Thirteen year old James Clarke is always being picked on in school. He hates sports, and he particularly hates Stingers, a schoolyard game in which children throw tennis balls at each other. The other kids always seem to throw the ball harder, when it's at him.

His physical education teacher, Mr Evans, has no sympathy for the boy, believing he just needs to toughen up a bit. When James returns home from school after a rough game of Stingers, his mother is mortified when she sees the bruises on his arm and chest. She phones the school to try and put a stop to the cruel bullying of her son. But her phone call only makes things worse, as the bullying escalates to levels that nobody imagined possible.

Young Naledi wants to trade her bantu knots for Nonhle Thema’s hair on the Dark and Lovely box. She wishes she looked more like her light-skinned mother too. Ledi grows up in Pimville with her strict grandmother Mama Norah, while her mother, Dineo, is out chasing the blesser lifestyle.

Bantu Knots follows Ledi as she navigates the pressures of her circumstances, womanhood and beauty ideals – and pursues her dreams in spite of it all.

Zinzi has a talent for finding lost things. To save herself, she has to find the hardest thing of all... the truth. Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a client turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she's forced to take on her least favourite kind of job - missing persons. Being hired by famously reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass, marked by their animals, live in the shadow of the undertow. Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the underbelly of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she'll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives - including her own. Set in a wildly re-imagined Johannesburg, it swirls refugees, crime, the music industry, African magic and the nature of sin together into a heady brew.

The SMS said, ‘don’t look for me’. I died right there. MaZwane, please no matter what happens, we can fight until we mutilate each other but do not leave me. Anelisa, I hope you have spoken to her seriously. We are married, we don’t leave each other. We stay for better or for worse, through thick and thin. The three of us do not part ways no matter what caused the misunderstanding. They both look at me attentively, I can’t be more serious than this.

When you travel across the ocean on a boat, all your memories are washed away and you start a completely new life. That is how it is. There is no before. There is no history. The boat docks at the harbour and we climb down the gangplank and we are plunged into the here and now. Time begins.

Davíd is the small boy who is always asking questions. Simón and Inés take care of him in their new town Estrella. He is learning the language; he has begun to make friends. He has the big dog Bolívar to watch over him. But he'll be seven soon and he should be at school. And so, Davíd is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It's here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky. But it's here too that he will make troubling discoveries about what grown-ups are capable of.

In this mesmerising allegorical tale, Coetzee deftly grapples with the big questions of growing up, of what it means to be a parent, the constant battle between intellect and emotion, and how we choose to live our lives.

Temperature is the result of the Karavan Stories Workshop & Anthology project, now in its second year.

The theme – temperature – was inspired by global and intimate, personal developments. Climate change continues to dominate our weather and news cycles. Heated international debates require cool and collected thinking for the sake of all our futures around the world. It has been an exceptionally difficult year for many – what allows us to survive, and thrive, is the warmth and kindness of our connections. Temperature is a testimony to this simple truth.

The stories which emerged interpret ‘temperature’ in the most innovative ways, but they have one thing in common: hot off the press, they inspire reflections on interdependence – between individuals, communities and continents, as well as between humanity and our environment.

Contributing authors include: Sue Brown, Christine Coates, Gail Gilbride, Kerry Hammerton, Karen Horn, Karen Lijnes, Ciaran R. Maidwell, Firdose Moonda, Consuelo Roland, Anne Schlebusch, Joëlle Searle, Philisiwe Twijnstra, Alexandra Wood.

Tikkop is 'n roman oor verraad, maar ook oor vriendskap en die liefde vir 'n taal en 'n land. Die Nederlander, Mulder, en die Suid-Afrikaner, Donald, hernu hulle weer hul vriendskap en verken weer hulle gevoelens van weleer: daar is 'n gedeelde liefde, vriende wat verraai is en ideale wat verloen is. Mulder, wat in Parys woon, besluit om in die Kaap te kom bly, terwyl Donald sy stryd voortsit in 'n verstikkende klein vissersdorpie. Die plaaslike bevolking voel verraai: hulle visregte is opgeskort deur korrupte leiers, daar is geen werk nie en hul kinders ontvlug deur TIK te gebruik. Die twee manne ontferm hulle dan oor 'n talentvolle verslaafde seun aan wie hulle 'n nuwe toekoms wil bied - mits die knaap die TIK kan oorwin.

In her debut novel, Dreaming in Colour, Uvile Ximba explores with subtlety, humour and probing insight the connections between the joyful reclaiming of pleasure and the healing of buried traumas.

As students at university in Makhanda during the #RUReferenceList campaign, Langa and her lover Khwezi have a passionate and complex relationship. Puzzling gaps in her memory haunt Langa, yet her dreams are vivid with colours and symbols that hint at a nightmare of forgotten violations and losses. So many secrets -- and Langa has had enough of secrets and silences. Who can she turn to? Her mother? Her grandmother? Khwezi? Or herself?

Dreaming In Colour is Langa's story of coming out to herself, of discerning the history behind the closed door of conscious memory.

