We want to create something that is new. We also have a number of former members of the DA, ANC and the EFF, and we are merging this thing together. It is new technically, but it's also not new, said Dr Makhosi Khoza.
The Reading List
The Fatuous State of Severity: A collection of short stories by Phumlani Pikoli. It’s sharp, ambitious and riddled with the anxious proclivities of contemporary black South Africanness. Like any self-published debut, it has its shortcomings but the sheer hunger to show, not tell, by the writer is impressive. See Page 4 for three extracts from the book. (MB)
Fugee: Hawa Jande Golakai’s exploration of home, belonging and compassion (or lack thereof) stopped me in my tracks. She is all kinds of vulnerable. And, while Fugee unfolds against the backdrop of Ebola making its way through Liberia, it is not quite about the disease but also as close as you are likely to get to it. The Liberian’s story is published in Safe House: Explorations in Creative Nonfiction, edited by Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, along with other stories of contemporary Africa. (KS)
The Play List
Afternoon Delight: The last film I watched is Afternoon Delight by Jill Soloway (creator of Transparent). It is a 2013 LA story about a housewife who invites a sex worker to live with her fragile nuclear family. Kathryn Hahn is the ever-brilliant conveyer of the broken American Dream. (MB)
13th: When I was in high school, some guy who was senior to me (and should have known better) came back from class talking some decontextualised mess about how black people make up the majority of the United States prison population. All I could say back then was, “there are reasons, you know”. I didn’t know about the 13th amendment. Ava Duvernay’s documentary comes to grips with this status quo. (KS)