‘I share to normalise talking about those shameful, hurtful things we keep hidden. I share because shame loses its power when we find safe spaces to share our truth … and when women heal, generations heal.’

To her thousands of fans, Wisdom & Wellness founder, speaker and influencer Mpoomy Ledwaba is a symbol of strength and women empowerment. But going from university dropout to Forbes magazine’s list of 30 Under 30 wasn’t always easy – it took a lot of courage and a commitment to personal growth.

How Did We Get Here? is her coming-of-age story. Looking back on her upbringing, major milestones and the challenges she’s faced, Mpoomy takes us on her journey of self-discovery. Behind the Instagram likes and thousands of YouTube subscribers is a bright girl who sometimes bit off more than she could chew. This mother of two, who is married to an award-winning musician, didn’t always have a plan and rarely fitted the mould of ‘the good wife’.

In this frank account, Mpoomy writes openly about the hurt she’s experienced, the mistakes she’s made and some of the hard truths she’s had to learn about life, but also about how her faith has been a guiding light. As a firm believer in the power of stories, she uses her personal history to show how to live a purposeful life on all levels.

This book is an all-encompassing guide to everything Jan Braai currently knows about braaing. It is a celebration of this wonderful South African tradition, in which 15–20 million South Africans participate each year on 24 September on National Braai Day. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this cultural event, Jan Braai has put together more than 200 recipes that can be cooked over and enjoyed alongside a wood fire.

Divided into 20 chapters, the book includes recipes for traditional favourites such as classic potjies, steaks, burgers and ribs, to less conventional dishes prepared on the braai, including pasta, pizza, salads and desserts. Every dish is delectable and the accompanying photography will have your mouth watering, and your family and friends clamouring for a get-together around the braai fire while you put your braai skills to the test. Jan Braai’s clear instructions and no-nonsense attitude to the art of braai will ensure that even newbie braaiers will easily pull off these recipes.

There is something for everyone in this book. Readily available ingredients mean it’s a breeze to put the meals together, as most items are probably on hand already, or can be sourced with minimal effort or a quick trip to the supermarket.

Also available in Afrikaans, as 'Atmosvuur'.

After forty years of entertaining and mesmerizing audiences with his effervescent dancing and bubbly stage personality, veteran performer and producer Alistair Izobell was the consummate professional and showman. A household name from his performances as a nine-year-old boy in District Six the musical, to his cover version hit in 1993 - Venus. With theatre performances in Kat and the Kings, The Buddy Holly Story, The Doo Wha Boys, co-writing Remembering the Lux and more, life was amazing for this creative. Producing show after show, leaving audiences with lifelong memories. Introducing new talent to the industry, nurturing existing talent, writing theme songs for soap operas and a song for an international Grammy award winning group. The sky was the limit. But it was all smoke and mirrors. There was darkness behind the spotlight.

Alistair never knew he was suffering from depression and the walls were closing in. The patriarchal system that we as a society have become accustomed to had come to bear with a bit of karma, after a massive betrayal in his life, and the cards came crashing down.

On the 13th September 2023 Alistair Izobell tried to take his life. It was all too much for him to carry on. Having survived suicide, he now had to face every good, bad and ugly reality, every decision, the trauma, and results of a life handed over to show business at a young age. The road to recovery and healing has and will be a long one. But when you want to heal and find your smile and freedom, nothing can stop you.

Broken to Heal is born from the sessions of therapy and wanting to be better. A book of anecdotes inviting the reader into the life and world of this performer we forgot was a normal child, husband, father, and friend. This book is aimed to let those who enjoy the work of performers think a little deeper about the enormous naked emotional journey creatives go through for them to enjoy the beauty of their art. But to remember that there is a real human being behind the curtains with the same life challenges we all carry. It is also a hand of hope to someone out there suffering from depression, to remind them that all is not lost, and there is help and kindness that you have access to.

There is medical help that you have at your disposal and that you are never alone in your darkness. Someone is waiting for you to say I need help. And more than anything, YOU BELONG HERE!

‘I straighten her little tiara every morning – I lift her chin and remind her that she is meant for greater things than playground bullies.’

‘Everything shines in its own time. There is no timetable for life.
Timetables are for classrooms, not for people.’

