Joanne Hichens lost first her mother, then, in quick succession, her husband, her father and her mother-in-law - two deaths anticipated, two coming as the worst kind of shock. In this memoir of grief and recovery, she writes with honesty and humour of death, our 'constant companion', and the stumbling journey through the country of grief.

By turns searing and sparkling, her account gives compelling insight into the losses that stalk us all, while also celebrating the mainstays of life - friendship, family, and the memories of those we love and lose.

South Africa has produced more great cricket all-rounders than any other country, and Jacques Kallis and 12 Other Great South African All-Rounders, a first on these remarkable players, is based on records, articles and interviews with living players as well as archival research of early players.

Over a hundred years ago, there was Jimmy Sinclair, the first man to score a century and take six wickets in an innings in a test match. More recently was the brilliant era of Eddie Barlow, Tiger Lance, Mike Procter and Clive Rice, as well as Tony Greig and Basil D’Oliveira, South Africans who played for England. A great tradition was established for the modern era: since re-admission in 1992 there has been Brian McMillan, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and, the greatest of them all, Jacques Kallis. Jacques Kallis and 12 Other Great South African All-Rounders is about the 13 men each of whom were worth two or three players in one, worth their place as batsmen or bowlers, adored by the fans, and capable of changing a game with either of their skills.

With a readable mix of anecdotes, commentary and statistics, Jacques Kallis and 12 Other Great South African All-Rounders is the first book about these multitalented heroes of cricket. A very special feature of the book is the inclusion of the careers of four black allrounders who were unable to play for national teams because of their race.

Leipoldt's Cellar & Kitchen is a delectable, amusing, insightful record of cultural and social history at the Cape, delightfully observed and nostalgically expressed by the pre-eminent connoisseur of Cape cookery.

Leipoldt writes about food and wine expressively as a poet, authoritatively as a medical doctor and botanist, and with the humility of the expert enthusiast. The ingredients of this title spring both literally and metaphorically from the soil of South Africa, articulating and preserving wonderful facets of Afrikaans culture and heritage.

This is not only a title for the cook and the connoisseur, but for everyone able to appreciate exquisite prose, for everyone interested in encountering one of our great poets writing about something that fascinated him throughout his life - the preparation of good food and the enjoyment and value of wine.

VRYGEKOOP is 'n spannigsvolle verhaal wat jou gaan meesleur op 'n emosionele jaagtog gevul met hartseer, hoop, vrees en liefde.

Deur alles sal jy verstom staan oor God se grootheid.

Steve Henry was born in 1967 in the sleepy little city of East London on the East Coast of South Africa, the youngest in a family of five children and brought up in a home filled with love and laughter. As a teenager in the mid-80s, fresh out of high school, he is conscripted into the South African Defence Force where he goes through the hardships and humour of infantry training. Innocent youngsters from all over the country are moulded into efficient killing machines and turned into platoons of mechanized infantry.

The author takes you blow by blow through some of the biggest and bloodiest battles fought on the African continent since World War II, during Operation Moduler. He takes you inside his “Metal Mother”, a Ratel infantry fighting vehicle, deep into Angola and describes the feeling of utter helplessness as he faces off against Soviet main battle tanks in his lightly armed and armoured Ratel.

Loved ones back in the “States” have no idea of the scope and violence of the war in Angola and are kept in the dark as to the extent of South Africa’s involvement, often told that their son, brother or father has been killed “on the Border”, little knowing that he died hundreds of kilometres inside Angola.

In the space of a week, the intense high of battle contrasts starkly with suddenly being back in Civvy Street where nobody knows or cares about what he’s just been through.

Anna de Jager het in KwaZulu Natal grootgeword. Dit was nog altyd vir haar ʼn passie en selfopgelegde uitdaging om oomblikke vas te vang deur te skryf en te skets. Sy is in 1990 met Gert de Jager getroud en woon in Centurion. Hulle het twee dogters, Anita en Gerda en ‘n skoonseun, Marco. Daar het al verskeie vakpublikasies uit haar pen verskyn, maar hierdie is haar eerste memoires.

Kort nadat sy haar PhD voltooi het, is sy met borskanker gediagnoseer.

Chemo, koekies en tee is ’n openhartige deel van ʼn eiesoortige perspektief, baie genade en dankbaarheid.

A collection of humorous, touching and uplifting stories about life, rugby and everything else by one of South Africa’s true rugby legends...

Theuns Stofberg’s illustrious rugby career spanned from 1976 to 1985, and he is commonly considered one of the all-time Springbok greats. As the 36th captain of the Springboks, one of only 56 players to be given this honour, he was tough and uncompromising on the field but a true gentleman and great raconteur off it, which he proves with the anecdotes collected in this book.

