"My struggles with mental illness were in some ways like a child crying out for attention; more than that they were a cry for help from the mind I felt trapped in. There was a darkness in me that many times swallowed me whole."

This is how Keamogetswe Bopalamo introduces her account of her troubled early life. It is an intensely personal account, and yet it speaks to a reality much broader than itself. In the exciting whirl of South Africa’s post-apartheid society, there is this darker side: the confusions, the fears, the rebellions, the degradations and emotional pain.

How does a young black girl cope when her parents are taken away as political detainees, or when she is repeatedly expelled from schools and hostels, or when she ends up in a mental institution after trying once again to end her own life? What I Wore offers startling answers.

In 1994, 16-year-old Emmanuel Taban walked out of war-torn Sudan with nothing and nowhere to go after he had been tortured at the hands of government forces, who falsely accused him of spying for the rebels. When he finally managed to escape, he literally took a wrong turn and, instead of being reunited with his family, ended up in neighbouring Eritrea as a refugee. Over the months that followed, young Emmanuel went on a harrowing journey, often spending weeks on the streets and facing many dangers. Relying on the generosity of strangers, he made the long journey south to South Africa, via Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, travelling mostly by bus and on foot.

When he reached Johannesburg, 18 months after fleeing Sudan, he was determined to resume his education. He managed to complete his schooling with the help of Catholic missionaries and entered medical school, qualifying as a doctor, and eventually specialising in pulmonology. By refusing to give up, Emmanuel has risen above extreme poverty, racism and xenophobia to become a South African legend.

In this updated edition, he shares some of his experiences at the frontline treating severely ill COVID-19 patients, as well as his thoughts around Ivermectin and vaccines against the virus.

Hilariously funny and in many cases unbelievably believable.

From a kid with a chemical laboratory in his bedroom where Peter would operate on frogs, to the hilarious experiences of a hospital Houseman, and the first few years of general practice. Also included are stories of a patient set alight in her bed, being trapped in the toilet with a patient and a colleague being defibrillated! It’s a story of childhood dreams to medical practice tribulations!

Peter Desmarais graduated M.B, Ch.B at the University of Pretoria South Africa in 1971. He relates the funny side of his experiences at medical school, his internship at Addington hospital Durban and the first few years of his life as a general practitioner.

Imbokodo: Women Who Shape Us is a groundbreaking series of books which introduces you to the powerful stories of South African women who have all made their mark and cleared a path for women and girls. These books recognise, acknowledge and honour our heroines and elders from the past and the present. South African women are silent no more on the roles that we have played in advancing our lives as artists, storytellers, writers, politicians and educationists. The title 'Imbokodo' was been chosen as it is a Zulu word that means "rock" and is often used in the saying 'Wathint' Abafazi, Wathint' Imbokodo!', which means "You Strike a Women, You Strike a Rock!" These books were made possible with the support of Biblionef and funding from the National Arts Council. In 10 Curious Inventors, Healers & Creators you will read about the women who shape our world through education, science and maths. You will read about women who became teachers, nurses, social workers, scientists and community workers, overcame obstacles and through their work fought for social change.

By uncovering the untold story of Vesta Smith (1922–2013), a community activist from Noordgesig, Soweto, this biography addresses a crucial gap in the literature on the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

Based on extensive interviews and previously unexamined archival materials, it reveals how her Christian faith fuelled her commitment to non-racialism and lifelong pursuit of social justice and how her non-sectarian, anti-apartheid activism connected generations, ideologies and communities.

This book reframes Ma Vesta’s legacy, celebrating her contributions while offering fresh insights into non-racialism, the politics of the everyday and the role of black women and Christians in the liberation struggle.

A powerful tale of resilience and hope, it stands as an inspiration for contemporary movements seeking social justice and community empowerment.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is South Africa's fifth post-apartheid president. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as the founder of the National Union of Mineworkers. When Nelson Mandela was released from prison in February 1990, Ramaphosa was at the head of the reception committee that greeted him. Chosen as secretary general of the African National Congress in 1991, Ramaphosa led the ANC's team in negotiating the country's post-apartheid constitution. Thwarted in his ambition to succeed Mandela, he exchanged political leadership for commerce, ultimately becoming one of the country's wealthiest businessmen, a breeder of exotic cattle, and a philanthropist.

This fully revised and extended edition charts Ramaphosa's early life and education, and his career in trade unionism - including the 1987 21-day miners' strike when he committed the union to the wider liberation struggle - politics, and constitution-building. Extensive new chapters explore his contribution to the National Planning Commission, the effects of the Marikana massacre on his political prospects, and the real story behind his rise to the deputy presidency of the country in 2014. They set out the constraints Ramaphosa faced as Jacob Zuma's deputy, and explain how he ultimately triumphed in the election of the ANC's new president in 2017. The book concludes with an analysis of the challenges Ramaphosa faces as the country's fifth post-apartheid president.

