Rassie Erasmus has been called a genius. He’s been called reckless. All his life, he’s done things differently. Now, with his trademark candour, Rassie will talk openly about his life of adventure and misadventure both on and off the rugby field – as a Springbok player, a provincial coach, and as the head coach who led the national team to win the 2019 Rugby World Cup, including the lead-up to the RWC 2023.

He will reflect on his career as a player and coach, someone whose innate rugby instincts, ability to read a game differently, and appetite for hard work have set him apart, and have led to controversy and failure, along with resounding success.

Rassie is working alongside well-known journalist David O’Sullivan to bring his story to print. David is an award-winning writer and broadcaster.

Scenic Cape Town takes the reader on a photographic tour of the City, starting with Robben Island and Table Mountain, running through the City Centre, the Malay Quarter, Gardens and the Waterfront. Then along the Atlantic Seaboard through to Cape Point, back along the False Bay coastline to Constantia, Kirstenbosch and Southern Suburbs. The West Coast, Stellenbosch and the Winelands are also featured ending with Hermanus, Gordons Bay and Cape Agulhas.

Mark Skinner’s photography is outstanding, and all the photography featured has been specially commissioned for this book. Mark contributed most of the Cape material for the highly successful Scenic South Africa.

A concise introduction and extended captions are provided by Sean Fraser who wrote the text for Scenic South Africa, and Seven Days in Cape Town.

Jerzy Koch, vertaler, digter, akademikus, is hoof van die Afdeling Nederlandse en Suid-Afrikaanse Studies by die Fakulteit Engels van A. Mickiewicz-Universiteit in Poznań. Hy doseer veral Nederlandse literatuur, koloniale literatuur en Afrikaans. Hy is ook die skrywer van ’n omvattende literatuurgeskiedenis oor Afrikaans. Hy besoek Suid-Afrika gereeld sedert 1992 en het die Afrikaanse taal sodanig sy eie gemaak dat hy dit vlot praat en gedigte daarin skryf.

Hy het werke vertaal van H. Claus, J. Bernlef, H. de Coninck, S. Hertmans, G. Kouwenaar, Lucebert, H. Mulisch, Multatuli, L. Nolens, P. Rodenko, F. Timmermans e.a. Vir sy vertaal-oeuvre het hy in die Lae Lande die M. Nijhoff-prys ontvang. Hy het ook Ingrid Jonker (1993) vertaal en sy onlangse vertalings in Poolse is bloemlesings uit Antjie Krog (2017) en Breyten Breytenbach (2018) se gedigte.

In sy digbundel Pleks van plaas skryf hy onder meer oor sy familiegeskiedenis in Pole, maar die grootste deel van die bundel word in beslag geneem deur verse oor Suid-Afrika. Indrukwekkend is veral die seegedigte. Dit is nie net die branders wat sy “oor vang en oorrompel” nie, maar ook die Afrikaanse taal.

They’re back, and better than ever!

This year sees the release of the twenty-second Madam & Eve, and it is another winner from this sharp and witty creative team.

Featuring the humour South Africans have come to know and love, this Madam & Eve promises to be a laugh a minute, and it is sure to be a family favourite and welcome addition to any bookshelf.

The first major career survey of work by renowned fiber and textile artist Billie Zangewa.

Published to accompany the exhibition presented by the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco, Billie Zangewa: Thread for a Web Begun explores Zangewa’s creation of literal and figurative tapestries of the everyday lives and contemporary intersectional identities of Black women. Through her hand-sewn silk collages, which primarily depict Black women in the domestic sphere, Zangewa reclaims a medium that was once relegated as “women’s work” and delves into the familiarity, beauty, and sociopolitical drivers of the seemingly mundane. Beginning her career in the fashion and advertising industries, Zangewa employs her understanding of textiles to portray personal and universal experiences through domestic interiors, urban landscapes, and portraiture. Through the method of their making and their narrative content, Zangewa’s silk paintings illustrate gendered labor in a sociopolitical context, where the domestic sphere becomes a pretext for a deeper understanding of the construction of identity, questions around gender stereotypes, and racial prejudice.

Edited by Dexter Wimberly, this volume, packaged in a beautiful slipcase, showcases the past 15 years of Zangewa’s work as well as new pieces made for this exhibition, and although many of these decontextualized pieces are autobiographical, all of them portray a sense of intimacy and exploration of identity—connecting the pieces to each other through a larger narrative about Black femininity and tugging on the thread of the viewer’s own lived experience.

No little thorn in the flesh or irritating fly in the ointment, Zapiro just cannot be ignored.

