IT seems that a good place to find South African literature these days is on the radio. Especially for those who aren’t able to read the latest and best locally produced works, SAfm’s various programmes featuring South African fiction must be a boon.
Presently being read in over the air in the 10pmslot, Mondays to Thursdays,is Zakes Mda’s novel, She Plays with the Darkness, read by Peter Se Puma. It will be followed, from the end of the month, by Uncertain Consolations by novelist and M&Gcritic Jane Rosenthal, which will be read by Gaby Lombard. After that, in mid-November, Gillian Garlic will take on Jenny Hobbs’s The Sweet-Smelling Jasmine.
“Yes,” says SAfm drama head Julia-Ann Malone, “we are making a concerted effort to promote South African literature. There is so much quality local literature that it’s easy to find good books.”
Apart from the late-night reading slot, there are various other times at which South African writers find a radio audience. The daily serial at 7.15pm, Monday to Friday, presents dramatised novels such as David Lambkin’s The Hanging Tree (running until October 18)and Andr Brink’s Imaginings of Sand (coming soon).
On Wednesday nights at 9pm, the play slot features work by South African playwrights of the ilk of Neil McCarthy, Anthony Akerman and Sue Pam-Grant.
Then there is The Poet Speaks on Sundays at 6.30pm, and the classic South African novel read at 8pm on a Sunday -all in all, a considerable literary spread for listeners.