These are just some of the wisdoms shared on The Village, South Africa’s beloved Facebook group for parents raising tweens, teens and young adults.

Having kids is a baffling endeavour beset with sulks, meltdowns, anxiety and disappointment – and that’s just the parents! When you get that call to the principal’s office? When the school acceptances don’t come? When the bedroom door slams and you hear your child sobbing behind it? All awful but the family years are also, to many of us, our most precious time. The trick? To find a way to enjoy our families, love our children and believe in them and ourselves despite the daily challenges. And laugh . . .

In this book, Vanessa Raphaely and Karin Schimke have gathered together experiences and insights from The Village members. These are the gems and remedies from the real parenting experts – the parents – to help you raise your family in your own perfectly imperfect way.

Reuben Riffel shares his secrets on how to get to flavour quicker... without the fuss.

I think every chef has a dream of how they’d cook for people in an ideal world… for me my dream scenario is definitely cooking with fire. There's a happiness that goes with cooking on a fire, a freedom and festive feel to it, that is what I love about it.

This book is about flavours first, the simplicity of cooking over fire. It’s not about how to braai, the technical stuff… rather just to share my enjoyment of cooking, and to encourage you to play and experiment with cooking over fire. You don’t have to be an expert braaimaster and slave over hot coals for hours. I like to see a fire as an extension of the kitchen, using the same spices and flavourings that I enjoy cooking with inside, but cooking over a fire for the extra flavour and a touch of smoke.

The recipes in this book are the tried and tested ones that got the thumbs up from friends and family, and range from incredibly simple to more creative. You’ll find different meats and seafoods, loads of vegetables and salads… and a good helping of quick and easy snacks to keep everyone happy kuiering by the fire while you cook the main event.

Dive into the world of air frying with celebrity chef Herman Lensing and discover why this versatile gadget is your new best friend in the kitchen!

For his latest cookbook, Herman has selected his top 100 air fryer recipes that will take your taste buds on an unforgettable adventure. From mouthwatering breakfasts, sultry side dishes, succulent mains, boujee baking and delectable desserts, his creative flair and culinary genius shine through in every dish.

Starving for meals that are quick and easy to prepare? Look no further. Whether you're a novice cook or a seasoned pro, this book is packed with fun, flavour, and fabulousness.

Soos vinkel en koljander, dís Najma Abrahams (Tietie) en Azba Fanie (Nanna). Dié twee TikTok-tuiskokke se hande staan vir niks verkeerd óf stil nie, veral nie vir die kospotte nie. Hul resepte is hartskos – niks fensie bestanddele nie, net geurige regte, egte huiskos met ’n Kaaps-Maleise twist.

Groenboontjiebredie, tamatiekos, split pea-sop en selfs die vergete sagobredie, blomkoolbredie, panfrikkadel, Nando’s-hoender, broodpoeding en dhaltjies eerlik gemaak, sonder fieterjasies – dit is mos die onopgesmukte huiskos waarna elkeen verlang. Die kerries is natuurlik ook daar – suikerboon-, hoender-, dhal- en mincekerrie, breyani, noem maar op. Snoek-in-die-oond, kerrievis en seekos-paella (times are tough, ’n mens moet maar ’n paar maande of so spaar daarvoor, sê die twee siezas) bring die see in jou kospotte. Vir “broke week” is daar sakpas-randrekkers soos dhanya-soesys, eierkerrie en spaghetti-en-sardyne. Tietie se peperminttert en lemon meringue is uit ’n ander wêreld en Nanna se braised skaapnek sal enige onthaaltafel laat kreun van smaakgenot. Mavrou, Tietie se lamsvleis-weergawe van dié tradisionele gereg wat in die Kaaps-Maleise kultuur by troues voorgesit word, is ’n tydlose treffer.

En moenie van die happies en lekkernye vergeet nie – dis nou die “soet en sout” waarmee Mzansi se mense grootgeword en die lewe om elke hoek en draai gevier het. Watertand-verleidings soos bollas, flapjacks, skons, snowballs, patatkoekies, sweetcorn fritters en vele meer. Samoesas en roti’s kry variasies in geure en kleure om van te droom. (Só sê Tietie: Roti is baie versatile – eet dit met kerrie, masala steak of selfs as ’n poeding. Dis tog te lekker met strawberries, strawberry jam en cream.)