It’s been another helluva year, and who better to make sense of it than Zapiro, political analyst, cartoonist and agent provocateur. He has the ability to knock the air out of us, to rock us back in our seats, to force us bolt upright with a 1000-watt jolt of electrifying shock. He makes us angry, he makes us laugh and he makes us think. He shines a light on the elephant in the room, presents the emperor in all his naked glory.

Impossible to brush off, he is determined to provoke a response. When all around is crumbling, when fake news and zipped lips conceal the truth, Zapiro comes to the rescue. With the dissecting eye of a surgeon, the rapier-like point of his pen exposes flimflam, and reveals with a line what lies behind the action.

Crafted in his signature flair-for-detail and humorous writing style, veteran sports journalist Liam Del Carme takes rugby fans and Springbok supporters on the ride of a lifetime in this behind-the-scenes account, Winging It: On tour with the Boks. With more than 25 years’ experience as an insightful sports writer, Del Carme has travelled to six of the seven continents as part of the press corps who follow and write about the national rugby team in all its iterations at international level. His anecdotes will have you wide-eyed with wonderment and chuckling appreciatively at his talent for telling a funny story.

Winging It: On Tour With The Boks is an insider’s view of life on tour from one of South Africa’s most enduring sports writers, Liam Del Carme, while he follows the much-cherished national rugby team, the Springboks.

Del Carme takes the reader across continents and time zones as he shares the helter-skelter atmosphere of meeting looming writing deadlines while finding ways to maintain his sanity. The book explores the ebb and flow of touring with one of rugby’s iconic teams since 1996, including three Rugby World Cups, various Tri-Nations and Rugby Championships, as well as end-of-year tours, in destinations all over the world. He explores the characters, destinations and his travel companions while sharing his highs and lows of covering great rugby moments.

In the book, the reader gets to see the personal side of prominent sports personalities, including Nick Mallett, Harry Viljoen, Gcobani Bobo, Jake White, Eddie Jones, Joost van der Westhuizen, Clive Woodward, Peter de Villiers, Graham Henry, Jean de Villiers, Naas Botha, John Hart, Owen Nkumane, Chester Williams, Allister Coetzee, Heyneke Meyer, Rudolf Straeuli, Os du Randt and Dick Muir.

Farm Stall To Farm Stall is a collection of the best farm stalls and markets for food lovers and avid farm stall trawlers in South Africa.

Each farm stall has been individually visited and researched, and ratings are given on the best coffee, tea and local fare. There are also recipes for several of the delectable delights! The book lists accommodation in the area, the nearest town, child and pet friendly ratings, contact details and operating hours for all the farm stalls.

Farm stalls are listed according to the route on which they are found, and the handy quickfinder and overview maps will enable you to plan your stop.

At the back of the book you will find a list of annual markets and festivals as well as what to expect from each, with handy websites and contact details.

The book is an absolute necessity for any food lover who wants good, wholesome food and delicacies as well as meeting the local people and buying quality local products.

Published annually, Sky Guide Southern Africa is a practical resource for all stargazers, whether novice, amateur or professional.

It highlights the cosmic events for each month of the upcoming year, including planetary movements, predicted eclipses and meteor showers. Star charts plot the evening sky for each season, facilitating the identification of stars and constellations.

The guide contains a wealth of information about the Sun, Moon, planets, comets, meteors and bright stars, with photos, diagrams, charts and images.

Ek hoop jy's reg vir 'n lewe vol avontuur! Indien nie, moet jy asseblief nie hierdie boek koop nie.

Hierdie boek sal jou help om elke voel in Suider Afrika te identifiseer. Maklik!

Jy sal ook snaakse en interessante feite leer oor alles van sterre tot superhelde, plus so ietsie oor voels ook.

Poskaarte van 'n reis is 'n keur van Jacqueline Leuvennink se rubrieke en artikels wat deur die jare in menige tydskrifte verskyn het. Jacqueline se fyn waarneming en vermoë om verwikkelde emosies en situasies in eenvoud te verwoord laat die leser opnuut verwonderd oor die skoonheid van ons wêreld.

Die skrywer nooi die leser om haar te vergesel op ver reise na interessante bestemmings en inspirerende ervarings.

Poskaarte van 'n reis is 'n unieke versameling artikels wat maklik en individueel gelees kan word vir lesers wat nie baie tyd het vir lees nie, maar steeds iets moois en voedsaam vir die siel op een slag wil lees.

What would you put on the line for what you believe in? For Chris Bertish, the answer is everything. ALL IN!

In 2017 Chris became the first person ever to stand-up paddleboard across any ocean. Defying all odds, he paddled 7500 kilometers solo, unassisted and unsupported, for 93 days across the Atlantic Ocean, from Morocco, Africa to Antigua in the Caribbean. During three months at sea he was targeted by a great white shark, towed by a giant sea squid, capsized multiple times and surfed down 10-meter waves as challenging as anything he had faced in any Mavericks Big Wave Surfing Championships.

