Archive for the ‘Biography’ Category
March 14th, 2010 by Ben - Editor
John Carlin, the author of Invictus, conducted an extensive interview some years ago with author and activist Fatima Meer, who passed away on Friday, as widely reported. The interview appears to comprise part of a series in the USA related either to Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, or the release of his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. Meer was Mandela’s first biographer, writing the story of his life while he was still in prison, and publishing it, as Higher than Hope, in South Africa in 1988.
BOOK SA attended Meer’s funeral in Durban on Saturday.
Here’s Fatima Meer on the Mandelas in the undated interview:
Nelson wrote me a letter in 1971, in which he expressed very strong reservations about writing an autobiography, and I find his reasons interesting and would like to share them with you. I will read an extract from that letter … he wrote in March first 1971:
“The trouble of course is that most successful men are prone to some form of vanity. There comes a stage in their lives when they consider permissible to be egoistic and to brag to the public at large about their unique achievements. What a sweet euphemism for self praise the English language has evolved. Autobiography they chose to call it, where the shortcomings of others are frequently exploited to highlight the praiseworthy accomplishments of the author. I am doubtful if I will ever sit down to scribble my background. I have neither the achievements of which I could boast, nor the skills to do it. If I lived on cane spirit every day of my life I still would not have had the courage to attempt it. I sometimes believe that through me creation intended to give the world the example of a mediocre man in the proper sense of the term (remarkable self assessment in 1971). Nothing could tempt me to advertise myself had I been in a position to write an autobiography. Its publication would have been delayed until my bones had been laid and perhaps I might have dropped hints not compatible with my vow. The dead have no worries if the truth, nothing but the whole truth about them emerge. If the image I have helped to maintain through my perpetual silence was ruined, that would be the affair of posterity, not ours.”
Image courtesy PBS
Cats: Biography,
South Africa Tags: Biography,
BOOK SA - News,
Fatima Meer,
Higher than Hope,
Interview,
John Carlin,
Nelson Mandela,
PBS,
South Africa,
Sunday Read
March 2nd, 2010 by Carolyn
Een van Abraham de Vries se vroegste herinneringe aan sy vriend en medeskrywer André P Brink is hul meningsverskil oor Opperman se gebruik van die woord “klong” in een van sy gedigte.
Vir De Vries was dit aanvaarbaar, want wit mense noem mekaar ook so, maar Brink het gesê: “Ek dink dit verskil as ‘n witte ‘n bruin mens so noem”.
Só het de Vries gisteraand vertel by die die viering van Brink se 75ste lewensjaar tydens die Woordfees op Stellenbosch. “Ek sal sy ongemak met die woord altyd onthou”. Tóé reeds het De Vries besef Brink dink anders en nuut.
Brink laat sy lesers ook anders dink met sy romans, meen prof Willie Burger.
Hy het daarop gewys dat Brink sedert die sestiger jare vernuwing teweeg gebring het. Hy doen dit steeds vandag, vier dekades later. “Ons bring hulde aan dié sjamaan wat ons denke verander.”
Brink het verduidelik dat hy daarna streef om met sy romans die onsêbare te sê. “Selfs al word dit miskien nooit werklik gesê nie, mik ek met alles wat ek skryf daarna.”
Hy vergelyk dié strewe met die briefie van ‘n Joodse seuntjie wat in ‘n konsentrasiekamp gesterf het. Hulle moes teken wat hulle van die konsentrasiekamp onthou. Die seuntjie het geskryf: “Hier het ek geen vlinder gesien”.
“Al het hy nie ‘n vlinder gesien nie, roep sy briefie ‘n vlinder in ‘n mens se gedagtes op, sodat jy dit nooit weer sal vergeet nie,” het Brink gesê. “Dit is kuns: Om uit afwesigheid iets te maak.”
Brink het sy lesers bedank en beloof om die woorde wat hy nog binne hom het “soos vlinders wat nie is nie” uit te stort, sodat hulle in ons gedagtes kan bly dwarrel en ons denke vernuwe.
Die gaste is ook vermaak deur die vioolspel van Sang Woo Jun en die smaak van Black Bottle Scotch Whisky.