In Stories from the Touchline, he takes the reader behind the scenes, from his childhood days as a schoolboy rugby player to the 1981 flour-bomb tour of New Zealand and winning the Currie Cup for three different provinces – a feat unmatched to this day. He also writes about what it was like playing with legends such as Morné du Plessis, Gerrie Germishuys, Schalk Burger Sr and Gysie Pienaar, marvels at the fans' odd and often colourful behaviour, and affords readers a fascinating glimpse into the amateur days of rugby in South Africa. He also shares his personal struggles with a speech impediment and ill health, and coping with family tragedy, in his own inimitable way. By turns deeply personal, amusing and nostalgic, this book will be treasured by each and every South African rugby fan.

In November 1949 D.D.T. Jabavu, the South African politician and professor of African languages at Fort Hare University, set out on a four-month trip to attend the World Pacifist Meeting in India. He wrote an isiXhosa account of his journey which was published in 1951 by Lovedale Press. This new edition republishes the travelogue in the original isiXhosa, with an English translation by the late anthropologist Cecil Wele Manona.

The travelogue contains reflections on Jabavu’s social interactions during his travels, and on the conference itself, where he considered what lessons Gandhian principles might yield for South Africans engaged in struggles for freedom and dignity. His commentary on nonviolent resistance, and on the dangers of nationalism and racism, enriches the existing archive of intellectual exchanges between Africa and India from a black South African perspective.

The volume includes chapters by the editors that examine the networks of international solidarity – from post-independence India to the anti-colonial struggle in East Africa and the American civil rights movement – which Jabavu helped to strengthen, biographical sketches of Jabavu and of Manona, and an afterword that reflects on the historical and political significance of making African-language texts available to readers across Africa.

Patriots & Parasites, completed just days before Smuts’s unexpected death in 2016, is her account of the momentous period known as the Transition Era, through the lens of her 25-year career as a key opposition MP and a respected legislator.

With ambitious breadth and rare insight, she examines:

• The arduous but exhilarating work of writing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights
• The great experiment in catharsis that was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• The reinvigoration of racial polarisation under the Mbeki administration, and the slow burn of resentment that is coming to a head among the next generation (as manifested in the #RhodesMustFall campaign)
• The entrenchment of cronyism under Zuma, and the fight to protect the crucial balance of accountability enshrined in the freedom of the media and the independence of the judiciary

Thami Mnyele's life spanned the era of apartheid. He was born the same year the National Party won office and came of age in a time (the 1960s) and a place (Johannesburg) that offered a sensitive young black artist little encouragement. In 1985, in the waning days of apartheid, he was killed by South African Special Forces operatives in Gaborone, Botswana, where he had joined the banned African National Congress. Although reticent by nature, he played a vanguard role in efforts to throw open the doors of South African culture.

Thami Mnyele's story sheds light on this tumultuous era from an unusual perspective: that of an artist and not a "young lion." Not only does Mnyele's story help us understand the birth of a modern African aesthetic; it also addresses the genesis of revolutionary commitment. How did a man come to face the prospect of martyrdom and learn to accept it? How did this choice affect what he was able to express as an artist?

Diana Wylie's beautifully written and illustrated literary biography reveals the struggles inside and around a gentle South African artist as he remade himself into a revolutionary soldier, and brings fresh insights to our understanding of South Africa's recent history.

Extraordinary stories can sometimes be found in ordinary letters. This is the discovery that awaits readers of this gentle and beautifully written correspondence between a political prisoner and a self-described housewife during apartheid's last decade. The circumstances of loss prompting Rivonia trialist Ahmed Kathrada to write a letter of sympathy to a former flat-mate Abdulhak "Bis" Bismillah are met with an unexpected reply from Bis's sister. Zuleikha Mayat, a Durban community organiser and editor of the best-selling cookbook Indian Delights, initiates a correspondence with Kathrada that continues until his release ten years later. Virtual strangers, they have in common their small-town Transvaal childhoods in Muslim shops in the early 20th century; and they find much to explore in their different approaches to questions of culture, politics and religion. The letters are written with wit and style, as they discuss both the issues of the day and the sustenance found in memory. These letters tell the story, all the more powerful for its ephemeral character, of a developing epistolary friendship between two people to whom history has brought different gains and losses. The collection is rich not merely in historical content and stylistic interest, but in the experience it offers to the reader of an unfolding conversation, reflecting both the immediate worlds of its authors and a tumultuous period of South African history.

