With a career spanning over 40 years, Marah Louw is counted among South Africa’s musical and entertainment industry royalty and has a powerful and memorable story to tell. This book is the reader’s front-row ticket to the joys, sadness, triumphs and setbacks that have been part of this legend’s life. Even though she is a celebrity, her story aims to show that stars, no matter how bright, are human too. It also delves into her family secrets and her search for truth.

As one of South Africa’s most iconic entertainers, Marah has had an illustrious career. She performed at the Mandela Concert at London’s Wembley Stadium and she sang at the Newsmaker of the Year Awards, presented to Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk, and in honour of the late Chris Hani. She appeared with Nelson Mandela during his visit to Glasgow in 1993 and sang at George Square and The Royal Concert Hall. In 1994, she sang at the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela and the Freedom Day Celebrations at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

In 2001, Marah produced the successful musical concert Surf, which featured top South African artists including Hugh Masekela. Marah translated the music of The Lion King into Zulu for the Walt Disney Corporation and performed the theme song Circle of Life in Zulu. She was also an Idols judge from 2003 until 2010.

She had a lead role on the SABC2 television soap opera Muvhango and has acted in numerous musicals, stage plays and feature films. She is currently acting in the Mzansi Magic telenovela The Queen.

Mark Pilgrim has wanted to ‘be on radio’ since he was thirteen years old, yet it always seemed like an unobtainable dream. It took a life-threatening illness to motivate him to pursue his passion.

At the age of eighteen his radio dream was on the back burner. Mark had just completed the first year of a B.Com degree at university and had secured a bursary to complete his studies. Things were looking good. Then the blow fell: he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. After surgery and throughout months of chemotherapy his initial despair was transformed into determination. He found the inner strength to fight the illness, change his career direction, and to make his lifelong dream a reality.

Beyond The Baldness is a personal account of Mark’s journey of determination, following every opportunity to audition for radio and television. From the humble beginnings of living in a trailer park, today Mark is one of South Africa’s best-known and most recognisable personalities, having deejayed on South Africa’s biggest radio stations and hosted some of the most memorable television shows like ‘Big Brother’ and SA’s biggest ever game show ‘The Power of 10’. His voice is also used in countless radio and television commercials.

As a motivational speaker, Mark spends a lot of his time engaging with delegates at conferences, chatting about his experience with cancer as well as the sudden heart attack he had at the age of 38.

His positive approach to life is inspirational and it will encourage everyone who reads this book to chase their dreams!

More than just a story about the personal journey of one of South Africa's most beloved music icons, this extraordinary memoir of PJ Powers - or Thandeka, as she was affectionately renamed by Soweto crowds - is set against the turbulent backdrop of South Africa's recent political history. It features a gallery of political leaders and international celebrities, including the likes of Nelson Mandela, Graga Machel, Chris Hani, Joaquim Chissano, Queen Elizabeth II, Brenda Fassie, Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro.

On Republic Day 1982, a white rock and roll band called Hotline, wearing stonewashed jeans and sporting big hair, took an accidental sho't left into Soweto - a detour that forever changed the life of their lead singer, PJ Powers. Hotline was the first all-white rock and roll band to "cross over" into highly segregated apartheid South Africa, making international headlines in the process. The prolific Powers went on to accomplish extraordinary heights as a solo artist with countless gold and platinum discs.

Here I Am, written with Marianne Thamm, is an intimate and hilarious account of the life and times of one of this country's most recognisable and enduring performers. From the dizzying heights of international stardom to the dark depths of her struggle with alcohol, this is a must-read to explore the heady mix of politics and music of the time.

This is a fascinating collection on the life and times of Brenda Fassie, which includes a Foreword by Hugh Masekela and contributions from people who knew Brenda in both professional and personal capacities. It is being published in the year of the tenth anniversary of her death and is intended as both a tribute and to give fresh insight into Africa's biggest pop star.

The collection includes reminiscences, criticism, elegies, essays and appreciation by friends, ex-lovers, critics, poets, academics and musicians, reflecting the endless and boundary-crossing legacy of Brenda Fassie.

Funny, crazy, poignant, insightful and tragic, I'm Not Your Weekend Special traces the highs and lows of Brenda Fassie's life, celebrating the significance of this South African icon.

Koos Meyer is ‘n legende. Op laerskool reeds was hy ‘n entrepreneur met die aardigste geldmaakplanne. As nie-studerende student op Stellenbosch het hy roem verwerf as poetsbakker en kansvatter. En as joernalis, prospekteerder, grootwildjagter, matroos, hotelbestuurder, wildbewaarder en toespraakmaker het hy hom onderskei deur sy ongewone manier van doen.