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Boekbesonderhede
Cats: Afrikaans,
Biography,
Events,
Non-fiction,
South Africa Tags: 'n Vurk in die pad,
A Fork in the Road,
Abraham de Vries,
Afrikaans,
Andre Brink,
Andre P. Brink,
Autobiography,
Biography,
BOOK SA - News,
Dorothea van Zyl,
Events,
Harvill Secker,
Human & Rousseau,
Non-fiction,
Opperman,
Publisher,
Sang Woo Jun,
Some Craciun,
Some Editor,
Some Illustrator,
Some Other Editor,
Some Other Illustrator,
South Africa,
Subtitle,
Verjaarsdag,
Willie Burger,
Woordfees
February 12th, 2010 by Sophy
Kalk Bay Books‘ Ann Donald looks a series of books which have memory at their centre and reminds that memories are to be treasured:
Sometime in the 1970s, a photographer took a picture of my father walking down a street in Johannesburg. He has one hand in his jacket pocket, the other holding a cigarette.
His eyes hidden behind sunglasses are looking towards a shop window as the blur of a woman approaches from behind him.
Book details
Cats: Biography,
Non-fiction,
Poetry,
South Africa Tags: A S Byatt,
Alzheimer's Disease,
Biography,
BOOK SA - News,
English,
Finuala Dowling,
Harriet Harvey Wood,
Her battle with Alzheimer’s,
Kwela,
Memory,
Non-fiction,
Notes from the Dementia Ward,
Oshun,
Poetry,
Publisher,
Sharon Sorour-Morris,
Something On My Mind - Kate Jowell,
South Africa,
Subtitle,
Sunday Times,
Vintage
February 11th, 2010 by Ben - Editor
Alert! Today marks twenty years since Nelson Mandela was released from prison, and South Africa took its first few shaky steps toward a new dawn.
We’ve tracked down a website that gives lengthy excerpts from Mandela’s monumental autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, which was first published four years after the historic scenes at Victor Verster prison.
Brush up on your knowledge of Madiba’s life:
Excerpts
- A COUNTRY CHILDHOOD
- The village of Qunu …
- Because of the universal respect the regent enjoyed…
- The most ancient of the chiefs…
- That first night, at midnight,…
- The principal of Healdtown was …
Book details
Cats: Biography,
Children,
Feature,
South Africa Tags: Abacus,
Abridged,
Biography,
BOOK SA - News,
Children,
Chris van Wyk,
Excerpt,
Extract,
Feature,
Illustrated Long Walk to Freedom,
Long Walk to Freedom,
Nelson Mandela,
Paddy Bouma,
Pan Macmillan,
South Africa,
The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela,
Victor Verster Prison
February 3rd, 2010 by Jani
Die toekenning van die Jan Rabie/Marjorie Wallace-beurs aan André P Brink het ‘n paar mense duidelik lelik omgekrap. MC Botha het Sondag sy stuiwer bygevoeg met ‘n ope brief aan Brink wat in Rapport gepubliseer is. Botha voer aan dat nie Jan Rabie of Marjorie Wallace ooit bedoel het dat die beurs aan ‘n gevestigde skrywer toegeken moes word nie. Hy vaar uit teenoor Brink vir sy inskrywing vir die beurs. Dit wil voorkom asof die ontevredenhied rondom die saak nog lank nie uitgewoed is nie. Brink se nuutste boek is die gedenksrif ‘n Vurk in die Pad.
Ek was op die Angolese grens – ver buite bereik van die “beskawing” – toe die Jan Rabie/Marjorie Wallace-beurs aan jou toegeken is, en het pas van die herrie daarom te hore gekom.
As eertydse buurman, medeskepper en lewenslange vriend van Jan en Marjorie is ek geskok en stomgeslaan oor die gebeure. Soos jy maar te goed weet, weeg die stem van ’n mens se gewete soms swaarder as swye, ten spyte van die onvoorspelbare gevolge wat die uiting daarvan kan meebring.