This insider's account of the workings of Umkhonto weSizwe, the armed wing of the ANC, during the underground years, is a modern-day story of intrigue and cunning in the fight against apartheid. The author, Ronnie Kasrils, begins by describing his involvement with the South African Communist Party and the underground resistance within South Africa in the 1950s and early 1960s. Following the arrests of Mandela and other ANC leaders, he fled into hiding overseas, became one of the key commanders of Umkhonto weSizwe and was responsible for setting up training camps in Tanzania, Cuba and elsewhere. Kasrils became notorious as the "Red Pimpernel" as he slipped in and out of South Africa in a plethora of disguises to run secret missions, narrowly escaping arrest and detention in several close shaves with security forces. After the legalising of the ANC and SACP, he returned to Johannesburg to take up a position on the National Executive Committee. The story culminates with the disastrous march on Bisho in the Ciskei homelands in September 1992, when police opened fire on the crowd that Kasrils was leading and a massacre ensued.

As the Mangaung Conference draws closer, many people have been asking the question, who is Kgalema Motlanthe – what is his background, and what does he stand for?

Ebrahim Harvey presents a superb account of a man characterised by his reticence. Harvey provides a rare and thorough insight into this most private and yet among the most powerful of men in South Africa. We learn about Motlanthe’s ancestral family and political awakenings as he discovers the ANC. From here we come to understand the importance of his time on Robben Island and the friendships and alliances he formed there, which would later define his political career.

In 1997 he succeeded Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC Secretary General and the mark of this reserved but often courageously independent politician was beginning to be noticed. Just over 10 years later, Motlanthe had risen to become the third President of the Republic of South Africa, though under exceptional circumstances.

It was Gwede Mantashe who said that it was a measure of the man that he could allow a strong critic of the ANC to write his biography. With impeccable timing and a real sense of history, this book for the first time allows the public to get to know and understand Motlanthe.

This biography contains wide-ranging interviews with Kgalema, his family, his friends and comrades at Cosatu, NUM, the SACP, the ANC and government. It also includes interviews with leading figures in other political organisations, civil society, academia and the media.

Unsparing in its scope, detailed in its revelations and with a rigorously critical analysis, this book will reveal not only the complex politician but also the very human nature of the man.

Siya ‘Slikour’ Metane is a musician and entrepreneur best known as one of the founding members of the record-breaking hip-hop group Skwatta Kamp. Told with signature humour, this memoir gives readers an all-access pass to the moments and the music that made the man, detailing the courage it took to overcome his self-doubt and to mould himself into a media maverick.

From small beginnings in the East Rand to gaining mainstream recognition and going solo, celebrity dating and breaking up the band, hitting rock bottom and rising up to make it as a digital media pioneer, Slikour takes us through the highs and lows of his journey to becoming a force to be reckoned with. He unpacks the energy that connected the dots that propelled the success of everyone he came into contact with.

Featuring never-known-before experiences with big names including Zola, Bonang Matheba and Kwesta as well as brands like KFC, Coca-Cola, Butan and Kaizer Chiefs, this is a candid look at what it takes to make it in the South African music and digital media scenes and what connection can achieve.

Patrick van Rensburg (1931-2017) was an anti-apartheid activist and self-made 'alternative educationist' whose work received international recognition with the Right Livelihood Award in 1981. Born in KwaZulu-Natal into what he described as a 'very ordinary South African family that believed in the virtue of racism', Van Rensburg became a self-styled rebel who tirelessly pursued his own vision of a brighter future for emerging societies in post-colonial southern Africa.

His emotional and intellectual struggle against his upbringing and cultural roots led him to reject his life of white privilege in South Africa. Determined to prevent the emergence of a privileged black elite in post-colonial society, he devoted his life to implementing an alternative, egalitarian approach to education, focusing on quality and functional schooling for the majority. Rewarded with the internationally prestigious Right Livelihood Award for his unique contribution to education, he saw this work as a 'necessary tool of development'.

Exiled from South Africa in 1960 because of his involvement in the London boycott campaign that gave birth to the Anti-Apartheid Movement, Van Rensburg moved to Botswana (then Bechuanaland). There he founded cooperatives, provided vocational training and was among the earliest educationists to espouse the discipline of development studies. Perhaps his best-known legacy is the Swaneng Hill School, which he founded to provide an educational home for primary school 'dropouts' through a curriculum that combined theory and practice, and academic and manual labour. He involved his pupils in building their school, running it, providing their own food, and making their own equipment and furniture.

Van Rensburg was an innovative and charismatic visionary who captured the zeitgeist of the late twentieth century, and whose work and vision still have resonance for debates in educational policy today.