Nou ja, as jy nie so ’n tuiskombuis geken het nie, is jy waarskynlik reeds daaraan voorgestel op Tietie en Nanna se kookprogram, Tietie en Nanna kook op VIA, kanaal 147 op DStv, of in hul stories en kwinkslae op Instagram en TikTok.

Met Tietie en Nanna se onfeilbare resepte, perfek beproef, kan elkeen weer huiskos, soos ons ma’s, oumas en tantes dit gemaak het, in hul eie kombuise opdis.

The South African Keto and Intermittent Fasting Cookbook gives you all the tools you need to make the positive switch to a healthier you.

In this book, Rita and Natalie guide you through every step of your ketogenic journey, explaining the reasoning behind the keto diet and intermittent fasting, and how easy and accessible a ketogenic lifestyle is.

Complete with:

• A 12-step programme
• A list of carb levels per foodstuff
• Shopping lists and delicious recipes
• 7-day meal plans including dairy-free, budget, carnivore, camping, and intermittent fasting
• Nutritional information, testimonials and tips
• Keto Q & A

Say hello to low-carb, high-fat eating and goodbye to carbo-loaded bread, pasta, grains and starchy veggies!

Sukkel jy met selfvertroue? Vergelyk jy jouself gedurig met die wêreld se idee van perfeksie? Verhinder jou gebrek aan selfvertroue jou om doelwitte te bereik en werklik sukesvol te wees? Jy is nie alleen nie.

Van die slimste en mooiste vroue ter wêreld het lae selfvertroue. In hierdie boek deel Rolene Strauss hoe ook sy met 'n tekort aan selfvertroue gesukkel het, selfs terwyl sy die Mej. Wêreldkroon gedra het. Deur haar meestersgraad in professionele lewensafrigting en ure se afrigtingsessies met vroue wat met lae selfvertroue gesukkel het, het Rolene waardevolle insigte bekom oor hoe vroue hul selfvertroue kan bou en behou.

Herontdek Jou Selfvertroue is ’n onontbeerlike gids vir vroue wat die moed en vertroue wil hê om hul drome vreesloos na te jaag.

In this autobiographical account of a lifetime spent observing, researching and photographing birds, Peter Steyn shares experiences that span some 70 years.

His story starts and ends in Cape Town, South Africa, but in between we read about:

• the 17 years he spent in Zimbabwe – his most productive in terms of ornithological research
• his worldwide travels in a quest to study birds
• his regular spells as a lecturer on cruise-ship voyages
• trips from the Arctic to the Antarctic, to remote Southern Ocean islands and to several Indian Ocean islands and St Helena
• travels also to the USA, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Ethiopia – all in pursuit of birds

His detailed and fascinating memoir captures the author’s great enthusiasm for birds and their role in his shaping his life and experiences.

Kingdom of Daylight: Memories of a Birdwatcher is well illustrated and features more than 400 photographs taken during Peter’s lifelong journey with birds.

South African born-and-raised Hollywood screenwriter Helena Kriel is researching the ancient text of the Kama Sutra for a movie she’s writing. At the same time, she is travelling to India to meet with sages and find answers to the universal challenges of sex and love. While searching for love in her doomed relationships, little does she know she will find her answers in caring for her dying brother, Evan, in South Africa.

Set in the mid-1990s, South Africa is just emerging from the darkness of apartheid and bursting with vibrant chaos. The story zooms in on an intense year in the narrator’s life. It centres around the lively and eccentric South African Kriel family: Maya, the combative but inspired mother; Lexi, the sister recently returned from living in a temple in India; Ross, the younger brother diving with sharks; and Helena, the narrator, herself on a journey to understand love and death. At the heart of the story is Evan, her terminally ill 30-year-old gay brother, who has been keeping his illness a shameful secret. Conscious, sensitive, terrified and trying to hang onto sanity as his world changes, Evan becomes paralysed then finally goes blind as death draws ever closer. But it is Evan who leads the family through the fire.

