A captivating and insightful account of Dr Max Price’s journey at the helm of a major South African university during a period of immense upheaval.

As Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town for two terms from 2008 to 2018, he offers a candid look at the challenges he faced during his time including transformation, rights of artistic expression, institutional culture, clemencies and amnesties, restorative justice and ethical decision, and of course, #FeesMustFall protests – which shook the country's higher education sector to its core.

Drawing on his experiences, Price delves into the complexities of multi-stakeholder decision-making, crisis management, and the importance of values such as academic freedom in an increasingly polarised world. Part memoir, part insider's view of history, and part leadership guide, Statues and Storms is a must-read for anyone interested in higher education, South African history, or the art of leadership during times of crisis.

The Real Interior not only allows the reader a behind-the-scenes peek into the glitz and glamour of design and décor, but into a career once never considered an option for a young girl, born in Soweto.

As one of the first black and very recognisable faces of Interior Design in Africa, Nthabi Taukobong was thrust into the limelight from the very start of her profession. Spanning a career of more than 23 years she has worked on esteemed residential and leisure projects for presidents, African royalty, captains of industry and five-star hotels, to name but a few. Through the rough and often very challenging terrain of her chosen career, sprinkled generously with the high-end glamour of prestigious interiors that Nthabi has been privileged to work on, she learned that she, in fact, had to be seated right within her own interior before she could offer anything further to those in search of her creative gift.

And as she searched and explored the greater world of design, trying to grasp what it really took to be an esteemed designer, the journey unexpectedly brought her right back into her own home. Not only Nthabi’s physical home, but also to her inner-home, the place that she refers to as her ‘real interior’. It was in writing a letter one evening, congratulating herself on reaching the milestone of 21 years in her career, that Nthabi discovered she was not only writing to herself, but to every creative.

Her letter ended up being an entire book and Nthabi finally understood how her unique story could inspire and encourage others.

Blessed with blond hair and green eyes, 4-year-old Gustawa Singer lived an idyllic life in Nowy Targ, a bustling town in the foothills of Poland's Tatra Mountains. Relatives doted on her and strangers admired her flawless complexion, comparing her to a porcelain doll. Her father worked in her grandfather's hardware store, and the family prospered. All of that was shattered on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. With nowhere to run or hide, her parents made the agonizing decision to give their daughter to a reluctant nanny and parted ways to maximize their chances of at least one of them returning for their only child. For the next several years, 7-year-old Gustawa lived a clandestine existence, harboring a secret that her looks hid so well: she was Jewish. By the end of the war, over 90% of her town's Jews were annihilated; she was one of the few children to return.

Becoming Janet is a mesmerizing account of how a young girl's quick wits and the courage of a few virtuous individuals combined to beat the odds. Passed between strangers with both honorable and deceitful intentions, Gustawa maneuvered through terrifying situations with only the identity papers of a deceased Polish girl and a well-rehearsed cover story. Paradoxically, those who inflicted lasting wounds on the girl were relatives, while a few brave, strangers protected her like family.

In May 1945 the girl's father emerged from the Theresienstadt "camp-ghetto" weighing 110 pounds. After months of searching, he miraculously found his only reason to live: Gustawa. In 1947 she arrived in America and the past was quickly buried by the demands of assimilation. Her gold braids were cut, and her name was changed. This is the story of Becoming Janet.

A collection of edited life story interviews conducted with 25 current and past residents of Wentworth, Durban, that illustrates the social history of this historically ‘çoloured’ township.

This history from below documents the formation of the townships in the late 1950s and its history through the life experiences of the 25 residents during various periods. The book illustrates the wide diversity of the members of this black South African community in terms of origin, ancestry, class, educational qualifications, political outlook, self-identification, primary concerns, political activism, contribution to society, social impediments suffered, etc. that refute generalisations made about the ‘race’ to which they belong.

The life stories also illustrate the impact of major transformations, such as the advent of democracy, on members of this community.

Duduza. Bopha. Imbiza. Phapha. Asixoliseni. Amapopeye . . . What is the power of a single word?

Six days a week, advertising creative Melusi Tshabalala posts a Zulu word on his Everyday Zulu Facebook page and tells a story about it. His off-beat sense of humour, razor-sharp social observations and frank political commentary not only teaches his followers isiZulu but also offer insight into the world Melusi inhabits as a 21st century Zulu man.