Springbokkaptein, predikant, filosoof, ambassadeur, kabinetsminister, wêreldreisiger, kunsliefhebber, gesinsman. Dit was en ís die wêreld van dr. Dawie de Villiers, een van Suid-Afrika se ikone wat sy land dekades lank op vele terreine met groot onderskeiding gedien het.

Hierdie boeiende lewensverhaal neem lesers op ’n merkwaardige lewenspad deur Suid-Afrika se sport- en politieke geskiedenis. De Villiers se jeugjare in ’n polities georiënteerde gesin, sy vinnige opgang vanuit sy geliefde Stellenbosch Rugbyklub tot in die Springbokspan, sy moeilike pad met sportbeserings en die soet en suur van Springbok-wees is maar enkele aspekte van dié lekkerlees-ervaring.

Hy vertel van sy betrokkenheid in die politiek as ’n ywerige waarnemer van onder andere die bekende filosoof, prof. Johan Degenaar; sy opwindende lewe as ambassadeur in Londen; as kabinetsminister onder P.W. Botha, F.W. de Klerk en Nelson Mandela; die Kodesa-onderhandelinge en die oorgang na demokrasie; en uiteindelik ’n reeks verrykende reise oor die wêreld as adjunk-sekretaris-generaal van die Verenigde Nasies se World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

My lewensreis is ’n belangrike bydrae om die rol te beskryf van Afrikanerleiers wat uit die rigiede denkskema van apartheid ontsnap het, wat vanweë morele oortuigings én hulle bevoegdhede ’n nuwe Suid-Afrika help skep het.

Nelson Mandela was one of the most revered figures of our time. He committed himself to a compelling political cause, suffered a long prison sentence, and led his violent and divided country to a peaceful democratic transition. His legacy, however, is not uncontested: his decision to embark on an armed struggle in the 1960s, his solitary talks with apartheid officials in the 1980s, and the economic policies adopted during his presidency still spark intense debate, even after his death. The essays in this Companion, written by experts in history, anthropology, jurisprudence, cinema, literature, and visual studies, address these and other issues. They examine how Mandela became an icon during his lifetime and consider the meanings and uses of his internationally recognizable image. Their overarching concerns include Mandela's relation to 'tradition' and 'modernity', the impact of his most famous public performances, the oscillation between Africanist and non-racial positions in South Africa, and the politics of gender and national sentiment. The volume concludes with a meditation on Mandela's legacy in the twenty-first century and a detailed guide to further reading.

Andile Gaelesiwe is the adored Khumbul' ekhaya host. She was raped by her father at the age of 11. The second rape was by a taxi driver who beat her up. Andile entered the music scene with the big hit of the late 90s, Abuti Yo. She started Open Disclosure for rape survivors. This fierce, at times funny memoir, an insight into Andile’s consciousness that keeps reviving her will reverberate in young and adult readers.

Sol Plaatje is one of South Africa's most important political and literary figures. A pioneer in the history of the black press, he was one of the founders of the African National Congress, a leading spokesman for black opinion throughout his life, and the author of three well-known books: Mafikeng Diary, Native Life in South Africa, and his historical novel, Mhudi. These books are not Plaatje's only claim to fame.

In the course of a prolific career he wrote letters to the press, newspaper articles and editorials, pamphlets, political speeches, evidence to government commissions of enquiry, unpublished autobiographical writings, and many personal letters. Together they provide both an engaging personal record and a very readable - and revealing - commentary on South African social and political affairs during the era of segregation, from 1899 through to Plaatje's tragically early death in 1932. What he wrote has a unique historical importance, all the more meaningful from the perspective of a democratic South Africa.

Brian Willan has assembled and edited this fascinating collection from a variety of disparate and often obscure sources, making a comprehensive selection of Plaatje's writings available to a wider audience.

Researched and written by two historians well respected in concentric circles, this hilarious take on our collective past reveals stunning new discoveries and fascinating new figures, from Koos van Doosch, the cheese pimp who settled the Cape a year before Van Riebeeck, to Shaka’s lesser-known brother, Nigel Zulu, who just wanted to be a florist.

You’ll discover how the winner of the Mr Mielie Board beauty pageant came to rule South Africa, and you’ll celebrate our greatest triumphs, like when Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman won the Rugby World Cup in 1995.

From small fat gold-plated rhinos in Mapungubwe, to small fat gold-plated polititians in Mangaung, The Unauthorised History of South Africa tells you the history you always wanted to know but were too afraid to ask.

