One of the sites where rites and rituals have special significance is death. Jarred Thompson’s debut novel, The Institute of Creative Dying, is kind of obsessed with rituals and their relationship to death. It asks, are there different approaches to dying? What do we want out of our own deaths? And that question brings together a diverse group of characters ranging from a nun, to a model, to an ex-con, all willing to experiment with different answers to that question. Our recommendations are books about rites and rituals. Vasti recommends I Did Not Die by Tebello Mzamo and Things My Mother Lef ..read more

With the lack of equity, reparation and justice experienced by the majority of South Africans since the end of Apartheid, there is a sense in the present moment of what we might call an ‘apology fatigue’. In Unsettling Apologies, Melanie Judge and Dee Smythe have put together a collection of critical writings on public apology that explores the promise of and disappointments of public apologies, by politicians, by corporates, in the legal system, and more. In this episode, Vasti talks to Melanie Judge about this thought-provoking book, and Lyle Lackay and Vasti recommend books about apology, n ..read more

In this episode, join Vasti as she tries to find her way back into reading poetry. She speaks to Nondwe Mpuma, whose collection Peach Country was a wonderful invitation back into the form. Nondwe writes about home, in the Eastern Cape, and the landscape matters – its seasons and its patterns, and the daily rituals and habits that are matched to them – time ticks according to that unfolding. These poems are of course much more than that, and happily, Nondwe reads a number of her poems during our conversation. And then our book recommender today is Maneo Refilhoe Mohale, who is also a ..read more

The first episode of our new season is out right now! Chase Rhys chats to Vasti Calitz about their collection Misfit – Stories vannie anne kant. A lot of the stories in this collection are about being an outsider, about not quite belonging to any particular space, about identity intersections, about being more than one thing at once.  In other words, hybrid identities. And of course we’ve invited a friend from the community, Ann-Maree Tippoo, to give us some book recommendations that play with these in-between spaces, including Mother to Mother by Sindiwa Magona, She Would Be Ki ..read more

We are back with the fourth season of A Readers’ Community. We’re really covering a wide range of books and ideas – like thinking about home through poetry, what we can hope for from public apologies, about the choices we make at the intersection of romantic love and money, about being a misfit, an outsider, and much more.   First episode out on 22 February. Subscribe wherever you find your podcasts ..read more

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The Beautyful Ones Have Just Been Born showcases the most provocative works of fiction, poetry and non-fiction being written in Africa today, while capturing the essence of the Africa LGBTQI+ community. The anthology gives a voices to those who would otherwise be marginalised and it insists that differences must be recognised, embraced and celebrated. The fourth issue of the Gerald Kraak anthology, edited by Otosirieze Obi-Young ..read more

Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother; his father told him she died in childbirth. One of life’s few consolations for Marek is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby, as she did for many of the village’s children. Ina’s gifts extend beyond childcare: she possesses a unique ability to communicate with the natural world. Her gift often brings her the transmission of sacred knowledge on levels far beyond those available to other villagers, however religious they might be. For some people, Ina’s ..read more

This book deals with dark subject matter, but is still highly readable. It has a similar atmosphere to Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Patsy. Her writing is superb, and I can’t wait to see what she does next. ~ Carmen Kiara Johnson does not know what it is to live as a normal seventeen-year-old. With her mother in a rehab facility and an older brother who devotes his time and money to a recording studio, she fends for herself – and for nine-year-old Trevor, whose own mother is prone to disappearing for days at a time. As the landlord of their apartment block threatens to raise their rent, Kiara finds her ..read more

Thalia, adrift in a small university town in South Africa in the nineties, heads to New York to study photography and to pick up the faint trail left for her by someone she has never known. The city helps her to find her way as an artist, but it never quite provides the answers she is seeking. Only years later in Johannesburg is she able to make sense of who she is and what her work might mean. Robert is a photographer in New York in the 1970s, desperate to make memorable images in a time of spectacular experimentation in dance, music and theatre. He intuits the importance of what he is photog ..read more