Hy het nooit nodig gehad om snaaks te wees nie; hy was dit net. Met verborge agter die plesierige masker ‘n diepte waarvan min weet. Hier is bekende en minder bekende Koos-stories – nostagiese plesier vir tydgenote van hom, en ‘n aansteeklike kennismaking vir jonger lesers.

Soos Ollie Viljoen sê: “Daar is net één Koos Meyer.”

First published in Afrikaans as "Als Is Nie Net Swart En Wit Nie, this expanded memoir probes some of the most pivotal issues facing South Africa today: race, ‘othering’, unremembering, identity, gangsterism, addiction, and the process of making meaning of a society that has become unhinged from its moorings.

Malvory Adams is an author and veteran journalist who served as an editorial executive at mainstream newspapers such as City Press, Sowetan, Die Burger, Beeld and Son. At present, he plies his trade as a News Bulletin Writer at Afrikaanse TV-Nuus on SABC2. Away from the newsroom, he is the singer-songwriter MeZZo.

He walks with the reader through a lion-hearted personal lens and through the purgatory of his travelogue, which starts 15 years before his birth in the tiny Eastern Cape hamlet of Breidbach. He dramatically recounts how his German grandfather robbed him of his grandparents. Premised on that epoch-making deed, he takes the reader on a painful journey of uprooting, an agonising coming of age, and the intricacies of navigating cultural belongings and a bloodline concoction. Next, he plummets horrifyingly into a netherworld of alcoholism culminating in a spine-chilling desperate act.

On this treacherous odyssey to restoration and redemption, the veils of darkness lift, and he now lives in a world that is not stark black and white but where the grey mitigates the storms.

Met sy heel eerste verskyning op televisie as hoërskool-laaitie het Rian van Heerden reeds die volk die josie ingemaak. Sedertdien het hy dikwels koerantvoorblaaie gehaal - en is telkens afgedank! - vir sy omstrede uitlatings. In dié boek skryf hy onbeskaamd oor al die goed wat mense meen hy eerder nié moes gesê het nie. Hy maak vir die eerste keer sy hart oop oor sy persoonlike lewe, sy worsteling met gaywees en sy eerste liefdesverhouding. Blatant eerlik, skreeusnaaks, aangrypend.

’n Bekroonde joernalis, Malvory Adams, skrik wakker in ’n hospitaalbed en wonder hoe hy daar beland het. Dit tref hom soos ’n tienpondhamer tussen die oë: Sy selfmoordpoging het misluk! ’n Bleddie “Samaritaan” het hom uit die kloue van die dood weggeruk.

Malvory se hartverskeurende lewensreis sleep jou enduit saam en laat jou by tye na jou asem snak.

Als is nie net swart en wit nie skets ’n prentjie van swaarkry, stryd, sukses, selfvernietiging, ’n dans met die dood en die lewe.

’n QR-kode word ook by Als is nie net swart en wit nie ingesluit van sy nuutste liedjie, “Hemel-Dal” asook ’n Engelse weergawe genaamd “Heaven’s Vale”.

An inspiring story of one man’s rise from poverty and oppression to success and fame in the international world of opera...

It is a difficult undertaking for any human to escape the cycle of poverty, but to do so from one of the world’s most complex political systems, with a brutal history of segregation and deprivation, is nothing short of a miracle. Yet Musa Ngqungwana’s story doesn’t end there. Not only did he manage to extricate himself from his impoverished past, but he found his way to the great opera houses of the world, attaining immense success in an affluent art form that bears no resemblance to his upbringing or culture. Musa’s life and career are proof that any human can overcome the devastating effects of discrimination and poverty.

Odyssey Of An African Opera Singer chronicles Musa’s journey from the townships of South Africa to the world stage. It is a story of hope, showing how humans, no matter their situation, have the opportunity to claim their gifts, develop them and use them to help others in need. A captivating story that will inspire anyone who has ever had a dream...

Late Reggae musician Lucky Dube is undoubtedly one of South Africa’s iconic stars who left a legacy of love, tolerance, and change through his music. His words were weapons fighting racial discrimination, inequality, and all sorts of injustices in the world, awakening the spiritual and cultural heritage of the African people. While most fans are familiar with the performer, very few got to know the man behind the music—a humble, deeply spiritual, courageous, respectful, wise, and prophetic individual.