Based on numerous personal conversations with Ramaphosa over the past decade, and on rich interviews with many of the subject's friends and contemporaries, this new biography offers a frank appraisal of one of South Africa's most enigmatic political figures.

MaZwane has become a legend in South Africa as a pioneering entrepreneur – and an inspiration for those who ask questions about opportunities in the informal township economy. Her answer to those who doubt whether they can make it, is that you do it through perseverance, sacrifice, seizing opportunities, and offering superior products and service.

In 1989 Phumlaphi (‘Rita’) Zwane left KwaZulu-Natal to find work in Johannesburg after becoming a teenage mother. She could count on the love of her family, a matric certificate and her faith, but had no job prospects, and no knowledge of the business world or life in the big cities. Her memoir takes the reader from the tough times of finding her feet in Johannesburg, through a variety of jobs and life experiences, to finally fighting her way to success as a respected member of the township economy and starting the successful Imbizo Shisanyama business. MaZwane tells how she progressed from having virtually no income or permanent home to becoming the first person to formalise and commercialise shisanyama in the townships – and provide a comfortable home and legacy for her children.

Along the way, she befriended many people who contributed accommodation, job opportunities, advice, and companionship. With them cheering her on, she learned how to navigate the different and difficult aspects of the hospitality industry – and slowly reach her desired place of independent security. Conquering the Poverty of the Mind shows the true grit of a Zulu girl who believed in herself – and did it against all odds.

With this singular book Nataniël tells the story of a childhood in three small towns and one large suburb, in an era during which rules were seldom questioned and of a young boy’s overwhelming fear of the ordinary. Look At Me is Nataniël's first full-length memoir. 

Yusuf Daniels brings this book to life with some epic stories from falling in love for the first time, parading in his orange Speedo on Clifton Beach to travelling the world as a flight attendant, experiencing life like you have never seen before.

"We are all different and we all have been through many experiences in life. Some good and some not so good. What I have discovered is that this journey which is filled with laughter, tears, regrets, mistakes, and multiple chapters in our life, prepares us for later in life. If all of this didn’t happen to me, I would not have finished my second book. If you told me this just over a year ago, that I would be releasing my second book, I would have told you that you are crazy. It is our legacy and we need to leave it behind so it can be told by our great grandchildren one day. Don’t be scared to tell your story, don’t be scared to write it the way you feel it should be written. You don’t need a degree to be able to write your stories. Just look at me. There is no ONE way of writing, as we are all individuals and all unique. Don’t listen to the naysayers as they are just there to stall your growth and take you with them on their negative path. Stay positive, be true to yourself and just be you, because there’s only one of you. So, make the best of you and keep on LIVING LEKKA."

Join Nyimpini Mabunda on his journey from his childhood in an apartheid-era homeland to the CEO’s office at one of the world’s leading businesses.

In a career spanning Procter & Gamble, Nando’s, Diageo and Vodacom in South Africa, the UK and Uganda, Mabunda actively sets out to always improve his business acumen and leadership skills. Constantly in learning mode and infused with positive energy, Mabunda’s path offers insightful lessons and practical advice for anyone who wants to succeed in their career, build and lead a business.

This is your toolkit to take you the top!

Gwen Lister is a world-renowned journalist, political activist and free-press advocate. Born in South Africa, she moved to Namibia to pursue her journalism career. She launched (with Hannes Smith) the Windhoek Observer and later, The Namibian.

This memoir chronicles her remarkable life, brave journalism and political activism. 

Francois, Hunter, Wynand, Jaco en Johnny is die vyf lede van Fokofpolisiekar. Sedert hul eerste optrede in 2003 het dié band dikwels die koerante gehaal: Musiekjoernaliste was opgewonde oor hulle klank, maar hul omstrede uitlatings het dikwels groter opslae gemaak. Maar wie skuil agter die uitdagende naam?

Sommige lesers sal verbaas wees om te hoor dat die meeste van die lede in 'n charismatiese kerk bevriend geraak het, dat hulle 'n bemarkingsveldtog uitgedink het nog voordat hulle enige liedjies geskryf het en dat hulle eens op 'n tyd skaars sjampoe kon bekostig. In Biografie van 'n Bende kan nuuskieriges lees van Fokofpolisiekar se lewe in die huis wat hulle 'The Barracks of Rebellion' gedoop het, asook van die ander suksesvolle splintergroepe wat ontstaan het uit dié kerngroep.

