Though Graeco-Roman antiquity (‘classics’) has often been considered the handmaid of colonialism, its various forms have nonetheless endured through many of the continent’s decolonising transitions. Southern Africa is no exception. This book canvasses the variety of forms classics has taken in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and especially South Africa, and even the dynamics of transformation itself.

How does (u)Mzantsi classics (of southern Africa) look in an era of profound change, whether violent or otherwise? What are its future prospects? Contributors focus on pedagogies, historical consciousness, the creative arts and popular culture.

The volume, in its overall shape, responds to the idea of dialogue – in both the Greek form associated with Plato’s rendition of Socrates’ wisdom and in the African concept of ubuntu. Here are dialogues between scholars, both emerging and established, as well as students – some of whom were directly impacted by the Fallist protests.

Rather than offering an apologia for classics, these dialogues engage with pressing questions of relevance, identity, change, the canon, and the dynamics of decolonisation and potential recolonisation. The goal is to interrogate classics – the ways it has been taught, studied, perceived, transformed and even lived – from many points of view.

Showcasing the work of more than 200 women writers of African descent, this major international collection celebrates their contributions to literature and international culture.

Twenty-five years ago, Margaret Busby’s groundbreaking anthology Daughters Of Africa illuminated the “silent, forgotten, underrated voices of black women” (Washington Post). Published to international acclaim, it was hailed as “an extraordinary body of achievement… a vital document of lost history” (Sunday Times). New Daughters Of Africa continues that mission for a new generation, bringing together a selection of overlooked artists of the past with fresh and vibrant voices that have emerged from across the globe in the past two decades, from Antigua to Zimbabwe with numerous South African contributors. Key figures join popular contemporaries in paying tribute to the heritage that unites them. Each of the pieces in this remarkable collection demonstrates an uplifting sense of sisterhood, honours the strong links that endure from generation to generation, and addresses the common obstacles women writers of colour face as they negotiate issues of race, gender and class, and confront vital matters of independence, freedom and oppression.

Custom, tradition, friendships, sisterhood, romance, sexuality, intersectional feminism, the politics of gender, race, and identity—all and more are explored in this glorious collection of work from over 200 writers. New Daughters Of Africa spans a wealth of genres—autobiography, memoir, oral history, letters, diaries, short stories, novels, poetry, drama, humour, politics, journalism, essays and speeches—to demonstrate the diversity and remarkable literary achievements of black women.

New Daughters Of Africa features a number of well-known South African contributors including Gabeba Baderoon, Nadia Davids, Diana Ferrus, Vangile Gantsho, Barbara Masekela, Lebogang Mashile and Sisonke Msimang.

'n Treffende debuut waarin Roux die siklus van die lewe van jeugherinneringe tot die dood van geliefdes en die skepping van nuwe lewe verken.

Die bundel bevat eietydse belewenisse en verwysings na die Covid-tyd waarmee baie lesers sal kan vereenselwig.

Hierdie liefdesverhaal strek van Suid-Afrika na Nederland en weer terug. Hier is twee mense wat bestem was om saam te wees, maar mekaar verloor het en na baie jare weer gevind het.

Magiese oomblikke wanneer amper-vergete herinneringe meteens klokhelder opgeroep word; die elke dag se herontdekking van mekaar – maar ook die onbeskryflike hartseer met die besef van al die verlore jare en ʼn futiele woede oor verspeelde geleenthede en gedane sake word op pragtige maniere uitgebeeld.

Baie trane is gestort – soms van weemoed, soms van blydskap, soms van wanhoop. Daar is ook onthou, ontdek, gelag, geniet, gesoek, gevind. Die leser gaan saam op reis en sal dit moeilik vind om nie meegevoer te raak nie.

A rare collection of messages from members of a family reunited in the afterlife.

Lesley May was living in KwaZulu-Natal when she received and conveyed detailed descriptions of different aspects of the afterlife from her mother and various family members who had passed on.

The notion that societies mediate issues through certain kinds of engagement is at the heart of the democratic project and often centres on an imagined public sphere where this takes place. But this imagined foundation of how we live collectively appears to have suffered a dramatic collapse across the world in the digital age, with many democracies apparently unable to solve problems through talk - or even to agree on who speaks, in what ways and where. In this timely and erudite collection, writers from southern Africa combine theoretical analysis with the examination of historical cases and contemporary events to demonstrate that forms of publicness are multiple, mobile and varied.