"Walking a Mile in Your Shoes: My Spiritual Journey with Lucky Dube" is Lenah Mochoele’s tribute to her friend and spiritual mentor. Through her book, Mochoele gives an account of the spiritual journey of the South African-born world-famous reggae star and hit-maker Lucky Dube. His rise from a simple rural life is told through spiritual anecdotes that cast a different light on the straight-talking reggae luminary. The life of Lucky Dube is presented through a lens that gives the reader insight into why the singer, composer, and producer's music focused on the suffering and plight of the poor, as well as human rights abuses, among other chosen subjects.

This aspect of Lucky Dube is brought into the spotlight years after his passing at the hands of criminals—a terrible crime that almost threatened to overshadow the legacy of this achiever, messenger, and musician par excellence.

The book shares stories of Lucky’s early life, the severe struggles and hardships of his youth, through to his deeply philosophical years which manifested in his music, advocating for peace and change wherever he went. His songs continue to reverberate throughout every corridor of our households, our dusty streets, and throughout every length and breadth of Africa, the diaspora, and beyond.

At a spiritual level, this book is a wonderful and powerful reminder to rekindle one's own connection and relationship with God, to live with Him and not renounce Him.

Tumi Morake modelled her public persona on her mother, a charming and contentious woman who used her big, bold voice to say what others were afraid to utter. It’s the personality that Tumi took on stage in the mostly male space of stand-up comedy, and the one that gave her the courage to join a white, Afrikaans radio station and comment about apartheid on air.

But there’s only so much you can find out about Tumi from the stage, the screen and the internet. And Then Mama Said… is the voice of Tumi in private, as well as a behind-the-scenes perspective of a pioneering South African star who has been both deeply loved and viciously hated by her audiences.

Tumi gets frank about the race row at Jacaranda FM; the Jaguar car accident that cyber bullies said she deserved; the body-shaming she endured on the set of Our Perfect Wedding; and her tumultuous relationship with her beloved husband. Throughout her story, she carries the voice of her mother, and with it the indispensable life lessons that made her who she is today.

What a discovery! In 2014, several years after he moved to Australia, John Coetzee sold his house in Cape Town, unaware that he was leaving behind unique documents from his teenage years. In the attic of his former home, the new owners discovered a forgotten brown suitcase and a large cardboard box, containing a complete photographic archive of old prints and negatives from Coetzee?s childhood never seen before.

The photographs in this photobook (taken with what John Coetzee refers to as his ?spy camera?) date back to John?s first two years of high school when the Coetzee family moved from Worcester to Cape Town. The images provide insight into his childhood through his own lens. He shows us his world and the things that interested him most: friends and teachers at school, cricket matches, the surroundings of Cape Town, the family Karoo farm and his home life. His mother Vera, especially, was a favourite subject.

The photographs are fascinating due to their imperfections, and because they show young Coetzee?s interest in documenting time and movement in order to capture life itself. At first glance, the photographs appear to depict scenes from everyday rural life in the 1950s, but their playfulness, straightforwardness, and self-awareness ensure that the photos are not merely nostalgic. Every now and then we catch a glimpse of the social reality of Cape Town during the apartheid years.

And for the readers of Boyhood the photographs are an intriguing visual chronicle of Coetzee?s life. Although many know him as a serious and philosophical writer, here we also see his playful, boyish side and the search for his own identity. Through Coetzee?s lens we see the fleeting moments from a past which is now captured in the emulsions of his negatives.

The book also has an exclusive interview with John Coetzee about his boyhood and photo experiments.

Jeremy Maggs has been a journalist and a television and radio presenter for over 30 years, with a front-row seat to major news events in the run-up to and during the birth of South Africa’s democracy and beyond. He was also the host of the hugely successful television show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and so became a household name.

He has worked with some of the country’s most respected journalists, interviewed many famous people from around the world, and been at the forefront of developments as the craft morphed into a social media hydra. From Nelson Mandela’s release from prison to his death in 2013, and throughout the many political and news events that have gripped South Africans, Jeremy has been in the thick of the newsrooms that covered the stories.

Written in an engaging and self-deprecating style, this book is an unexpectedly funny and candid, behind-the-scenes account of what was unfolding in those newsrooms as the stories broke, peppered with anecdotes around those involved in making those stories happen.

Andile Gaelesiwe is the adored Khumbul' ekhaya host. She was raped by her father at the age of 11. The second rape was by a taxi driver who beat her up. Andile entered the music scene with the big hit of the late 90s, Abuti Yo. She started Open Disclosure for rape survivors. This fierce, at times funny memoir, an insight into Andile’s consciousness that keeps reviving her will reverberate in young and adult readers.