In hierdie biografie word vertel hoe dié uiteenlopende individue boesemvriende geword het en die eerste suksesvolle Afrikaanse punkrockgroep gestig het deur bloed, sweet en 'n paar goeie sakebesluite. Dié boek is Fokofpolisiekar se eerste goedgekeurde biografie.

Percy Tau grew up with seven siblings and a single mom in the mining town of Witbank. For Percy and his family, life is tough as their mother struggles to make ends meet. But there is one thing that brings the Tau boys together: soccer. At the Mmagobana Primary School, they quickly make a name for themselves on the soccer team.

Despite the boys’ enthusiasm for the game, Percy’s mom is against him playing soccer. She wants him to get a ‘real job’ – after all, she doesn’t want to see her son struggle in life. But Percy persists, and is invited to join the Sundowns Youth Academy. Here he meets Pitso Mosimane, the Sundowns coach who will teach him all about what it takes to become a professional footballer.

In March 2017 Percy’s life changes forever: he is called up to play for Bafana Bafana and is named as the leading goal-scorer of the season. But just when all is going so well … heartbreak: Percy’s brother is killed in a car crash. Old fears from his childhood come rushing back as his mother blames their misfortune on soccer. But, through it all, the family pull together in their support for one another.

Then, one day, a call comes: Percy is offered a position to play for Brighton – one of the biggest deals ever offered a South African footballer. What will the future hold for one of the brightest stars in South African soccer? Join us on this action-packed adventure in the Road to Glory series.

This book is an autobiography/memoir of a South African scientist and academic leader which honestly explores the inter-relation between professional/public and private life, revealing what happens to a person’s inner being and family as a career unfolds over a lifetime. It shows how chance and opportunity affect such a life, how the elusive qualities responsible for repeated survival and success can be retrospectively identified, with lessons for the young and hopeful who might wish to tread on a similar path.

The story also maps onto the country’s history, by including crucial aspects of the closely linked spheres of higher education, research and scholarship in both the protagonist’s home country, South Africa and some of the strongest centres in Britain and America. It describes the life-path of an individual citizen who sought to change, and in some key instances did change, the basic workings of higher education and research as the country went through the post-apartheid transition. The author developed a special interest and skill in building new institutions such as the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and a number of highly successful research institutes and consortia in a changing country.

The major part of the book amounts to a concise history of higher education and research in the democratic era in SA, but, unusually, readers of the book will be able to see into many aspects of workings that are usually hidden from the public gaze, yet may significantly affect their own lives or those of their communities. The story of a love-marriage impacted by a prolonged health tragedy is fully interwoven with the professional narrative in a completely open and telling manner.

It is the authors’ belief that a diverse market for such an autobiography/memoir exists in South Africa and possibly abroad. There are few ‘warts and all’ memoirs in this domain, and few understand how scientists and university leaders function as people in their apparently uncomplicated ‘white-coated’ or ‘ivory tower’ public lives.

‘n Seun word groot met ‘n swaard oor sy kop: Hy is geleidelik besig om blind te word. Hy is anders as sy maats en daar moet dikwels aanpassings en uitsonderings vir hom gemaak word. By die Skool vir Blindes, Worcester, is hy vir die eerste keer gelukkig tussen ander soos hy.

Sy humorsin en lughartige lewensuitkyk laat hom sy aandag vestig op die dinge wat hy kan doen. Hy voltooi die Comrades-, New York City- en vele ander maratonne. Hy klim Kilimanjaro en stap tot by Mt Amadablam-basiskamp in die Himalajas. Sy vrou en twee kinders motiveer hom om ‘n “normale” en gelukkige lewe te lei.

Hierdie stories is ‘n beligting van frustrasies, uitdagings en insidente wat hy as blinde ervaar. Dit gee vir die leser ‘n insig in die alledaagse konfrontasie en uitdagings, maar ook in die komiese en humoristiese aspekte van blindwees.

Nelson Mandela is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of putting pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has bestowed his entire extant personal papers, which offer an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life.

A singular international publishing event, Conversations with Myself draws on Mandela’s personal archive of never-before-seen materials to offer unique access to the private world of an incomparable world leader. Journals kept on the run during the anti-apartheid struggle of the early 1960s; diaries and draft letters written on Robben Island and in other South African prisons during his twenty-seven years of incarceration; notebooks from the post-apartheid transition; private recorded conversations; speeches and correspondence written during his presidency – a historic collection of documents archived at the Nelson Mandela Foundation is brought together into a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power.

