Etienne Leroux word steeds beskou as een van die grootste skrywers wat die Afrikaanse literatuur opgelewer het. J.C. Kannemeyer se biografie oor hierdie geheimsinnige en dikwels omstrede figuur behels meer as ’n magdom waardevolle inligting. Dit is ook 'n persoonlike beskouing van Leroux, die mens, sy politieke opvattings en sy siening van sensuur. 'n Fotoseksie waarin skaars foto's van Leroux, sy familie en medeskrywers opgeneem is, verryk die biografie en dra by tot 'n boeiende portret van ’n hoogs verwikkelde en enigmatiese man.

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!

SOUNDS GREAT teaches learners to discover, recognize, and use American English word stress, sentence stress, intonation patterns, and high-frequency vowels and consonants. The many guided conversations, pair and small group practices, information gap activities, peer interviews, and short oral reports invite students to enjoy improving their command of spoken English.

Desiree Ellis has been associated with Banyana Banyana, the South African women’s national football team, for 30 years – initially making her mark as a player (1993–2002), before transitioning to coaching. Taking the experience of 32 caps, including captaining the team when South Africa won the inaugural Cosafa Women’s Cup in 2002, she went on to become the most successful women’s coach in South Africa.

After a stint as assistant coach to Vera Pauw, Desiree was officially appointed head coach in 2018 and continued adding to her outstanding resumé. A high point came in 2022 when she coached Banyana Banyana to the Wafcon title in Morocco. The win also earned the team automatic qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

But Desiree’s inspiring football journey began many years before on the streets of Salt River in Cape Town where she developed the strength and skills that earned her the nickname ‘Magic’ on the field. Back then soccer boots were only dreamed of and it was her Bata Toughees school shoes that suffered the wear and tear, often to the despair of her hardworking parents. In the early days of the Athlone Celtic women’s side, it was a family affair: (Uncle) Eddie took on the role of coach, (Mom) Natalie’s seamstress skills saw them all kitted out, and (Dad) Ernest handled everything else, from transport to scheduling games.

When Desiree’s talent and dedication saw her become a serious contender at league and then provincial level, and finally gave her a chance to play with and against the world’s best, there was no stopping her. As South Africa emerged from sporting exile after the dark days of apartheid and stepped up to the international stage, Desiree proved to everyone who believed in her that dreams can come true.

Introduced in 1918 as an award for bravery in the field, the Military Medal was almost immediately open to women. During its 80 year existence, the Military Medal was awarded to women on only 146 occasions, the vast majority during the First World War. This volume provides the definitive roll of recipients together with citations, many of which were not available at the time, plus service and biographical detail. Over 80% of the entries are accompanied by a photograph. The vast majority of the recipients were British, but the medal was open to women of all nationalities and the names of French and United States recipients are recorded together with allied personnel from the Empire.

The Book of Small is a collection of thirty-six short stories about a childhood in a town that still had vestiges of its pioneer past. Emily Carr tells stories about her family, neighbours, friends and strangers-who run the gamut from genteel people in high society to disreputable frequenters of saloons-as well as an array of beloved pets. All are observed through the sharp eyes and ears of a young and ever-curious girl. Carr's writing is a disarming combination of charm and devastating frankness.

How to raise children to be moral, responsible, and productive citizens is one of the most debated issues in society today. In this elegantly written and passionate book, Vigen Guroian argues that our most beloved fairy tales and classic and contemporary fantasy stories written for children have enormous power to awaken the moral imagination.

Lake Chemong, 1954. Every summer, from June to August, the Fogle family pack up and leave the big city of Toronto, escaping to their white, cedar-clad cottage, the last in a row of a cluster of houses nestled in primordial forest on a wide, ink-blue lake. Mr Fogle, a silent mountain of a man, built the cottage himself. In the mind of ten year old Bruce, his father is brown and green, the colours of the land, his whip smart, gregarious mother, a vivid and fiery red. This year, joining his parents, his older brother Rob and Angus the family dog, is his mother's wise and enigmatic brother, Reub. At first, this summer break seems like any other. Bruce spends his days floating in the row boat with Grace from next door, jumping off the diving raft, eating peach pie, watching the seagulls and herons, observing frogs and turtles and catching crayfish. Relishing the heat of the sun on his bare skin and the sludge of the lakebed beneath his toes, he, even at this young age, understands his life is pretty perfect. But then everything starts to change. Family dynamics are shifting, and over the summer both the harshness of the adult world and the thoughtless cruelty of children leave their mark. By the time the weather turns Bruce will be a different child, and will have chosen his own path to understanding the shifting, fragile wilderness that frames their summer idyll. Teeming with wonderful characters, Barefoot at the Lake is the story of a boy discovering his place in the world and realising his deep connection with nature. It is a memoir that will utterly transport you - you'll feel the sun on your face, the pebbles of the lake under foot and catch the scent of the pine on the wind.