Boekbesonderhede
Cats: Afrikaans,
Biography,
Misc,
Non-fiction,
South Africa Tags: 'n Vurk in die pad,
A Fork in the Road,
Afrikaans,
Andre Brink,
Autobiography,
Biography,
BOOK SA - News,
Human & Rousseau,
Jan Rabie en Marjorie Wallace Award,
Jan Rabie en Marjorie Wallace-beurs,
Marjorie Wallace,
MC Botha,
Misc,
Non-fiction,
Rapport,
South Africa
February 2nd, 2010 by Ben - Editor
On the 20th anniversary of his announcement of the unbanning of the ANC and other political groups, and the freeing of Nelson Mandela, former president FW de Klerk backgrounds his historic speech for Independent Newspapers:
One of the questions I am invariably asked in international interviews is whether a Damascene conversion led me to initiate the changes that I announced on February 2, 1990. At the root of the question lie somewhat simplistic views of the development of government policy before 1994.
The whole period between 1948 and 1994 is generally regarded as “the era of apartheid” which is seen as an undifferentiated time of white racial domination, repression and exploitation. Accordingly, the only explanation for the 180-degree volte-face of February 2, 1990, is that it must have been the result of some kind of quasi-religious epiphany.
In fact there were enormous developments in National Party policy between 1948 and 1994. The first decade – under prime ministers Malan and Strydom – was a period of undisguised white domination, characterised by rigid segregation and pervasive paternalism. It is shocking to recall this now. However, it is equally shocking to note that the attitudes involved were not so different from those that then still prevailed in the European colonial empires and in the southern states of the US.
Book details
Images courtesy IOL
Cats: Biography,
Feature,
Non-fiction,
Pan Macmillan,
South Africa Tags: Biography,
BOOK SA - News,
English,
Feature,
FW De Klerk,
Last Trek - A New Beginning,
Non-fiction,
Pan Macmillan,
South Africa,
The Autobiography of FW de Klerk
January 16th, 2010 by Ben - Editor
Haiti, in the news for tragic reasons, is unknown cultural territory for many. The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog asked Haitian novelist Edwidge Danticat for an introduction to the island state’s books and music. Her five “to start with” recommendations are linked to here, as is an excerpt from her book, Brother, I’m Dying – Danticat’s biographical account of the lives of two men, dear to her, caught up in events in Haiti beyond their control:
“The Black Jacobins” by C.L.R. James: A groudbreaking account of the Haitian revolution of 1791-1804 that examines that leadership of the rebel commander Toussaint L’Ouverture. Other slave uprisings in the Americas ended in defeat; James looks into why the slave rebellion in Haiti was victorious.
“The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier,” by Amy Wilentz: This nonfiction book documents the period between 1986-1989 when Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier was forced to flee the country and mass strikes, government-sponsored vigilante groups, and other kinds of chaos swept though the streets. The book, which blends current events with cultural history, seeks to detail the society beyond the headlines.
On Sunday, October 24, 2004, nearly two months after he left New York, Uncle Joseph woke up to the clatter of gunfire. There were blasts from pistols, handguns, automatic weapons, whose thundering rounds sounded like rockets. It was the third of such military operations in Bel Air in as many weeks, but never had the firing sounded so close or so loud. Looking over at the windup alarm clock on his bedside table, he was startled by the time, for it seemed somewhat lighter outside than it should have been at four thirty on a Sunday morning.
During the odd minutes it took to reposition and reload weapons, you could hear rocks and bottles crashing on nearby roofs. Taking advantage of the brief reprieve, he slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to a peephole under the staircase outside his bedroom. Parked in front of the church gates was an armored personnel carrier, a tank with mounted submachine guns on top. The tank had the familiar circular blue and white insignia of the United Nations peacekeepers and the letters UN painted on its side. Looking over the trashstrewn alleys that framed the building, he thought for the first time since he’d lost Tante Denise that he was glad she was dead. She would have never survived the gun blasts that had rattled him out of his sleep. Like Marie Micheline, she too might have been frightened to death.
