Johnny Masilela
A collection of short stories by 21 South African writers has just been published in Denmark. Entitled Opbrud, it is published in Danish by the Centre for Literature from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania (Aloa). Its publication was made possible by a generous grant from South Africa Contact (SAC), formerly the Danish Anti-Apartheid Movement. The idea for the anthology was sparked by a paper by South African author Chris van Wyk at Copenhagen University in 1999. During a tea break, Van Wyk was introduced to Aloa head Vagn Plenge, who has now coedited the book with Van Wyk. The anthology said to be doing fairly well in Denmark features stories by Gcina Mhlope, Ken Barris, Achmat Dangor, Maureen Isaacson, Barrie Hough, Zacharia Rapola and others. Van Wyk says an English version of Opbrud is in the process of being placed with a South African. Aloa has indicated the anthology could be sold to other publishers worldwide.