She called herself Silent Anna, because she couldn’t tell anyone about what happened between her and her stepfather. Many years later, Anna breaks the silence to reveal the sexual abuse she suffered, its impact on her life and how she has finally managed to overcome it. This is the story of how she finally spoke out to the world and in court.

This book is a must-read. Not only because it relates a young girl’s determination to survive and to overcome her traumatic childhood, but also because it does so with such sincerity.

Written long before the #metoo movement, this story is still an important one – its relevance highlighted even more now. It’s me, Anna: The Full Story is a special edition to celebrate Women’s month as part of Kwela’s 25th birthday campaign. This omnibus contains both novels: It’s me, Anna and The state vs Anna Bruwer.

Based on a true story.

Kgosi e e pelomaswe Gabankitse, e tsenya baagi ba motse wa Letlepung tsebetsebe.

Tota ba tlaa tshabela kae puso ya gagwe ya letsogo la tshipi mmogo le kgatelelo e e kanakana?

A mme gona mosimanyana Marang o tlaa gola le go tlhogola go okama setulo sa gagwe sa bogosi le go busetsa morafe mo maemong a ona a pele?

Molayakgosi o emisa mmuisi ka ditsetsekwane, a lwela gore tshiamo e hupetse bosula le gore go rene kagiso boemong jwa kgatelelo.

Tshepo, a young student at Rhodes, has a difficult time keeping up with his own strange mind. He is absorbed in making sense of a traumatic past in a violent country and so when he finds himself at the Valkenberg mental facility it is perhaps not entirely due to “cannabis-induced psychosis”.

How is he to bring together the shattered pieces of his life? In the shady subculture of male prostitution Tshepo begins to find answers for the first time.

Discovering first his true sexuality, and then that sexuality is only a key to the greater realms of a hidden, mythical humanity, Tshepo can finally tap into the ancient powers that are his birthright.

Naa muthu u langula hani tshileme tsha ifa, ngeno a si na zwikili zwa u ita zwivhuya zwe khotsi awe vha sia?

Davha ­la Maviavhathu ndi bugu i vha kombetshedzaho u vhala ine vhabvumbedzwa vhayo a vha tou vha zwine vha ambelwa zwone. Vho ­diimisela kha ndingo dzavho nga – u sa fushea, vhufhura, tshand­a nguvhoni na mabulayo nga mishonga – uri vha bvelele. Fhedzi, hone aya maitele a a sumbedzisa zwiitisi magumoni azwo?

Based on personal experiences, Thirteen Cents is Duiker's debut novel, originally published in 2000.

Every city has an unspoken side. Cape Town, between the picture postcard mountain and sea, has its own shadow: a place of dislocation and uncertainty, dependence and desperation, destruction and survival, gangsters, pimps, pedophiles, hunger, hope, and moments of happiness. Living in this shadow is Azure, a thirteen-year-old who makes his living on the streets, a black teenager sought out by white men, beholden to gang leaders but determined to create some measure of independence in this dangerous world.

Thirteen Cents is an extraordinary and unsparing account of a coming of age in Cape Town.

Reminiscent of some of the greatest child narrators in literature, Azure’s voice will stay with the reader long after this short novel is finished.

Die verhaal van Cato van Johannesburg, wat in haar middeljare op ’n hartsreis na die Nyl gaan ná ’n ernstige verlies. Op haar tog word sy vergesel van ’n Egiptiese artefak, wat trouens een rede vir die reis is – dié antieke klein klipskilpadjie moet huis kry.

Vroeg in haar Nylbesoek ontmoet sy vir Da’oud, ’n jong Koptiese Egiptenaar op ’n eie lewensveranderende sending. Sy familie is intens geraak, oor etlike generasies, deur sosiopolitieke onrus en ongeregtigheid, met 2011 se onlus op die Tahrirplein as onlangse laagtepunt.

Op hul bootvaart op die Nyl ontmoet dié twee ietwat ongemaklike vriende ’n bonte verskeidenheid soekers en swerwers, en die terugkeer van die skilpadartefak na sy plek van heenkome word ’n simbool vir die afleggings en totruskom wat Cato en jong Da’oud, op sy eie, verskriklike manier, moet deurmaak – elkeen alleen.

’n Roman vir die fiksiefynproewer.

Kaapstadse sielkundige Chris se rustige lewe word bedreig. ’n Trigger-happy vrou uit sy verlede probeer hom afpers, sy pasiënte se koppe haak een vir een uit, en sy dirty little secret begin hom kriewelrig maak.

Boonop irriteer sy gay eksvrou hom met haar verhoudingsprobleme, amper net soveel soos sy skoolvriend se skynbaar sorgelose lewe. Op Bella, sy jong Portugese vrou met haar voorliefde vir lawwe YouTube-videos, kan hy darem werklik staatmaak – of hoe?

Hierdie genuanseerde, ironiese blik op seks, intieme verhoudings en eksistensiële krisisse word uit die oogpunt van verskeie karakters vertel, en elkeen het ’n kinkel-einde. Besluit self wie s’n is gelukkig en wie s’n nie . . .