Drawing primarily on insights and materials from Africa for their capacity to speak to global developments, the authors in this volume propose new concepts and methodologies to analyse how public engagements work in society. The contributions examine charged examples from the Global South, such as the centuries old Timbuktu archive, Nelson Mandela's powerful absent presence in 1960s public life, and the contemporary debates around the 2015/2016 student activism of #rhodesmustfall and #feesmustfall. These cases show how issues of public discussion circulate in unpredictable ways.

Babel Unbound will be of interest to anyone looking to find alternative ways of thinking about publicness in contemporary society in order to make better sense of the cacophony of conversations in circulation.

Engaging with the work of contemporary African and Chinese artists while analysing broader material production, the essays in this volume are wide-ranging in their analysis of ceramics, photography, painting, etching, sculpture, film, performance, postcards, stamps, installations, political posters, cartoons and architecture.

With China’s rise as the new superpower, its presence in Africa has expanded, leading to significant economic, geopolitical and cultural shifts. Chinese and African encounters through the lens of the visual arts and material culture, however, is a neglected field.

Visualising China in Southern Africa is a ground-breaking volume that addresses this deficit through engaging with the work of contemporary African and Chinese artists while analysing broader material production that prefigures the current relationship. The essays are wide-ranging in their analysis of ceramics, photography, painting, etching, sculpture, film, performance, postcards, stamps, installations, political posters, cartoons and architecture.

Richly illustrated, the collection includes scholarly chapters, photo essays, interviews, and artists’ personal accounts, organised around four themes: material flows, orientations and transgressions, spatial imaginaries, and biographies. Some of the artists, photographers, filmmakers, curators and collectors in this volume include: Stary Mwaba, Hua Jiming, Anawana Haloba, Gerald Machona, Nobukho Nqaba, Marcus Neustetter, Brett Murray, Diane Victor, William Kentridge, Kristin NG-Yang, Kok Nam, Mark Lewis, the Chinese Camera Club of South Africa, Wu Jing, Henion Han and Shengkai Wu.

Dié jongste bundel van Antjie Krog verskyn agt jaar ná Mede-wete.

Krog ontwikkel voormalige temas soos die landskap van die vrou, die huwelik, die aftakeling van die lyf, die vreugde van klein gesinsoomblikke, maar terselfdertyd vernuwe sy, opnuut.

Daar is ’n onrusbarende kwesbaarheid, ’n brandende woede en ’n direktheid, en tegelyk ’n hartverskeurende deernis met die ouerwordende self. In die openingsgedig skryf sy: “Dit kom nie meer op my af nie / die geluid/ die geluid van ’n gedig kom nie meer op my af nie.” En dan, teenstrydig hiermee, sleur Krog die leser in die daaropvolgende verse mee in ’n jubelsang en ook ’n klaaglied van die land wat geplunder word, maar ook die self wat plunder.

Krog probeer oplaas sin maak van die land, van die self, van die verlede. Soos Alfred Schaffer sê, daar is gewoonweg niemand in Afrikaans wat só skryf nie. Sy wys wat digkuns moet en kan wees. En hoe dit in Afrikaans kan klink en resoneer.

Evolution is proffered as a scientific theory throughout the world. Is it the truth, or could it be one of the biggest lies ever told? Is it possible that evolution is nothing more than an elaborate belief system with the aim to oppose the Christian faith and the Bible directly?

To provide answers to these questions, the basic assumptions of the Big Bang and the theory of evolution are thoroughly investigated in this book.

The following are some of the questions discussed:

• Did the Big Bang really happen?
• How did life on Earth originate?
• Is Darwin’s theory of evolution at all feasible?
• Is life on other planets, for example Mars, possible?
• How old is the Earth?
• Was there a worldwide flood?
• Did dinosaurs really become extinct millions of years ago?
• Is the story of Noah and the Ark possible?
• Does the fossil record support or contradict the theory of evolution?
• Is evolution a science or merely an atheistic belief system?

The conclusions in this book may be surprising to many and will provide answers to the complex questions people frequently ask. This book is recommended for every scholar, student and parent, or anyone wanting to make rational decisions about what they believe.