In living through her brother’s fight to stay alive, the narrator finds herself at the heart of a savage story, one she would not have chosen. How could she know when she set out to India to find ancient solutions to the modern problems of our age that her brother’s approaching death would be her greatest teacher? How could she imagine that dying brings everything to life?

The Year Of Facing Fire is an astoundingly written memoir by one of South Africa’s finest writers. It traverses universal themes including love, death and sex, and finds value in the ordinary and great beauty in the uncertain.

Imtiaz Sooliman, a medical doctor practising in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, visited a Shaikh in Istanbul in 1992. The Sufi teacher gave him a message that would dramatically change the lives of countless people.

‘To my absolute astonishment he told me I would help people for the rest of my life. He then instructed me to form a humanitarian organisation called the “Gift of the Givers”, and repeated the phrase “the best among people are those who benefit mankind”.’

Almost 30 years later Gift of the Givers, Africa’s largest humanitarian and disaster agency, has a reputation for speedy responses to floods, war, famine, fires, tsunamis, kidnapping and earthquakes. Well known for their interventions in South African and international disasters, teams of volunteers have undertaken missions to places such as Bosnia, Palestine, Japan, Haiti, Indonesia, Malawi and Mozambique. In the last few years they have turned their attention to the poorest South Africans - they have put up hospitals, run clinics, dug wells, drilled boreholes, built houses, offered scholarships and provided shelter, food and psychological succour to millions.

Originally published in 2014, the book has been brought up to date to continue the extraordinary tale of an organisation that has become a South African legend – the first to intervene in so many devastating situations and bring hope to those who have lost everything. Gift of the Givers’ reputation for direct, honest and non-partisan solution-finding has become a beacon of hope in South Africa.

Journalist Sarah Bullen and her filmmaker husband Llewellyn seemed like a golden couple, with successful careers and two lovely children. But then Llewellyn discovers that he has a brain tumour. As he pursues a shamanic path to fight the cancer, they are catapulted into a world of ritual and ceremony. With hospitals, surgery and treatments comes a wilder journey of spiritual searching. Then the impossible happens: she falls ill. While in a coma, Sarah travels through near-death and into other realms and worlds.

She comes back with a message and a spark to follow – to choose joy over fear. It becomes a roadmap to allow her to write a new life story and call in a new way of living rooted in bliss, joy and love.

Taking us from Hout Bay to the Mediterranean and back, Sarah’s story is in turn sad, funny and magical, filled with laughter and tears. From African rituals in the bush to a Greek island of sex and celebration, Love & Above is filled with wild rapture and infinite possibility.

In the shattered fantasy of rainbow-nation South Africa, there are many uncomfortable truths. Among these are family secrets - the legacies of traumas in the homes and bones of ordinary South African families.

In this debut collection, feminist and Khoi San activist Kelly-Eve Koopman grapples with the complex beauty and brutality of the everyday as she struggles with her family legacy. She tries unsuccessfully to forget her father - a not-so-prominent journalist and anti-apartheid activist, desperately mentally ill and expertly emotionally abusive - who has recently disappeared, leaving behind a wake of difficult memories. Mesmerisingly, Koopman wades through the flotsam and jetsam of generations, among shipwrecks and sunken treasures, in an attempt at familial and collective healing.

Sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious, she faces up to herself as a brown, newly privileged "elder millennial", caught between middle-class aspirations and social justice ideals. An artist, a daughter, a queer woman in love, she is in pursuit of healing, while trying to lose those last 5 kilograms, to the great disappointment of her feminist self.

A compelling and agonising story.

Durban-based journalist Glynis Horning and her husband Chris woke up one Sunday morning almost two years ago to the devastating discovery of their 25-year-old son Spencer dead in his bed. Horning’s story chronicles a parent’s worst nightmare. Establishing that his death was suicide, Horning embarks on a journey of anguished self-recrimination.

Should she not have seen the signs? Could she somehow have prevented it? As she struggles with Spencer’s decision to end his life, she has to learn to understand what the depths of depression entail. We feel Horning’s pain, and learn to understand and feel Spencer’s pain, at a visceral level.

