Speakers at the Mail & Guardian’s annual Litfest paid homage to Nadine Gordimer’s influence as author-activist.
Verashni Pillay will chat to Anele Mdoda, Khaya Dlanga and others tonight at the M&G Literary Festival, in a session about being young in SA in 2012.
The marginalisation of local languages will continue and nonstandard English is the future to embrace.
Although little known in the English world, Patrick Chamoiseau’s novel Texaco should be read all over.
The M&G Literary Festival features a lineup of well-known names from the worlds of media and publishing.
Mongane Wally Serote has joined Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal as the only other African winner of the Golden Wreath Award.
Darryl Accone previews the line-up for the Mail & Guardian’s annual celebration of literature.
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/ 9 September 2011
South African writers who dare to venture into the fantastical are accused of writing “untruths", it was suggested at the M&G LIterary Festival.
South Africa’s most powerful struggle memoirs celebrate the personal as much as the political. That was the message of the M&G Literary Festival.
The state has the power to bring balance to SA, but is instead acting as "a bodyguard of whiteness", Andile Mngxitama told the M&G Literary Festival.
Denis Hirson will be at the M&G Literary Festival on "Memories of the city".
The festival will touch on personal and political memories of the city of Jo’burg.
Veteran anti-apartheid activist Rica Hodgson (91) will be on stage with Hugh Lewin and Ronnie Kasrils in "Memory is the Weapon".
Kally Forrest recounts the violence that has surrounded Numsa.
Jo’burg’s past, present and future hold rich challenges for writers and analysts.
Suburbanites’ fears are defining the architecture of Johannesburg.
<b>Craig MacKenzie</b> ponders the central contradiction in
local literature.
Artistic director Malcolm Purkey isn’t at all concerned by the Literary Festival venue’s commercial facelift.
<b>Gwen Ansell</b> examines urban life as the source of literary inspiration in science fiction and fantasy.
Johannesburg’s 125th birthday is the centrepiece and main theme for this year’s <i>M&G</i> Literary Festival running from September 2 to September 4.
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/ 17 September 2010
South African fiction writing is brimming with health, but the state of reading is so dire as to be virtually on a hospital respirator.
“OBE today has become a swear word, a shorthand for every dissatisfaction we have with education”
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/ 11 September 2010
"It’s a fact," pronounced the read-me headline, "Darkies just don’t read." Provocative? An understatement.
"Being a democratic South African is a troubled relationship, but true citizens don’t quit, they seek new solutions"
<i>M&G</i> books editor <b>Darryl Accone</b> shares his views on the event that occurred over the weekend.
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/ 5 September 2010
Ellen Aaku, from Zambia, was the recipient of the Penguin Prize for African Writing in the fiction category at the <i>M&G</i>’s Literary Festival.
In his keynote address at our literary festival, editor-in-chief Nic Dawes examines the culture of complaint at the heart of media oppression.
The current lack of reading culture has not helped the country’s publishing industry, which was put under further pressure when the recession hit.
Literary festival finds itself a home in a welcoming environment
Shaun de Waal recalls how the <i>M&G</i> took a stand against the state’s intention to muzzle the media 25 years ago.
An artist’s book that went missing in 1988 was recently rediscovered in the basement of a book binder in Johannesburg and will be launched next week.
Jacana Media publishes 55 to 60 books a year but such a large output for a local publisher is an unintentional by-product of its love for new writers.