He heard some muffled voices coming from the living room below, so he grabbed his voice box and tiptoed down the stairs. In the living room, he found Josiane and his grandchildren: Maxime, Nozial, Denise, Gabrielle and the youngest, who was also named Joseph, after him. Léone, who was visiting from Léogâne, was also there, along with her brothers, Bosi and George.
“Ki jan nou ye?” my uncle asked. How’s everyone?
Book details
Photo courtesy Cabfair.com
Cats: Afrikaans,
Biography,
International,
Non-fiction Tags: Afrikaans,
Biography,
Book Excerpt,
BOOK SA - News,
Brother,
Brother I'm Dying,
Edwidge Danticat,
English,
Extract,
Haitian Literature,
Haitian Music,
I'm Dying,
International,
Non-fiction,
South Africa,
Speakeasy,
Sunday Read,
Vintage,
Wall Street Journal
January 14th, 2010 by Jani
Cats: Afrikaans,
Biography,
Fiction,
International,
Non-fiction,
Poetry,
South Africa Tags: A Chain of Voices,
A writing book,
Afrikaans,
Alan Paton Award,
Andre P. Brink,
Archipelago Books,
Biography,
Book Promotions,
BOOK SA - News,
Breyten Breytenbach,
English,
Fiction,
Fransi Phillips,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
Human & Rousseau,
International,
Intimate Stranger,
Looking on Darkness,
Mahmoud Darwish,
Non-fiction,
Notes from the Middle World,
Oorblyfsel/Voice over,
Poetry,
Return to Paradise,
South Africa,
Suite 101,
Suite101.com,
Translation,
Vintage
January 13th, 2010 by Carolyn
Saam met die suidoosterwind waai daar jaarliks ‘n fees van kuns en kultuur die Kaap binne. Die Suidoosterfees, wat van 26 tot 31 Januarie by Artscape aangebied word, sluit ook ‘n hele aantal boekgeleenthede in. Lesers kan uitsien na die volgende:
Huiskok Glanskok kook met Woorde, kleur en geur
Errieda Du Toit en Francois Ferreira, die samestellers van die kookboek Huiskok Glanskok “neem die gehoor op ‘n visuele en woord-kosreis”.
Donderdag 28 Januarie om 18:00.
Koste: R60.00
50 Stemme
‘n Paneelbespreking sal gehou word oor die stand van Afrikaanse musiek, aan die hand van Ilza Roggeband se boek, 50 Stemme: Die grootste name in Afrikaanse musiek.
Vrydag 29 Januarie om 18:00
Koste: Gratis!
Boeke-ontbyt met Anoescha von Meck
Kom geniet ontbyt en ‘n bespreking van Anoescha von Meck se Annerkant die longdrop, Vaselinetjie, en die vertaling, My Name is Vaselinetjie. Die toneelstuk van hierdie boek is by die fees te sien en dit sal ook by die ontbyt bespreek word.
Saterdag 30 Januarie om 09:00
Koste: R90.00
Die toneelstuk word op hierdie dae opgevoer:
Vrydag 29 Januarie om 15:30
Saterdag 30 Januarie om 13:30
Sondag 31 Januarie om 10:00
Katvoet
Riana Scheepers sal haar nuwe bundel kortverhale, Katvoet, bespreek.
Saterdag 30 Januarie om 12:00
Koste: Gratis!
Moenie dat die grootmense hoor nie
Francois Bloemhof gesels met Rudi Venter oor sy nuwe jeugbundel, Moenie dat die grootmense hoor nie, en ook oor al die ander genres wat hy aanpak.
Saterdag 30 Januarie om15:30
Koste: Gratis!
Brandkuiken
Kom hoor hoe klink Brand Blixum se gedigte. Dehon Joubert doen ‘n gedramatiseerde voorlesing uit Blixum se debuutbundel, Brandkuiken.
Saterdag 30 Januarie om 19:00
Koste: Gratis!
Tango met Amanda Strydom en Jeanne Els
Jeanne Els gaan voorlees uit haar boek Tango en die koningin van kabaret, Amanda Strydom, sal die gehoor met sang vermaak.
Sondag 31 Januarie om 10:30
Koste: R90.00
Die verhaal van Elandskloof
Tobie Wiese se nuwe boek, Die Verhaal van Elandskloof, kom onder die loep in hierdie bespreking. Heindrich Wyngaard gesels met die skrywer.
