aren’t as glamorous as they seem.
Penguin Books has published the following extract from the book on their site:
Early evening and Shapkaitz was hooting outside. Barry grabbed his hat off the hook above the waiting chair and strode out, shouting back at me, ‘You wait there, don’t move, stay right where you are!’ I shuffled the chair over so I could see out the doorway.
Shapkaitz’s car was idling in the middle of the road, the roof down despite the nip in the air. He wore a red cravat and a cigar hung from his lips. His left arm draped over the passenger seat as if I was already sitting there, his right hand toot tooting away on the horn. I couldn’t be sure if he was aware of the disturbance he was causing to the peace of Sunday evening on 5th Avenue.
The woman across the road poked a head full of curlers through the curtains, one or two foreigners stood in their doorways staring, the fat man from number 35 stopped watering his garden and stood gawking with the hose mid-air, children stopped playing ball. Shapkaitz didn’t seem to care, just kept tooting away and looking annoyed until Barry charged out waving his arms in the air and screaming like a Red Indian. I was so ashamed.
‘Christ Almighty, Shapkaitz,’ he yelled for all the neighbourhood to hear. ‘Who do you think you are? You get out of that car and come fetch the lady from the front door, goddammit!’ The neighbours looked at Barry as if he’d just escaped from prison but Shapkaitz, he was cool as a carrot, took a long puff on his cigar before stomping it out in the ashtray.
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Cats: Book Excerpts,
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South Africa
Tags: Book Excerpts,
Book Extract,
Bubbles,
English,
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Mystery,
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by Tracey on May 8th, 2012
Cas Vos het die Amerikaner Adam Mansbach se opspraakwekkende slaaptydstorie vir moedelose ouers in Afrikaans, as Fokken gaan slaap, vertaal.
In die volgende potgooi van JacarandaFM lees Vos uit die boek, wat nie vir sensitiewe ore bedoel is nie, voor:
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Cats: Afrikaans,
Fiction,
South Africa
Tags: Adam Mansbach,
Afrikaans,
Cas Vos,
Fiction,
Fokken gaan slaap,
Humour,
Jacaranda FM,
Penguin,
Penguin SA,
Podcast,
Potgooi,
Ricardo Cortes,
South Africa
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by Tracey on May 8th, 2012
Penguin Books and The Book Lounge take pleasure in inviting you to the launch of The Garden of Evening Mists.
Author Tan Twan Eng will be in conversation with Professor Jan Botha from the University of Stellenbosch on Thursday 17 May at 5:30 for 6 PM.
See you there!
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Cats: Events,
Fiction,
South Africa
Tags: Book Lounge,
English,
Events,
Fiction,
Penguin,
Penguin SA,
South Africa,
Tan Twan Eng,
The Garden of Evening Mists
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by Tracey on May 7th, 2012

In her latest Sunday Times column, Paige Nick, author of A Million Miles from Normal and This Way Up, explains that being musically challenged is one of the reasons she lives alone:
There are lots of reasons why some people choose to live alone. Some don’t want a person they fancy to see them in their oldest, most comfy pants. Others would be humiliated if a partner were to discover the state of the lappies in their sink, or how much butter they go through in a month. Those things don’t bother me so much. Take me, take my slippers. There’s an entirely different reason why I choose to live alone, and that’s because I’d be mortified if anyone I cared about saw how pathetic my CD collection is.
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Cats: Current Events,
Fiction,
South Africa
Tags: A Million Miles from Normal,
Current Events,
English,
Fiction,
Paige Nick,
Paperback,
Penguin,
Penguin SA,
South Africa,
Sunday Times,
This Way Up
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by Tracey on May 6th, 2012