Surrounded by loving family and friends, Horning pieces together the puzzle of Spencer’s death, writing with a brutal and heart-searing intensity of grief and loss, but also of the joys of celebrating her son’s life. This book will touch anyone who has experienced a mental health journey directly or indirectly, or a searing loss. Her wisdom and insight are extraordinary.

Born Karoline King in 1980 in Johannesburg South Africa, Sara-Jayne (as she will later be called by her adoptive parents) is the result of an affair, illegal under apartheid’s Immorality Act, between a white British woman and her black South African employee. Her story reveals the shocking lie created to cover up the forbidden relationship, and the hurried overseas adoption of the illegitimate baby, born during one of history’s most inhumane and destructive regimes.

Killing Karoline follows the journey of the baby girl (categorised as ‘white’ under South Africa’s race classification system) who is raised in a leafy, middle-class corner of the South of England by a white couple. It takes the reader through the formative years, a difficult adolescence and into adulthood, as Sara-Jayne (Karoline) seeks to discover who she is and where she came from. Plagued by questions surrounding her own identity and unable to ‘fit in’ Sara-Jayne (Karoline) begins to turn on herself, before eventually coming full circle and returning to South Africa after 26 years to face her demons. There she is forced to face issues of identity, race, rejection and belonging beyond that which she could ever have imagined.

She must also face her birth family, who in turn must confront what happens when the baby you kill off at a mere six weeks old, returns from the dead.

Die oorlewingstog van 'n dapper vrou.

“ ʼn Kale vlakte waar my regterbors eens was. Ek maak my oë toe en laat my brein toe om te proe aan hierdie monumentale ding. Kanker schmanker, besluit ek. Ek is nog net soveel vrou soos voor die operasie. My vroulikheid het toe al die tyd nie in my bors gesit nie. Dit sit in my kop, in my hart, in daardie onmeetbare, onaantasbare iets wat die gees genoem word.”

In hierdie aangrypende boek deel die bekende spanningsverhaalskrywer Madelein Rust die intiemste besonderhede van haar reis met borskanker. Dit is ʼn brutaal eerlike vertelling wat haar belewenis van die siekte met patos en humor uitbeeld. Lesers verkry ʼn eiesoortige blik op die fisieke ervarings van borskankerstryders sowel as die ewig veranderende binnewêreld van dié wat teen die siekte veg.

Kanker schmanker! rus borskankerstryders toe met inligting wat nie altyd geredelik beskikbaar is nie en help hul geliefdes om die reis met kanker beter te verstaan. Dit is ʼn boek van hoop en triomf wat die leser hardop laat huil en laat lag. Dis 'n verhaal vir elkeen van ons wat ʼn stryd van enige aard stry.

Insectopedia uncovers the fascinating and infinitely varied world of insects. It explores their intriguing behaviour and biology – from mating and breeding, metamorphosis and movement to sight, smell, hearing and their adaptations to heat and cold.

A chapter on superorganisms probes the curious phenomenon of social communities among insects; another covers the critical role that these creatures play in maintaining the fragile balance of life on our planet. The book concludes with a 60-page illustrated field guide, describing most insect orders and their main families.

Previously published as Insectlopedia of Southern Africa, this fully revised and redesigned edition includes up-to-date information throughout, an expanded ID section, and several hundred new photographs.

Provocative, insightful and brilliantly written by Professor Wahbie Long, Nation on the Couch explores life in our beloved country through the lens of psychoanalysis.

By focusing on the idea of a ‘political unconscious’, it argues that there is much to be learnt from excavating the inner life of South Africans, which can illuminate the external problems that beset us from all sides. It will challenge readers to rethink the way we see ourselves, why we do what we do and why we are who we are. 

Welcome to the SuzelleDIY Recipe Book! These pages are full of my favourite recipes that I have gathered and created over the years, from my Ouma’s old classics to my own creative recipes that will get everyone talking at your next dinner party! You will find scrumptious desserts, easy dinners, fun and delicious twists on South African favourites (bobotie balls anyone?) as well as a few wonderful recipes from special guests who also wanted their recipes in the book, shame.

This cookbook is for everybody! If you are a master chef or a mini chef, if you only know how to use the microwave or even if your meals always come out looking a little bit rustic, there’s something in this book for you.