Bruce Bryden's true stories about the life of a bushveld conservationist draws on 27 years in the service of the Kruger National Park. It makes for a gripping read, abounding with encounters with elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino, whether darting for research, managing culling operations by helicopter or stalking on foot. In the best tradition of bushveld stories, there is a great deal of shooting, and a fair amount of running away; there are meetings with extraordinary characters among the rangers; memorable gatherings; hilarious mishaps and narrow escapes; and throughout, a great love and respect for both the wilderness and the creatures that inhabit it. Bruce Bryden started his career in the Kruger National Park in 1971 as a graduate assistant biologist. He progressed through the ranks as ranger, district ranger, park warden and regional ranger, eventually becoming chief ranger in 1983.

Belonging is a tale of coming home to love, acceptance and inspiration. This deeply personal account of a journey of self-discovery and personal growth tells of the emotional and physical transformation of a sensitive child who never felt ‘enough’.

In this compelling narrative, Alison's challenging journey is set against the backdrop of South Africa's turbulent path to democracy. Along the way, influential figures who have shaped and continue to shape Alison's growth are introduced, offering a poignant reflection on her life.

This beautifully written book aims to inspire you to become all that you can be.

One Call Away is the third title in a trilogy, following the bestsellers Saving a Stranger’s Life and Holding My Breath.

Our story invites you, the reader, to join the now-familiar Dr Anne on the front lines in the emergency department of a busy hospital in Johannesburg. You will meet the Eye roller, the Clothes peg and the Hairbrush. You will feel exasperated by the Crackling Malaprop and exhilarated by the battle to snatch patients back from our main adversary, the Grim Reaper. Dentures and daggers, acid and aneurysms – it’s all in a day’s work for the ED team.

You are invited home to the farm, where the drama continues with the famous band of rescued Snoopies. There are walks and sunsets and skies full of blood. There is courage, love, heartbreak, music, colour and medicine – all bundled together in a joyful journey.

One Call Away is a real-life story that asks big questions and acknowledges the importance and brevity of it all. It pulls together guilt, grief and determination in a fast-paced, funny and meaningful read that will keep you turning the pages right to the end.

Brand Pretorius weet wat dit beteken om 'n leier te wees: in sy loopbaan van oor die vier dekades was hy onder meer in leierskapsposisies by Toyota Suid-Afrika en die McCarthy-groep. In Aan die stuur praat Pretorius openhartig oor sy suksesse en die foute wat hy begaan het en die gevolge daarvan vir die maatskappye en werknemers onder sy stuur. Pretorius gee die leser 'n unieke, eerstehandse vertelling van die “alles loop reg”-jare by Toyota, van die donker jare as hoof van die McCarthy-groep waar die groep byna skipbreuk gelei het, tot die groep se hergeboorte as suksesvolle motormaatskappy. Die wysheid vervat in hierdie boek is ontbeerlik vir enigeen wat sake doen in Suid-Afrika of wat ’n suksesvolle ondernming wil bedryf. Pretorius wys ook hoe elkeen van ons persoonlike leierskap aan die dag kan le en Suid-Afrika so kan help verbeter. Brand Pretorius weet wat dit beteken om ’n leier te wees: in sy loopbaan oor vier dekades, was hy in topbestuursposisies by Toyota Suid-Afrika en die McCarthy-groep waar hy uitvoerende hoof was. In Aan die stuur deel Pretorius sy sakesuksesse en die bestuurslesse wat hy geleer het en die impak daarvan op die maatskappye en werknemers onder sy bestuur. Pretorius praat openhartig oor die “alles loop reg”-jare by Toyota en van die donker tye by die McCarthy-groep toe die maatskappy byna ondergegaan het, tot die groep se hergeboorte as suksesvolle motormaatskappy. Die lesse vervat in hierdie boek is ontbeerlik vir enigeen wat wil verstaan hoe om sake te doen in Suid-Afrika, hoe om ’n suksesvolle ondernming te bedryf en watter groot rol goeie leierskapskap speel in die land se ontwikkeling.

Ruth was four years old when her father was arrested for high treason and her world was turned upside-down. She grew up in constant fear of Special Branch policemen knocking on the door to arrest her mother or father, prominent South African communist. Ruth learned how to keep her mouth shut, to look out for microphones in the walls and to beware of friends who could betray her trust.

At fourteen, Ruth left South Africa, clutching her teddy bear in one hand and her drawings in the other. A plan to England carried her into exile, a new world where she struggled to reconstruct a life fractured by fear.