Too many times he found himself hanging on the edge of his modified SUP for dear life. He also become one with the elements, and ultimately succeeded in doing something everyone said was simply impossible.

This is the story of his incredible journey.

By highlighting and teasing out the mingled emotions of anxiety, disenchantment, hope and anger which characterise South Africans’ current experienced reality, Sole’s poetry questions and expands on our concerns about identity and belonging.

In so doing, the poems in Skin Rafts contemplate the relationships that exist between us on a number of seemingly discrete, but actually intertwined, fronts – the personal relationship between lovers; the wider social and political relationships between human beings; as well as the problematic and contested human relationships that are brought to bear on land, landscape and the non-human.

In this collection the reader is confronted with the circumstance that both body and society exist in a fragile dimension of uncertainty, where we all are ‘bobbing / on our raft of skin’.

Zapiro needs no introduction. His 19th annual speaks for itself.

No year would be complete without Zapiro’s annual collection of cartoons, and in this latest book of sharp-witted and well-timed cartoons, Zapiro once again proves himself a satirical genius, ensuring that no event passes by without comment … or a laugh.

Now filmed as INVICTUS directed by Clint Eastwood, and starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2008 As the day of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dawned, and the Springboks faced New Zealand's all-conquering All Blacks, more was at stake than a sporting trophy. When Nelson Mandela appeared wearing a Springboks jersey and led the all-white Afrikaner-dominated team in singing South Africa's new national anthem, he conquered the hearts of white South Africa. Playing the Enemy tells the extraordinary human story of how that moment became possible. It shows how a sport, once the preserve of South Africa's Afrikaans-speaking minority, came to unify the new rainbow nation, and tells of how - just occasionally - something as simple as a game really can help people to rise above themselves and see beyond their differences.

Is a zebra black with white stripes or white with black stripes? And why do flamingos stand on one leg while bats hang upside down? Did you know that a chameleon’s tongue can shoot out at five times the acceleration of a fighter jet?

In The Buck That Buries its Poo, naturalist Quinton Coetzee answers these and many other intriguing wildlife questions. He also dispels countless myths and elucidates some of the legends that surround creatures in the South African bush we thought we knew all about.

For example, bats do not get tangled in people’s hair (because they are far too adept at flying) and elephants are not afraid of mice (but they do fear bees!). Other tall tales you might hear around the campfire are that lions roll in animal dung, entrails or carcasses to disguise their scent, and that rhinos have a predilection for stamping out fires. What is true, though, is that hyenas are more closely related to cats than to dogs.

This handy guide is based on Coetzee’s own research and that of others, and his experience gleaned over decades living close to nature and wildlife. It seeks to unravel the mysteries of nature in Africa – from mammals and birds to arthropods and plants – with fascinating information and fun trivia. It is a book that will enlighten and entertain. PS: Zebras are black with white stripes!

In 2018, kort op die hakke van sy topverkoper-memoires oor die Camino, Elders, en die kykNET-reeks Elders: Die Camino, reis Erns Grundling met ’n TV-span na Japan om ’n nuwe Elders-reeks te gaan verfilm oor die land waar die Rugbywêreldbeker 2019 sal plaasvind. Sushi en shosholoza is sy verslag van die reis. Kom stap weer saam met Erns, dié keer op die plek waar talle Suid-Afrikaners laat in 2019 die Bokke sal gaan ondersteun. Konnichiwa, Japan!

A bestseller for 21 years, Mike Lundy’s Best Walks in the Cape Peninsula remains one of the most popular books on hiking in Cape Town.

Each of the 30 day walks in this classic collection has been carefully chosen because of a particular point of interest, be it a waterfall, grotto, yellowwood grove, shipwreck or spectacular viewpoint. The routes range from challenging climbs to the top of Table Mountain to leisurely strolls among the fynbos or along city beaches, and will appeal to hikers of all levels of experience – whether aspiring ramblers or diehard adventurers.

A simple grading system, information on the average hiking time, notes on the availability of water and practical advice on mountain safety and weather conditions ensure that the hiker is given a clear idea of what to expect. Every walk is accompanied by an accurate map and an easy-to-follow route description, spiced with historical snippets and nature notes.

For this eighth edition, all route descriptions and maps have been brought up to date, the design and typography have been given a fresh, modern look and photographs and illustrations add lively interest. With so many spectacular walks to choose from in the Cape Peninsula, Mike Lundy’s Best Walks in the Cape Peninsula is the ultimate authority on the best and quickest escape from the rat race – even if only for a day.