Patrick Watson is currently South Africa’s most innovative and versatile landscape architect. Known for designing extensive mega-sites, such as Sun City and an entire Indian Ocean Island, he is also the creator of exquisite small gardens in private homes and quiet spaces for reflection, such as the Apartheid Museum and the Garden of Hope at St George’s Anglican Church in Parktown, Johannesburg.

In all he does, he combines artistic intuition with extensive botanical knowledge and a deep concern for the conservation and restoration of nature. His projects are creative, fresh with inspiration, and often bold, and he uses plants, colours, landforms and space to create visual and emotional experiences.

Covering 23 gardens and landscapes, and richly supported by sensitive photography and some specially commissioned artworks, the book is a beautiful record of a remarkable local talent, a visionary whose art is informed by nature. It recognises and celebrates the combination of knowledge, skill and instinct that make up the man, and the radical influence he has had on his profession.

Soos Hilda Smits se eerste, bekroonde bundel die bome reusagtig soos ons was betrek die verse in hierdie bundel die leser by die hoogs persoonlike en gee dit terserfdertyd betekenis aan die universele belewenis.

Die verse is magies soos bewussynstroom, soos drome waar die kloutjie nie altyd by die oor uitkom nie, ʼn mens ervaar dit met jou onderbewuste, in jou maag. Dis dromerig soos meditasie, dis soos sit en staar na reën teen ʼn ruit.

Sinne is onvoltooid, werkwoorde hang in die lug sonder naamwoorde, byvoeglike naamwoorde is bedrieglik eenvoudig; “gewone” woorde soos mooi, sterk, fyn, jonk – dis egter die onverwagse beelde wat verras, en woorde wat buite hul normale konteks ingespan word, wat jou uitknikker.

Over the past few years, it has become clear that the path of transformation in schools since 1994 has not led South Africa’s education system to where we had hoped it could be. Through tweets, posts and recent protests in schools, it has become apparent that in former Model-C and private schools, children of colour and those who are ‘different’ don’t feel they belong.

Following the astonishing success of How To Fix South Africa’s Schools, the authors sat down with young people who attended former Model-C and private schools, as well as principals and teachers, to reflect on transformation and belonging in South African schools. These filmed reflections, included on DVD in this book, are honest and insightful.

Drawing on the authors’ experiences in supporting schools over the last twenty years, and the insight of those interviewed, A School Where I Belong outlines six areas where true transformation in South African classrooms and schools can begin.

This is the first book to capture the poignant stories of transnational African families and their use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in mediating their experiences of migration and caring across distance.

Transnational Families in Africa analyses the highs and lows of family separation as a result of migration in three contexts: migration within South Africa from rural to urban areas; migration from other African countries into South Africa; and middle-class South Africans emigrating to non-African countries. The book foregrounds the importance of kinship and support from extended family as well as both the responsibilities migatory family members feel and the experience of loss by those left behind.

Across the diverse circumstances explored in the book are similarities in migrants' strategies for keeping in touch, but also large differences in relation to access to ICTs and ease-of-use that highlight the digital divide and generational gaps. As elsewhere in the world, and in spite of the varied experiences in these kinship circles, the phenomenon that is the transnational family is showing no signs of receding.

This book provides a groundbreaking contribution to global debates on migration from the Global South.

In Mei 2000 skryf die joernalis Chris Louw ’n ope brief aan Willem de Klerk waarin hy sy griewe lug teenoor die regering wat aan bewind was in die tyd van die Grensoorlog (ongeveer 1966–1989).

Chris Louw, oftewel “Boetman”, is ontnugter deur die patriargale leiding van die Afrikanermans van daardie tyd.

Pieter Fourie het Chris Louw se brief omskryf tot ’n drama waarin verskillende stemme en menings gehoor kan word, onder andere dié van ’n ma wat haar seun in die Grensoorlog verloor het, die joernalis Annesu de Vos wat met Chris Louw ’n debat op LitNet gevoer het en ’n swart aktivis.

Mitch is living the good monkey life. As his home is in a tree above a fancy restaurant, his diet consists of fine-dining gifts from dinner guests. So when the chef puts up a new sign that reads ‘Do NOT Feed The Monkey!’, Mitch panics. Who will bring him delicious food now? But with help from some unexpected cooks, Mitch discovers that making his own food isn’t so bad after all.

This is a cookbook for children with 49 creative and easy recipes for all occasions, told through the adventures of a hungry monkey and his friends on the African savannah. The author, Marleen Lammers, is an experienced children’s fiction book storyteller, while the illustrator, Anja Stoeckigt has created the most charming and engaging depictions of both the animals and the recipes.