So pop on your aprons people! It’s time to use your own creativity and make some delicious kitchen magic happen. DIY? Because anybody can!

Bart, die aantreklikste ou in haar matriekklas, soen Esli uit haar vel. Vir meer as veertig jaar deel hulle hul lewens, maak saam kinders groot en sien om na vriende en familie. Jaarliks vier hulle Kersfees in Kleinmond met geskenke en trifle en stappies langs die see met hul worshond.

Maar hoekom val Bart se broer uit ’n boom voor Esli se ouerhuis? En watter donker geheim is onderliggend aan Bart se ma se vreemde gedrag en onfatsoenlike grappe? Wat dink kollegas van Esli se haarstyleksperimente en panda-oë? Verdien sy om in die spaarkamer te skuil omdat sy, volgens Bart, aand na aand die kos brand en die hond se pote laat nat word as dit reën?

In So Lyk ’n Vrou vertel Ilse Verster van Esli se heelwording en hoe sy, ná ’n leeftyd van mishandeling, in ’n rooi rok op die strand kon staan met een vuis in die lug en vry kon voel. Sy gee stem aan ’n stukkende vrou wat net wil hê die pyn moet stop. Sy deel wat dit verg om jou teen die muur op te trek, jou teen die samelewing te handhaaf en jouself te red.

Lenerd Louw shares his journey of learning and awakening.

Jump is a book about Lenerd Louw's experiences including his playboy lifestyle in Cape Town, the difficulty and confusion when a massive internal shift occurred in him, the decision to walk away from it all, starting the outer journey all around the world whilst doing the tough deep inner journey at the same time. It includes his two-year period of celibacy at the start of his travels, his travels to fascinating places and his learnings at each place. It’s a story of personal expansion and awakening, of surrender, of trust and of transformation.

He sees the same shift now happening to many people around him, be it ex colleagues, friends or new people he has met. He feels a calling to share his journey. The book is one way of doing that!

"Former Miss Universe and Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Tebow confesses the danger of tying our identities to our accomplishments. Discover the truth of who you were created to be and how to use your platform, no matter how big or small, for eternal impact.

The purpose of our lives is to love and serve God and others. Demi shows how you can be encouraged to focus not just on your aspirations, but on your greater purpose and leave behind a footprint of significance, not just success."

Following on the success of Veld to Fork, Gordon Wright’s first book, Karoo Food is bigger, better and tastier than ever, with more recipes, stories and anecdotes about life and food in the Karoo.

Once again, Gordon takes you on a Slow Food journey, via your taste buds, to foodie-nirvana. Tracing the origins of ingredients and the stories behind the dishes, this is a selection of recipes and inspirations from the important people in his life. It’s a mix of the old and the new and a tribute to all those lovely people and their marvellous food over the generations that have helped foster his love of cooking.

This book is a must-have for cooks, foodies and aspiring home chefs.

Most of the time, the road to riches is a closely guarded secret, until now. Jacana Media presents Mpho Dagada, one such young, self-made millionaire who in his memoir, Mr Bitcoin, shares his story of triumph and failure. He tells his story from the beginning: being brought up by business-minded and accomplished grandparents who planted in him the seeds of what it means to be successful in business.

Mpho Dagada’s interest in Bitcoin was ignited when he was in his first year at the University of Johannesburg in 2013 after opening his own laundry and cleaning service company. He invested his profits from this company in Bitcoin. He currently owns a logistics company, a chain of fast food restaurants and is in the process of developing the first black-owned cryptocurrency exchange platform.

This book is both motivational and practical, examining the errors and pitfalls that Dagada had to go through in his business pursuits. These included falling for Ponzi schemes like Kipi and losing his money on more than one occasion. Through these many lows were lessons of great value which ultimately led to the endless possibilities that Bitcoin presents for those interested in creating wealth through trading cryptocurrencies and running a successful business.

Dagada is confident in the viability of Bitcoin and ascertains that "we will never understand the money of the future without learning how money came about in the first place. Blockchain and Bitcoin are now pioneering a new online financial world. Cryptocurrencies will replace fiat money in the end, as they are faster, better and more convenient than all the earlier forms of currency."