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Acclaimed Indian author Arundhati Roy was a recent guest on Pippa Hudson’s CapeTalk lunchtime show during her current tour of South Africa.
Listen to them discuss the use of the term ‘activist’, structures of novels, challenging the sacred and the profane, the patriarchy and much, much more:
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The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
EAN: 9780679457312
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The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundathi Roy
EAN: 9780241303986
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“Hillbrow, 1967. The New York of Africa. Someone wrote that the place would soon have more people per square kilometre than Tokyo. Everyone quoted that article to everyone. Some even cut it out and kept it folded in their wallets.”
While other boys daydream about racing cars and football, eleven-year-old stutterer Phen sits reading to his father. In number four Duchess Court, Phen’s dad looks like a Spitfire pilot behind his oxygen mask.
But real life is different from the daring adventures in the books Phen reads and he is forced to grow up faster than other boys his age.
This is until Heb Thirteen Two shows up: in his pinstriped suit pants and tie-dyed psychedelic top, the stranger could be any old bum, or a boy’s special angel come to live among men.
Poignant, witty and wise, John Hunt’s The Boy Who Could Keep a Swan in His Head is a meditation on being alive and shows us the power of books when we need them the most.
John Hunt is the author of the novel The Space Between the Space Between. His book The Art of the Idea, which celebrates the power of ideas to move the world forward, has been translated into several languages. He is currently Worldwide Creative Chair of advertising agency network TBWA, having previously co-founded TBWA\Hunt Lascaris. He grew up in Hillbrow and still lives and works in Johannesburg.
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Penguin Random House South Africa received top honours in the category Trade Publisher of the Year at the 2016 Sefika Awards ceremony, held at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town yesterday evening.
The Sefika Awards celebrate booksellers and publishers for the roles they play in promoting a culture of reading in South Africa. The Trade Publisher of the Year Award rewards overall excellence in the South African Trade Publishing sector.
The criteria used by booksellers include outstanding turnaround times for book delivery, exceptional customer service and communication from the sales team to booksellers, and supporting booksellers with book launches and publicity.
Steve Connolly, Managing Director at Penguin Random House South Africa says, “I’m delighted that the team at Penguin Random House has been recognised by the trade. Every staff member, throughout the country has worked with dedication and passion, supporting our authors and customers, and bringing our books to the readers of South Africa. We love what we do, but it feels great to be acknowledged.”
Imran Garda’s debut novel, The Thunder That Roars, has been announced as the joint winner of the prestigious Olive Schreiner Prize for Prose.
The prize is awarded annually by the English Academy of South Africa for a work of prose, poetry or drama.
Garda’s taut and thrilling novel draws on the author’s experience as a well-known international journalist and news anchor with Al Jazeera. The novel grapples with themes of migration and displacement and includes scenes from Lampedusa, a primary entry point to Europe for immigrants from Africa.
The Thunder That Roars was lauded by adjudicators as “South African literature [that] soars above the tortuous apartheid history and redefines globalisation. Through the perspective of Yusuf, the main character-focaliser and CNN journalist, the reader is taken on a tour of the decomposing effects of hegemonic institutions. The storyline is energised by a tantalising dramatic irony across different milieus … Like an anti-oxidant, the dramatic irony releases its energy, slowly and effectively, accumulating and resolving tension later in the story when Yusuf makes startling discoveries while on his search enterprise.”
The Thunder That Roars was longlisted for a 2014 Etisalat Prize, and film rights to the novel were optioned in 2015 by Tsitsi Dangarembga, well-known author of Nervous Conditions and founder and CEO of Nyerai Films.
Garda’s novel shares the 2015 Olive Schreiner Prize with Jill Nudelman’s Inheriting the Earth, published by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
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Jaco van Schalkwyk se debuutroman is vir die gesogte Jan Rabie Rapport-prys benoem.
Die Alibi Klub kom teen Francois Smith se Kamphoer en Stephanus Muller se Nagmusiek te staan vir die 2015 prys met ‘n kontantwaarde van R35 000. Die wenner sal op 19 November in Kaapstad aangekondig word.
Die Engelse weergawe van Van Schalkwyk se roman, The Alibi Club, is vroeër vanjaar vir die UJ Debuutprys benoem en het ook die langlys vir die 2015 Sunday Times Barry Ronge-fiksieprys gehaal.
Die Alibi Klub het in September verlede jaar by Umuzi verskyn en vertel die verhaal van ‘n jong Suid-Afrikaner wat homself in 1998 in New York vestig. Hy werk as ‘n kroegman in ‘n nagklub, The Alibi, waar hy verskeie karakters ontmoet.
Lees ‘n uittreksel:
The Alibi is ’n dive bar-hool. Die plek het geen sign nie. Al wat wys dat dit ’n bar is, is ’n neon Budweiser-sign wat in die venster hang. ’n Krom Guinness-sign hang langsaan. Die venster is ’n los stuk Plexiglas, twaalf voet breed en ’n halfduim dik, aan die raam vasgeplak met duct tape. Dit is meer ’n lens as ’n venster – verbuig van die sigaretrook, dof gekrap en vuil. Langs die venster lei drie steil sementtrappies af na ’n glasdeur met ’n dik houtraam. Almal val by The Alibi in. ’n Mens moet die deur met jou momentum teen ’n veer aan die binnekant oopwerk.