Futureproof your business, career and family with these invaluable insights. This is an essential compendium of trends for anyone who is anxious or excited about thriving in the uncertain decade ahead. Along with accompanying actionable insights to pre-empt and solve the challenges and problems they represent to the serious South African with business, career and family interests to look after, it's a must-have.

Die skrywer se eerste boek, Vandag se sekretaresse (Human & Rousseau, 1988), was gebaseer op ontelbare kantore, kollegas en werkgewers waarmee sy tydens 'n elektroniese revolusie te doen gekry het. Daar was wêreldwye bekommernis oor of die sekretaresse met moderne kantoortoerusting vervang sou kon word. Nou is daar weer wêreldwye onsekerheid tydens 'n pandemie waar vetsug lewensgevaarlik is. My laaste dieet is die memoires van 'n smullende skaalslaaf. Ná 'n lewenslange stryd en ervaring van vraatsug, gepaard met kennis en ondervinding van 'n magdom diëte, beskou die skrywer haarself as die Koningin van Diëte.

“Becoming a mother has been my deepest desire. But it’s not happening. Now what?”

Through her very open and honest first-hand account of her seven-year struggle to conceive, titled Abundantly Empty, Cathy hopes to help remove the stigma, improve understanding and provide inspiration to others on how to cope and keep moving forward.

Abundantly Empty delves deep into the world of infertility and offers an insightful 360-degree perspective, with informative contributions from leading fertility specialists, including Professor Thabo Matsaseng, and her clinical psychologist, as well as input from her husband Julian, family and friends. The egg donors and surrogates share their experiences too. In clear, direct ‘journal’ language, the book traces the highs and lows, the elation and intense grief of the infertility rollercoaster. It also explores its impact on Cathy’s marriage, her friendships and her career.

The primary reason for writing this book, Cathy says, was to send a ‘You are not alone’ message to other couples battling to start a family, to break the silence and increase understanding of what it takes to survive infertility and retain hope, courage and meaning.

Abundantly Empty is an emotionally gripping, heart-warming and useful must-read not just for those on the fertility journey, but also for those on the sidelines who want to provide support, but don’t know how.

Die koeël is deur die kerk. Die huweliksbootjie het gesink. Hy kry die bed en sy die tafel. Hoekom skei hulle en hoekom skei hulle nóú dat jy ’n volwasse kind is?

Jou ouers is besig om te skei of hulle is klaar geskei. Almal fokus op hulle, maar jy suffer ook. Volwasse kinders kry swáár wanneer hulle ouers skei. Net so swaar, indien nie swaarder as jong kinders nie.

’n Eerste in Afrikaans — ’n handleiding vol raad oor hoe om die sleg en gesukkel van ’n egskeiding te hanteer waar volwasse kinders van egskeiding (18 jaar en ouer) hulle eerstehandse ervaring, verwarring, onsekerheid, woede en hartseer deel wat begin die oomblik as Ma en Pa sê: dis verby.

Die slegte nuus? Die egskeiding sal altyd ’n wond wees. Die goeie nuus? Jy kan leer hoe om dit beter te hanteer en met tyd kan dit net ’n letsel word. Soos Gretha (26) sê: “Time makes all wounds bearable.”

Survival: The state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances.

Climate change: A change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular, a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.

This is a survival guide. It rests on the idea that we could possibly survive a changing climate. Temperatures are already climbing, sea levels are rising and parts of South Africa are on their way to being uninhabitable. Life is already incredibly hard for many people and nobody will be exempt from climate change. Circumstances are going to get a lot more difficult very soon, and we need a plan. This is a practical handbook that explores what climate change is likely to mean for us as South Africans, how we can prepare for it, and how we can – in our everyday lives – help to mitigate the impacts it will have.

Alex la Guma was a major twentieth century South African novelist. His first novel, A Walk in the Night, in 1966 brought him instant recognition as a pioneering writer on the African continent. Its ‘startling realism and accurate imagery’ drew high praise from his contemporaries. Wole Soyinka, later awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o . The critic and writer, Lewis Nkosi, likewise, compared La Guma’s intense and sombre vision of the individual in society to that of Dostoevsky. La Guma was also an important political figure. As leader of the South African Coloured People’s Organisation and a communist, he was charged with treason, banned, house arrested and eventually forced into exile. At the time of his death in 1985 he was serving as chief representative of the African National Congress in the Caribbean.