Nozizwe and her mother, sister and aunt escape a group of rebels that have captured them to be sold into slavery. In their escape they end up in the clutches of human traffickers, imprisoned on a farm.

Nozizwe escapes, pretending to be a boy, and makes her way to Johannesburg to become a street child.

No one she approaches believes her fantastic tale and they ignore her appeals for help.

Sipho is a “young blood”, a young man of the school-going generation caught up in a world of money, booze and greed.

Living in Umlazi, Durban, he is seventeen, has dropped out of school and helps out at his father’s mechanic shop during the day. But odd jobs underneath the bonnets of wrecked cars do not provide the lifestyle his friends have.

A fascinating look into the emotional landscape of car hijackers – by a vibrant new voice in South African literature.

As lykbesorger by White Lily Funerals het Seb al talle lyke gebalsem, organe teruggepak in lyfholtes, bene gekonnekteer en wasbleek gesigte gegrimeer vir die laaste besigtiging deur roubeklaers. ’n Mens het jou werk en jy doen dit, dit help nie om vir ander goed te wens nie, of hoe?

Nietemin wens Seb wel af en toe vir die een of ander ingryping om hom los te ruk uit sy saai bestaan – nie net by die werk nie, maar ook tuis waar hy, sy vrou en tienerkinders verby mekaar leef.

Eendag, toe die sterwende seuntjie Gawie en sy ma by die begrafnisondernemers instap, begin Seb tog in wense glo . . .

“’n Fabel vir moderne tye. ’n Heerlike verhaal.” – Kerneels Breytenbach.

Lady Die het huisvesting gevind in die ruïne van ’n kerk, in ‘n stadsbuurt genaamd Simoelégri. Baie vlugtelinge het hier opgeëindig, ná eers die virus en toe nog rampe tot sosiale onrus gelei het. In ander dele van die land is daar nog ’n mate van orde, maar nie in Simoelégri nie. In Simoelégri is jou beste vriend die straat se dwelmhandelaar, en jou enigste bron van hitte 'n konkavuur. Oral loop die gerugte van groter onrus en geweld.

Aangrypend. Simoelégri is die wenner van die Groot Afrikaanse Romanwedstryd.

Twee plaasdramas oor grense, tradisies, grond en bloed.

Melk & Vleis

Dis 1996. Suid-Afrika het verander, maar sekere huishoudings nog nie. ’n Suksesvolle aktuaris los haar werk in die stad nadat sy verlief raak op ’n sjarmante jong boer. Sy probeer haar bes om in te pas by die kleindorpse gemeenskap, haarself in haar huwelik te laat geld, en die familieplaas van ondergang te red. Nadat ’n erfgenaam gebore word, begin dinge egter op die plaas uitrafel ...

Bloed & Bodem

Jana besoek haar pa en oom op die familieplaas. Die plaas gaan agteruit en haar pa sit meer op die kroegstoel as die kerkbank. Een nag los hy in sy dronkenskap die hek oop en dit word ‘n aand wat niemand sal vergeet nie... ’n Verhaal oor plaasaanvalle en die desperate nalatenskap van Afrikanermans wat nooit kon heel nadat hulle aan die “verkeerde” kant van die apartheidstryd geveg het nie.

Across countries and decades, The Wanderers weaves a captivating tapestry of human lives, exploring the enduring—and sometimes contradictory—duties of blood and country.

Ruru’s father, a South African freedom fighter, was exiled to Tanzania before she was born, leaving Ruru and her mother to fend for themselves in the township they called home. So when a fatal bus accident claims her mother’s life, Ruru is adrift.

Haunted by her mother’s absence, another loss sits heavy on Ruru’s heart: that of her father, who never returned to the family, or country, he claimed to love. When she learns of his passing, Ruru grieves for the man she never knew, and the answers she would never find.

She seeks solace in Tanzania, where she strikes up an unlikely friendship with her father’s widow, a Rwandan refugee named Efuoa. Efuoa gifts Ruru her father’s journals, and as she reads, she begins to piece together the fragments of a complicated life of deep love, shifting identity, small triumphs and haunting disappointments.

Born on the cusp of democracy, the crew of young friends in Born Freeloaders navigates a life of drinking, wild parties and other recklessness. The siblings at the centre of the novel, Nthabiseng and Xolani, have been raised in an upper middle-class family with connections to the political elite. Nthabiseng is lauded by her peers as she whimsically goes through life, unable to form her own identity in a world that expects her to pick a side in the fractured classifications of race.

Xolani, not having known his late father, longs for acceptance from an uncle who sees him and his generation as the bitter fruit borne of a freedom he and countless others fought for. As the story moves across multiple spaces in the nation’s capital over a weekend, Born Freeloaders captures a political and cultural moment in the city’s and South Africa’s history. Interwoven is an analogous tale of the country’s colonisation and the consequences that follow.

And alongside the friends’ uneasy awareness of their privilege is a heightened sense of discomfort at their inability to change the world they were born into.