Vera Rule investigates Chris Carter, the mysterious force behind The X-Files He’s from Bellflower, southern Los Angeles, a “burb” for guys who used to make aeroplanes; a part of what Chris Carter’s writers call the military- industrial-entertainment complex. Teenage Chris and a classmate drove 30km to Westwood, Los Angeles. The boy looked nervously around a […]
The English Academy of South Africa is inviting entries for the FNB Vita/English Academy Poetry Prize for a Translation into English. Among the conditions is that the translation be no longer than 50 lines and be written in the last three years. The closing date is September 30, and entries should be sent to the […]
Nick Varley CD of the week Way back, when The Smiths were emerging as the greatest English talent of the Eighties, they took another Manchester indie band out as support on tour. Now, 13 years later, all those who have come across James in a subsequent incarnation – from much-lauded indie kids to derided, alleged […]
Iain Banks writes books about sex and drugs. Iain M Banks is a sci-fi nerd. Are they related? Phil Daoust investigates on the eve of the author’s visit to South Africa What the hell are you doing in a place like this? It’s a question you have to wrestle back down your throat when you […]
controversy Twenty-four years have passed and Cyprus appears to be no closer to finding a solution to its problem. Tracy Spencer reports Annita Georgiou can remember the fragrance from the lemon trees which used to drift through her home town, Famagusta, when she was a child of seven. Today Georgiou is 31 and the lemon […]
Phillip Kakaza and Alex Dodd preview the Gift to the Nation Concert celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 80th birthday Gift to the nation indeed! And the nation is duly looking forward to tonight -Friday July 24 -at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban and Saturday night at the Johannesburg Stadium, like good children look forward to Christmas. Set to […]
David Coldwell It may be little consolation if you lose your job, but those at the top argue that downsizing is a management tool, to be distinguished from redundancy. Redundancy occurs as a result of sudden large-scale economic crises, or when large industries are no longer able to compete, for example, the decline in the […]
Angella Johnson VIEW FROM A BROAD Let me establish one fact from the outset: I am not an animal-loving person. I possess two beautiful mink coats, adore wearing ivory and my dietary maxim is: if it moves, kill it, cook it and eat it. So why, you might ask, have I opted to partake in […]
totters The Asian Tiger’s once seemingly unstoppable roar is now a meow. The economic meltdown that started a year ago with the devaluation of the Indonesian baht has had a devastating effect on the economies caught in its wake. Stock markets in the region were decimated. The trouble was that few saw it coming. During […]
Wally Mbhele The head of a KwaZulu-Natal prison who was recently suspended after his alleged involvement in the death of a prisoner is back at work. Minister of Correctional Services Sipho Mzimela promised an inquiry into the actions of Sipho Dlamini, head of the Ingwavuma prison. Prisoners claim they were not informed that the inquiry […]