Over the past few months he has built up a big and a loyal following that include radio host Jenny Crwys-Williams and Afrikaans author Marita van der Vyfer. He pokes fun at our differences and makes us laugh at ourselves and each other.

Melusi asks critical questions of everyone, from Aunty Helen, Dudu-Zille to Silili (Cyril Ramaphosa) and even Woolworths (why are their aircons always set on ‘jou moer’?). His fans love him for his honesty and commitment to pointing out subtle and overt forms of prejudice and racism.

Melusi’s Everyday Zulu holds up a mirror that shows South African society in all its flaws and its sheer humanity. Most importantly, he shows the power of words and that there’s umzulu in all of us!

Patrick was a wayward child who could not speak until he was four and ran away from boarding school. A disappointment to his parents and the despair of his teachers, he lacked the normal abilities that young people acquire as they grow up. After being sacked from his job, Patrick decided to try his fortunes overseas. A timid traveller and always obedient to authority, how did he come to the attention of the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Los Angeles Police Departments South Africa's Bureau of State Security and Rhodesia's BSA Police? And why did he come to be in police custody in Tanganyika and the first white man deported by newly independent Kenya? Back in England, Patrick's CV was no conducive to gainful employment of the kind enjoyed by his peers: encyclopaedia salesman, nomadic field-hand, lavatory cleaner, bear-chaser, baggage-smasher, waitress (yes!), factory labourer, scullion. The BBC offered sanctuary as a clerk, with few prospects of advancement. After five years of entertaining if ill-paid work in an office full of colourful misfits, Patrick fell into the embrace of the Civil Service. A trainee again at the age of 30, could things improve? Things could, but not without a catalogue of mishaps on the way. Patrick's propensity for bright ideas tended towards disaster, including a national crisis when he set in train the events that culminated in Black Wednesday.

When Robert McBride was sentenced to death, he turned to the public gallery in court and said: ‘Freedom is just around the corner. I am leaving you at the corner – and you must take that corner to find freedom on the other side.’ As the guard moved in, he raised his fist and shouted: ‘The struggle continues till Babylon falls!’

It was 1987: the time of ‘total onslaught’. The trial of the MK unit that planted the Magoo's bomb on the Durban beachfront dominated the news but few knew the real facts of the brave young people who brought the armed struggle to KwaZulu-Natal.

This is the remarkable story of McBride and his comrades: the substation sabotage spree, rescuing a compatriot from hospital and smuggling him to Botswana, the devastating Why Not and Magoo's car bomb that killed three women, the dramatic trial and McBride’s 1 463 days on Death Row.

Now updated to include McBride’s controversial life after the end of apartheid, this is a thrilling tale of a young South African’s incredible courage, loyalty between friends and falling in love across the race barrier. Today, the struggle continues as McBride fights against corruption and state capture.

Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War.

South African playwright Hannah Meade arrives in London for the opening night of her new play. She has arranged to meet Pierre, the student she was in love with when she taught English in Paris. During their time together, they lied their way towards truths they were too young and inexperienced to endure. Perhaps this time they will have a second chance.

As the reader is drawn from contemporary London back to Paris on the eve of the war in Iraq, the mystery of past events is brought to vivid life in a series of dramatic, intriguing and deeply moving encounters. Written in layered, stark prose, The White Room lays bare many of our assumptions about language, identity, memory, loss and love.

‘Craig Higginson is at the vanguard of the latest and most exciting novelists in South Africa, both robust and sensitive, offering a barometer of the best to be expected from the newest wave of writing in the country.’ – André Brink

‘In its conception and execution, The White Room is remarkable ... Evocative and dreamlike, yet all too nightmarishly real, this is a story so moving that it leaves a powerful afterimage on the reader’s imagination.’ – Craig Mackenzie

Dit is veral die mense van Aranos se wereld wie se stemme in Kalaharijoernaal gehoor word: die mense wat in die ongenaakbare wereld langs die Nossobrivier 'n bestaan gemaak het. Maar daar is ook die sagter geluide van die Kalahari se wild, die springbokke, die groot elande en koedoes, die kiewiete, die sandpatryse en die sonbesies wie se skril stemme oor die rooi sand bewe. Vir die wat soek, wag daar immers 'n verrassing agter elke duin, so leer die Kalaharikind vroeg al.