Wanneer die son skyn staan die deur oop, met ’n stuk tou aan ’n haak teen die muur vasgebind. Wanneer die tou breek, word ’n boks leë bierbottels gebruik om te keer dat die deur toeswaai. Drie gebreekte toue lel teen die muur. Dit is ’n sterk veer. Budweiser-bokse dissiplineer hom die beste. Budweiser se bokse is van kommersiële karton gemaak. Elke boks kom met vriendelike dragate aan die kante. Ander bierbokse gee binne ’n middag in. Leë bierbottels, party in bokse, staan teen die linkermuur tussen die deur en die counter gepak. Bo hulle draai ’n paar vrugtevlieë.
Die meeste van die bokse is oopgeskeur en struktureel mank. Dit is net die Budweiser-bokse wat oorleef.
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John Hunt has been named on the “TRUE Africa 100″, a list of “innovators, opinion-formers, game-changers, pioneers, dreamers and mavericks” who are “shaping the Africa of tomorrow”. Hunt chatted to TRUE Africa about his life and work.
Hunt is the co-founder of legendary advertising company TBWAHuntLascaris, which worked closely on Nelson Mandela’s first ANC election campaign. In 2003 he became the creative director of TBWA Worldwide. But he will be more familiar to Books LIVE readers as the author of The Art of the Idea: And How It Can Change Your Life, and his debut novel, The Space Between the Space Between, which was published this year.
In the interview, Hunt chats about how to conquer the African market, his African of the year – public protector Thuli Madonsela – and where he thinks South Africa is heading:
You delve into contemporary South Africa in your latest book The Space Between the Space Between. Where do you see the country heading?
I think South Africa is at a delicate crossroads. Sometimes I feel we’re such a young democracy, we’re not too sure what to do with it. It’s exciting and massively interesting that we’re a work in progress but I feel the country lacks a clear vision of what it wants to be. The heady days of Mandela are long gone and those big shoes have been filled by tiny feet.
I believe if the country doesn’t find its direction over the next five years we will have done our children a huge disservice. This country has incredible potential. It’s full of smart and generous people but it’s not aligned, so not enough is achieved.
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Chase Your Shadow: The Trials of Oscar Pistorius by John Carlin has been longlisted for the 2015 William Hill Sports Book Of The Year Award – “the world’s richest sports book prize”.
Currently in its 26th year, the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year Award is dedicated to rewarding excellence in sports writing. The winning book will receive a cash prize of £27 000 (R566 583).
According to the press release, this year’s longlist is dominated by “books which focus on the often brutal and corrupt dark side of sport”.
In Chase Your Shadow, Carlin tells the gripping story of Oscar Pistorius’s tragic journey from sporting icon to accused murderer. The book was also longlisted for the British Sports Book Awards earlier this year.
William Hill Media Relations Director and co-founder of the award, Graham Sharpe, said: “Never let it be said sportswriters shy away from difficult subjects. In this longlist, our authors shine their floodlights into many of sport’s dark corners, but also find inspirational tales of individual and team success.”
The shortlist will be announced on 27 October.
Read the article:
Books which focus on the often brutal and corrupt dark side of sport – including one on the trial of the Paralympian, Oscar Pistorius, and another on the recent FIFA scandals – make up nearly one third of the longlist of the 27th William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. In A Man’s World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith, Donald McRae, who faces the possibility of a record third win, explores the boxer’s long career, the homophobia he faced and his struggle to come to terms with the death of an opponent following their last, terrible fight.
Those competing with McRae for the Award, the most prestigious of its kind, include: Heidi Blake & Jonathan Calvert’s The Ugly Game: The Qatari Plot to Buy the World Cup, which sheds new insight into the revelations that shook the football world to its core; Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire by Martin Fletcher, a survivor of the disaster that killed his father, brother, uncle and grandfather, and which was never properly explained; The Trials of Oscar Pistorius – Chase Your Shadow by John Carlin; and Journeymen: The Other Side of the Boxing Business by Mark Turley, which tells the story of the modern-day boxers who lose for a living, over and over again.
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The Financial Times has announced their longlist for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2015, with Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of Spacex and Tesla is Shaping Our Future by Ashlee Vance ranking among the 15 most influential titles in business today.
In the article, Andrew Hill writes that the longlist is dominated by books on the “promise and perils of technology”. Elon Musk tells the story of the South African-born renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Will it be the second technology book ever to win the coveted prize?
The shortlist of six books will be announced on 22 September and the winner will be awarded on 17 November, Hill writes.
Read the article:
The 15 titles include Ashlee Vance’s Elon Musk, a biography of the charismatic entrepreneur behind the Tesla electric car, Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper, on the development of the virtual currency bitcoin, and The Rise of the Robots, by Martin Ford, about jobs and automation.
Only one technology book has won the prize before — The Everything Store, about Amazon, in 2013.
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Boy on the Wire by Alastair Bruce was selected as a Best Book of the Month (Fiction) for August by Amazon.co.uk.
Bruce’s novel was featured alongside The Shepherd’s Crown, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, and Miranda July’s The First Bad Man.
The Boy on the Wire was released in July. It is the story of two brothers whose lives are ripped apart by the loss of their other brother, the fine woven fabric of our memory, and what happens when it is damaged.
Check out more Best Books of the Month lists:
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