With an artist’s eye for detail and colour, Ruth recalls her life with unflinching honesty: the Treason Trial; her struggle to conform; Friern Barnet Asylum for the ‘hopeless insane’; LSD, protests, and free love in London, art school and motherhood; communes and camping- all steps in a journey that finally brought her home to South Africa on the brink of change.

Heart- wrenchingly sad one minute, bursting with life and vigour the next, seamed throughout by strength and courage, girl on the edge allows us to look deep into one woman’s life and travel with her to the brink and back again.

In general, lives of noteworthy accomplishment are led by people with an obvious talent, or more than one. Occasionally, though, someone with no discernible gift whatsoever may distinguish him or herself with a remarkable life. Such cases invite the question of how? How did it happen? With age I have realised that mine is such a life, and, inevitably, I have asked that question. It may happen in cases like this that, as one searches for an answer, one looks for precedents: or even for gifts not inherent in oneself but from outside. I did neither: it came to me unbidden. As I sang, the lines in the hymn resonated so powerfully I could not get away from them: ‘As noiseless let Thy blessings fall as fell Thy manna down.’ That was it. Unobtrusively I had been blessed – again and again and again.

A dozy, unsocialised child follows a boringly ordinary course through life until gradually things start to work out for him in increasingly extraordinary ways. The only prize I ever won at school was the Natural History Prize, no academic accolades or colours for any sport. I was rewarded for loving undemanding nature; almost a non-prize. Nearly fifty years later, in a small town I had never visited before I was introduced to the author of a slim volume on the geography of the area. “Not THE Nick Norman,” she asked. I might have blushed. In 1987, aged 42 I had married, and gone on to father two children, one now a top lawyer, the other on a similar trajectory in medicine. Having dreamt of being a farmer, I owned a farm in Franschhoek, which put me in about the most envied group of people in South Africa. After a successful career in mineral exploration in Africa and South America I turned my hand to writing about geology in a way accessible to lay readers. Three best-sellers followed. The Red Sea opened up and the River Jordan stopped flowing, for the Israelites to reach their land of milk and honey. In between, though, there were 40 years in the wilderness.

This is my narrative. Yours will be different. Unpack it and you will find blessing after blessing. See how I found mine.

One summer morning, Cape Town academic Andries Du Toit remonstrates mildly with a white man who is being rude to a black waitress in the cafeteria of his local health club. A few weeks later he finds himself sprawled on his back with a fractured cheekbone, blood pooling in the back of his throat, the target of payback from one of the city's most feared gangsters.

What just happened?

Following the threads that radiate out from his personal experience of violence, Du Toit traces the events and the decisions that brought him to that fateful confrontation. What ensues is a journey of discovery that forces him to confront his own place and complicity in a country still traumatised by racial violence - and to ask/explore what is required by the work of healing and repair.

When the first missiles rattled Kyiv in February 2021, Kobus Olivier was ready for it. Or so the South African thought.

He knew a war was brewing when thousands of Russian troops gathered at the border, but the locals laughed it off. Fleeing alone was never an option for Kobus.

Not without my dogs tells the remarkable story of how Kobus managed to save himself and his four-legged friends. This book is a testament of the human spirit and how even in times of war, strangers lend a hand.

The Game Ranger, The Knife, The Lion And The Sheep offers spell-binding stories of some amazing, little known characters from South Africa, past and very past. Let us introduce you to some of the characters you’ll meet inside.

Starting with Krotoa, the Khoi maiden who is found working in the Van Riebeeck household as both servant and interpreter. In time she becomes the concubine of Danish surgeon Pieter Merhoff and later his wife. But did she jump (allured by the European glitz and good food) or was she pushed (abducted or sold to the Van Riebeeck’s by her uncle Atshumatso, otherwise Herry)? Was she raped or a willing sexual parter of Meerhoff? Women, like fresh meat and vegetables, were in short supply in those early colonial years in the Cape.

Then there is Mevrou Maria Mouton who preferred to socialise with the slaves than her husband on their farm in the Swartland, and with whom she conspired to murder him. What became of them is … best those gory details are glossed over for now.

And the giant Trekboer Coenraad de Buys, rebel, renegade, a man with a price on his head who married many women (none of them white) and fathered a small nation. The explorer Lichtenstein called him a modern-day Hercules. Then there are the men of learning and insight, such as Raymond Dart and Adrian Boshier, who opened up the world of myths and ancient artefacts so we now better understand the ancients and the world they created for us to inherit. Or James Kitching who broke open rocks in the Karoo to reveal creatures that inhabited this region long before even Africa was born.

And so, without further ado, we give you our selection of stories about remarkable characters from the veld. These stories will excite, entertain and enthral you! You will finish reading them wishing you had more!