This book explores representations of fathers in select South African novels published from the birth of apartheid to the post-transitional moment.

Father figures in the texts reflect political and social climates in South Africa – at different times representing the oppressive apartheid government, righteous and authoritative liberation leaders and the unfulfilled promise of a democratic South Africa. Grant Andrews examines how father characters are linked to storytelling; they narrate the lives of their children and their patriarchal power is constituted through narratives. He features authors such as Alan Paton, Nadine Gordimer, J.M. Coetzee, Zakes Mda, K. Sello Duiker, Mark Behr, Zoë Wicomb, Lisa Fugard and Zukiswa Wanner.

Stories of Fathers, Stories of the Nation also investigates how fatherhoods are being reimagined in light of shifting discourses of gender and identity. More recent novels have deconstructed the father figure and his paternal narrative power, representing conflicts around racial identity, sexuality, legacy and how the sins of the father are visited on his children.

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"So, I've written a book.

Having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities (‘It’s a piece of cake! Just do four hours of interviews, find someone else to write it, put your face on the cover, and voila!’), I have decided to write these stories just as I have always done, in my own hand. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I’ve recorded and can’t wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child. This certainly doesn’t mean that I’m quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it’s like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the crazy dreams I had as young musician.

From hitting the road with Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall, bedtime stories with Joan Jett or a chance meeting with Little Richard, to flying halfway around the world for one epic night with my daughters… the list goes on.

I look forward to focusing the lens through which I see these memories a little sharper for you with much excitement." - Dave Grohl

This heartfelt and wry career memoir from the director of Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Legends of the Fall, About Last Night, and Glory, creator of the show thirtysomething, and executive producer of My So-Called Life, gives a dishy, behind-the-scenes look at working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

“I’ll be dropping a few names,” Ed Zwick confesses in the introduction to his book. “Over the years I have worked with self-proclaimed masters-of-the-universe, unheralded geniuses, hacks, sociopaths, savants, and saints.”

He has encountered these Hollywood types during four decades of directing, producing, and writing projects that have collectively received eighteen Academy Award nominations (seven wins) and sixty-seven Emmy nominations (twenty-two wins). Though there are many factors behind such success, including luck and the contributions of his creative partner Marshall Herskovitz, he’s known to have a special talent for bringing out the best in the people he’s worked with, especially the actors. In those intense collaborations, he’s sought to discover the small pieces of connective tissue, vulnerability, and fellowship that can help an actor realize their character in full.

Talents whom he spotted early include Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Denzel Washington, Claire Danes, and Jared Leto. Established stars he worked closely with include Leonardo DiCaprio, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Daniel Craig, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Jennifer Connelly. He also sued Harvey Weinstein over the production of Shakespeare in Love—and won.He shares personal stories about all these people, and more.

Written mostly with love, sometimes with rue, this memoir is also a meditation on working, sprinkled throughout with tips for anyone who has ever imagined writing, directing, or producing for the screen. Fans with an appreciation for the beautiful mysteries—as well as the unsightly, often comic truths—of crafting film and television won’t want to miss it.

Widely recognized as Canada's finest literary humorist, Stephen Leacock was a prolific author, publishing over sixty books during his lifetime, in addition to countless articles and pamphlets. He was also a devoted correspondent, writing hundreds of letters to friends, relatives, and business associates. Illustrated with several original photographs, The Letters of Stephen Leacock brings together over 800 letters, most of them never before published. Together they give a vivid picture of one of the twentieth century's most distinguished men of letters, a man who was honest, compassionate, and committed to his craft. From the brief, unpolished lines he wrote as a boy to his father, to the final letters he wrote before his death, Leacock's correspondence reveals much about the man behind the humour: the devoted son, husband, and father; the distinguished McGill professor; the proud Canadian; the generous uncle; the social critic; and the private citizen consumed and deeply troubled by the two world wars. Fans of Leacock's many books of humour will find glimpses of his trademark wit in letters on subjects ranging from the Scottish penchant for whiskey to the beauty of the west. More than a humorist, Leacock was an intellectual and an educator who wrote serious works on many topics, including political economy, education, and social reform, and many of his strong views on these subjects are laid out plainly in letters to associates and friends. He was also an astute businessman, and was, as letters to numerous publishers show, a writer by profession. As Leacock himself wrote of his letters to a friend and associate, 'We wrote in the plain straighforward way only possible in such an interchange of letters, about what we thought of this new world that seemed to overwhelm us in our old age.' These are the letters of a gentleman, written with charm, grace, and humour, occassionally blunt and assertive in dealings with publishers, but - in keeping with his humour - never mean-spirited or designed to injure. Together, they represent a fascinating collection that will captivate anyone who enjoys Canadian fiction or history. David Staines has spent 15 years bringing together Leacock's letters, many of them from private collections in Britain, the United States, and Canada. His ten chapter introductions place these carefully selected and annotated letters in the context of Leacock's life and work.