For five years, Ndumiso Ngcobo, South Africa’s favourite big-headed columnist, has entertained Sunday Times readers with his hallucinations: amusing anecdotes, outlandish opinions and furiously funny tales that are required reading for legions of fans.

Eat, Drink & Blame The Ancestors is a collection of Ngcobo’s most memorable columns in that time, edited and reworked for maximum effect, providing the perfect overview of his unique and wonderful insights.

Whether he’s consuming fermented beverages and communing with the ancestors, describing life with his terrorist children and skollie dog (RIP Spiderman), or dissecting dung-beetle philosophy with the Men of Thurst, this is the finest and funniest writing in the land.

Acutely perceptive, unequivocally funny and startlingly sincere, Hans Mackenzie Main presents a first unmissable collection of service provider correspondences and writings.

From fleeing a networking engagement to taking up residence in a lighthouse, from soft men to hard truths, Trust You’re Well covers topics both relatable and unheard of affording the world a first glimpse into the delightful inner-workings of a marvellously discontented consumer and correspondent. Here shopping habits, driving habits, recruitment practices and social media etiquette all come in for close scrutiny: inspected from a unique perspective that stands in stark contrast to the deeply humane and compassionate replies from everyday South Africans urging their compatriot to simply get on with it.

With the heartfelt frustration of a law-abiding citizen and the keen wit of a weathered civilian, Trust You’re Well is a joyfully cathartic purge of the highest satiric order that’s bound to leave you in tears.

An outrageous miscellany of lies, myths, untruths, fibs and fabrications that tell the woeful history of South Africa. Aimed at offending and entertaining everyone in equal measure, this will have South Africans sniggering and spluttering into their cornflakes. It will also pique their curiosity.

The lies come thick and fast, like a burst sewerage pipe. Way, way back the Europeans ‘discovered’ southern Africa and found a land that was largely uninhabited. Um, no. On the other hand, Africa was a paradise before the settlers pulled in. Not quite!

Back in the darkest of ages (the 1970s), citizens were told that there were Satanic messages if you played Beatles songs backwards. During the civil war in Angola, there were no South African troops in that country. National icon Hansie Cronje was a paragon of virtue and integrity … until he wasn’t. President Nelson Mandela told us that we, as a nation, were ‘special’.

Turns out we aren’t.

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.

The thrilling story of the conservationist who pioneered the use of dogs in combating poachers in South Africa’s game reserves.

One of Conraad’s first brushes with the reality of life at the frontline of conservation was when he shot the leader of a poaching gang in Windy Ridge game reserve in his teens. Much of Con’s work involving dogs is a continuous struggle against industrial-scale bushmeat poachers, an even greater threat to wildlife than rhino horn poachers as the overburdened courts seem interested only in endangered species. He also works to catch poachers of critically endangered pangolins, the most trafficked animal in the world. Con decided to use his almost telepathic rapport with dogs to tackle the poaching crisis sweeping South Africa.

His first anti-poaching dog, a Weimaraner named Zingela, became an inseparable companion. Zingela saved Conraad’s life on numerous occasions – once when Conraad was about to be assassinated by two fellow rangers hired by poachers.

Con’s story is an epic of modern-day African wildlife conservation, spiced with adventure, courage and romance.

The mountains and forests in and around Cape Town are a hiker’s paradise, offering an array of excursions to suit both new converts and seasoned ramblers. Hiking CapeTown covers 35 exciting hikes on the Cape Peninsula and further afield, ranging from easy to moderate, with a number of more demanding trails for those who want to up their game.

From classic hikes up the front face of Table Mountain and half-day hikes in the remote Cape Point, to gentle rambles along the coast and walks in mountains and nature reserves a short drive from the city, this book encompasses the area’s must-do routes.

Each description provides easy-to-follow directions and specifies the approximate walking time (between 3 and 7 hours), distance, difficulty rating and terrain. Morevchallenging extensions to some of the routes are provided for hikers who want a more strenuous workout. Full-colour maps and photographs illustrate the routes, and information boxes offer insights into interesting aspects of the specific trails.

Mask on! Mask off! Covid restrictions might be lifted, but the infectious laughter continues!

Madam & Eve, South Africa’s favourite and longest-running comic strip, takes a satirical look back at yet another roller coaster year of Covid-19 lockdowns, Eskom load shedding, corrupt and inept politicians, Zondo Commission reports, Home Affairs queues, a burning parliament and millions hidden in presidential farm furniture…

Join the beloved cast of Madam, Eve, Mother Anderson and Thandi, and a host of supporting characters, as they unmask the funny side of daily life in this mad country that is South Africa. Proving, once again, that laughter IS the best vaccine in these challenging times.

Written and drawn by Stephen Francis and Rico Schacherl, Madam & Eve has been tickling South Africa’s national funny bone since 1992!