When Charlene Wittstock married Prince Albert of Monaco in a starstudded wedding watched by millions across the world in 2011, rumours of her getting cold feet and her unhappiness about his love children swirled around the couple. Ever since then, the statuesque Olympic swimmer has been in the eye of the paparazzi and the centre of endless tabloid speculation and malicious rumour-mongering.

Is the bubbly, down-to-earth South African lonely in glamorous Monaco? Is it a marriage of convenience? What is truth behind her health issues? These are just some of the questions that roil so publicly around her.

Journalist Arlene Prinsloo sifts fact from fiction in this revealing unauthorised biography of Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene. Prinsloo traces her life from humble beginnings in Zimbabwe, Johannesburg and Durban to the Olympic Games, her jet-set romance with the bachelor prince, a ‘fairy-tale’ wedding and becoming a mother to twins.

At its heart, it’s the story of a woman in search of happiness for herself and her family – and also of the beginning of Charlene defining her own space amid the royal protocol.

In 1994, Brad and Paige Holmes opened a small, live-music venue in the bohemian suburb of Melville in Johannesburg. They called it Bassline, which very soon became synonymous with cigarette smoke, great jazz and nights you wished would never end. They later moved the club to Newtown where it grew in prominence as the ultimate venue for live music, hosting amazing artists like Thandiswa Mazwai, Jimmy Dludlu, Lira, The Soil and Grammy Award-winning group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

In 2016 word spread like wildfire that everyone’s favourite club was closing its doors forever; this place that held all the promises of a new South Africa, a place where people of all races could come together, share a drink, dance and fall in love was to be no more. But as Bassline starts its new journey with Live @ the Bassline, yet another great story begins with Last Night At The Bassline.

In this book, esteemed music historian Professor David Coplan tells the story of Bassline and the Holmes’s journey in it, thus giving musicians and jazz fans something to hold on to even after its closure. This book is a tangible piece of the magic to take home and savour. And those who were never there will be given a chance to experience this dream.

With more than fifty iconic photographs from Oscar Gutierrez and other great photographers, the book is more than just a memoir. It is a gritty, smoky, passionate slice of time. Bassline will always be a reminder of what it feels like to live the impossible.

Just add rice is about Taiwanese cuisine, which seeks balance and harmony in taste, texture and nutritional value. But it’s also about home cooking, about familiarity and comfort and celebrating culture – recipes that connect the author to her parents when they lived in another city and in a distant country.

- Delicious, nutritious food on a budget.

- Comprehensive list of need-to-have pantry items for cooking Taiwanese and Chinese food.

- East Asian ingredients that are available to the South African market, with suggested substitutions.

- Essential information on traditional Chinese dining etiquette, customs and traditions.

- Simple recipes for home cooks.

- East Asians can enjoy their first locally produced cookbook with stories that reflect relatable culture and culinary heritage.

- Anyone who is interested in Chinese home cooking, food and South African food heritage.

What kind of president will Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma be if she is chosen at the ANC’s December 2017 congress? She has been fairly media-averse and hasn’t granted many interviews in the past few years, but taking a closer look at her history does provide some clues about the kind of leader she is.

In this book, journalist Carien du Plessis looks at Dlamini-Zuma’s early years, education and involvement in the struggle; her role as a cabinet minister under all four presidents of democratic South Africa; and her achievements as African Union Commission chairperson.

The book considers her feminism and political philosophy; tracks her presidential ambitions and campaigning; and explores how her personal relationship with one of her most important backers, President Jacob Zuma, will influence her leadership.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, Southern Africa was a jumble of British colonies, Boer republics and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. Into this frontier world came the Reitz family, Afrikaner gentry from the Cape, who settled in Bloemfontein and played a key role in the building of the Orange Free State.

Frank Reitz, successively chief justice and modernising president of the young republic, went on to serve as State Secretary of the Transvaal Republic. In 1899, he stood shoulder to shoulder with President Paul Kruger to resist Britain’s war of conquest in Southern Africa. At the heart of this tale is the extraordinary life of Deneys Reitz, third son of Frank Reitz and Bianca Thesen. The young Reitz’s account of his adventures in the field during the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), published as Commando, became a classic of irregular warfare. After a period of exile in Madagascar, he went on become one of South Africa’s most distinguished lawyers, statesmen and soldiers. Martin Meredith interweaves Reitz’s experiences, taken from his unpublished notebooks, with the wider story of Britain’s brutal suppression of Boer resistance.

Concise and readable, Afrikaner Odyssey is a wide-ranging portrait of an aristocratic Afrikaner family whose achievements run like fine thread through these turbulent times, and whose presence is still marked on the South African landscape.