Sondag 31 Januarie om 11:45
Koste: Gratis!
Prinsloo Versus
Adriaan Meyer praat oor sy debuutdrama, Prinsloo versus, wat by Protea Boekhuis uitgegee is en wat al verskeie suksesvolle opvoerings geniet het.
Sondag 31 Januarie om 14:00
Koste: Gratis!
Boekbesonderhede
Book details
Cats: Afrikaans,
Biography,
Children,
Drama,
Fiction,
Food,
Human & Rousseau,
Lifestyle,
Misc,
Non-fiction,
Poetry,
Short Stories,
South Africa,
Tafelberg,
Youth Tags: Adriaan Meyer,
Afrikaans,
Anoeschka von Meck,
Biography,
BOOK SA - News,
Brandkuiken,
Children,
Die Verhaal van Elandskloof,
Drama,
Elsa Silke,
English,
Fiction,
Food,
François Bloemhof,
Human & Rousseau,
Jeanne Els,
Katvoet,
Kortverhale,
Lifestyle,
Ligvoets deur die lewe,
Lux Verbi BM,
Misc,
Moenie dat die grootmense hoor nie,
My Name is Vaselinetjie,
Non-fiction,
Poetry,
Prinsloo Versus,
Protea Boekehuis,
Protea Boekhuis,
Riana Scheepers,
Ricky Goedeman,
Short Stories,
South Africa,
Tafelberg,
Tango,
TAU Creations,
Tobie Wiese,
Youth
December 30th, 2009 by Ben - Editor
All too often, the cult of personality dammed up what should have been a decade of invigoratingly free-flowing narratives about South Africa’s “big men”, writes the Mail & Guardian’s Darryl Accone – but SA Lit’s biography and memoir industry did produce a few gems over the last ten years. Accone, who slates the big books by Mark Gevisser, John Allen and others, names Chris van Wyk’s Shirley, Goodness and Mercy as his top SA-history-writ-personal read of the noughties:
Conventional wisdom has it that South Africa is blessed with stories. In the last years of apartheid, and the country’s first half-decade of freedom, “Tell our stories” was the cry, mantra and clarion call.
Since the turn of the century, politicians, biographers, ghostwriters and authors have been doing just that.
Autobiography, biography, memoir, family history, life-story-as-told-to, celebrity self-justification and corporate narcissistic rationalisation: life-writing is alive, and sometimes well, in South Africa.
Politicians, sportsmen and sportswomen, and so-called captains of industry have waded in, telling not all but rather just barely enough. When biographer replaces autobiographer, the resultant life remains impressionistic.
Book details
Cats: Biography,
Non-fiction,
South Africa Tags: A childhood memoir,
A dream deferred,
a Life Against Apartheid,
A Simple Freedom,
Ahmed Kathrada,
Alan Knott-Craig,
Allan Boesak,
Anant Singh,
Anthony Butler,
Apartheid,
Archbishop Denis Hurley,
Autobiography,
Biography,
BOOK SA - News,
Business,
Chris van Wyk,
COPE,
Cyril Ramaphosa,
Darryl Accone,
DVD,
Emma Chen,
Emperor Can Wait,
English,
Eunice Afonso,
Fiction,
Food,
Guardian of the Light,
Guardian of the Light: Denis Hurley,
Jacana,
John Allen,
Joho,
Jonathan Ball,
Mail & Guardian,
Mark Gevisser,
Non-fiction,
Opposing Apartheid,
Paddy Kearney,
Pan Macmillan,
Patrick Kearney,
Picador Africa,
Politicians,
Politics,
Publisher,
Rabble Rouser for Peace,
Reflections of an accidental politician,
Renewing the Church,
Rider & Co,
Robben Island,
Running with Horses,
Second is Nothing,
Shirley Goodness and Mercy,
South Africa,
Subtitle,
Thabo Mbeki,
The Authorized Biography of Desmond Tutu,
Tim Couzens,
UKZN Press,
Wild Dog Press