Published on the centenary of Alex La Guma’s birth on 20 February 1925, The Early Writings of Alex La Guma contains a selection of his early work as a journalist and short story writer, before he became a published novelist and was forced into exile. It provides unique cameos of South African life and politics during a turbulent time in the country’s history – the late 1950s and early 1960s, the years around Sharpeville – at the same time giving us insight into the making of a novelist. The ‘hidden’ world of Alex La Guma – material, social, emotional, political and intellectual – at a time when he was developing into a serious writer, is revealed. Many of the themes in his fiction are first encountered and developed in these early newspaper articles, providing useful material for literary scholars seeking to understand the progression of his work.

A reviewer wrote that this book, like Alex La Guma’s novels, captures not only the misery of poverty and oppression in South Africa, but also the rich song of everyday life beneath the surface. It reads easily as fiction and adds significantly to our understanding of popular culture in Cape Town, as well as to the social and political history of the city. When asked what one of his novels was about, La Guma – born and bred in District 6 – replied, ‘Ag, just about the folks back home’. La Guma peels off, as if with a scalpel, the glossy covers of the Cape’s tourist-brochure ‘liberalism’ to reveal the hard realities faced by the majority of its (non-) citizens: This is District Six talking. It is unmistakable – terse, racy, humorous, as convincing as truth.’

La Guma’s insider accounts of contemporary politics also help with the recovery of important aspects of the history of the South African liberation movement.

'n Suksesvolle lewe gaan gewoonlik oor dinge bymekaarmaak: groter rykdom, meer status. Maar volgens Jesus moet jy iets laat gaan as jy geestelik wil groei. Jy moet ligter reis, nie swaarder nie. Die dissipels moes hulle nette los, die ryk jongman sy rykdom. Tot die kerk het haar grootste impak in die geskiedenis gemaak toe sy die minste besit het. Die boek motiveer ons om af te pak en vyf ou gewoontes by die vroeë kerk aan te leer, gewoontes wat ons kan help om ligter te reis.

Jaco Strydom is die leier van Echo Jeugontwikkeling en deeltyds gekoppel aan Villieria Gemeente. Sy skryfwerk verskyn die afgelope tien jaar in onder andere Beeld, Rapport, Finesse, Kerkbode, Maroela Media en Weg. Hy is ook 'n gereelde blogger. Hy woon tans in die Echo-gemeenskap in Villeria. Jaco het studeer by NWU en UP.

Low Carb is Lekker Three continues the journey begun by Inè Reynierse in 2015, when her awardwinning cookbook, Low Carb is Lekker, took the country by storm.

Building on the demand for carb-conscious, sugar-free and grain-free meals, Inè’s recipes put the emphasis on nutritionally upgraded, healthy eating. Her dishes don’t require speciality ingredients or expensive food substitutes.

Living in a small Boland town, she has learnt to be creative with what she has to hand: good quality meat and dairy, and the freshest vegetables and herbs. Her dressings, dips, sauces and gluten-free flour mixes form the basis of a superb selection of recipes that will take you from breakfast to dinner and from weekday family meals to weekend entertaining.

With her focus on improving general health and wellbeing, Inè’s recipes will appeal to anyone who wants to put good food on the table every day of the week.

This is a unique collection of writings on race and racism by black women from South Africa and Brazil. Encompassing both fiction and non-fiction, the anthology is made up of academic essays, creative non-fiction, poetry and short stories.

Through these different modes, the book engages with the complexities of race in multiple social, political, economic, institutional and personal spaces. Concerned with social justice, human rights and freedom, the various feminist critiques centralise the intermingling of racial, gender and class subjectivities and how these are marked on bodies, but also how they are un-marked, re-marked and re-made. These critiques are tied to global and local social and political phenomena in the modern-day world.

The contributors interrogate their political and personal worlds, revealing layered, intersecting ways of being that are essentially foregrounded by colonial histories, but not defined in totality by coloniality and oppression. In speaking to the immediacy of these experiences, they reflect and narrate the past, contemplate the present and imagine the future.

This anthology is underwritten by questions that centralise freedom. What does freedom mean? When do we have it, and when do we not? Most importantly, how do we get it?