‘n Mens sal nie sommer sport en literatuur saamvoeg nie, maar dit is presies wat die organiseerders van die Woordfees beplan om vanjaar te doen – en wat hulle aanbied lyk beslis belowend!
Met die sokker-wêreldbeker om die draai is dié fees, wat van 1-7 Maart in Stellenbosch gehou word, se tema vanjaar “baljaar”. Oudergewoonte gaan die woord in alle sfere gevier word. Dit sluit in beprekinge, debatte, toneelstukke, musiekvertonings, kuns en kos. Vanjaar word daar egter ook gekyk na die rol van die woord in sport.
Só word daar in diskoers met Freek Robinson vanjaar gevra: “Wie se sokker-wêreldbeker is dit?” en “Gaan die wêreldbeker kool ekonomies die sous werd wees?” Supersport bied “Woordfiks” aan, waar sportuitsaaiers se gebruik van woorde onder die loep kom. Die iArt Gallery en David Krut Publishing stel ook die offisiële plakkaat van die 2010 Sokker-wêreldbeker ten toon.
Woorde en sport word vermeng en so ook woorde en ander genres. In “Oopmond” kom digters soos Danie Marais (Al is die maan ‘n misverstand), Jo Prins en Ronel Nel (En die Here het foto’s geneem oor Vanderbijlpark) byvoorbeeld teen musikante van Klopjag en DKW te staan in ‘n “bekgeveg met tunes” (4 Maart om 20:15 in die Fismer-saal teen R40). Dana Snyman (Op die toneel) en Klopjag span saam om die gehoor op ‘n reis te neem in “Baby as ek verby ry…” (5 Maart om 20:15 in die Fismer-saal teen R80) en Laurinda Hofmeyr span met akteurs saam om die werk en lewe van Breyten Breytenbach (Oorblyfsel/Voice Over) in woord en lied uit te beeld. (6 Maart 17:30 en 7 Maart 18:00 in die Japie Krige-saal teen R80). Dit is ter viering van Breytenbach se 70ste verjaarsdag.
Nog ‘n “groot gees”, Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout, is ‘n spesiale gas by vanjaar se Woordfees. Sy kom stel haar nuwe kookboek, Kossie Sikelela, bekend (2 Maart om 15:00 in die HB Thom Teater – Gratis) en sy is ook op die verhoog te sien in “‘n Koeksister vir Zuma” (2 Maart om 20:15 en 4 Maart om 20:15 in die HB Thom Teater teen R100).
Talle boeke wat die afgelope jaar verskyn het, sal deur hul skrywers bespreek word:
Naweek deur Toast Coetzer (6 Maart om 09:30 in die kykNET-Boektent teen R30)
Immergroen deur Dave Pepler (5 Maart om 10:00 in die Erfurthuis – Gratis)
Apostroof deur Fanie Olivier (3 Maart om 18:00 in die Erfurthuis teen R40)
Dit is ook nie net Afrikaanse of Suid-Afrikaanse skrywers wat aan die woord is nie. Soos gewoonlik word Nederlandse skrywers, toneelspelers en kunstenaars in die fees betrek, veral by die Neerlandistiekdag (6 Maart, 09:00-14:00 in Lokaal 693 in die Lettere gebou teen R50) en die Soete Groete-ete (5 Maart om 19:00 by Stellenrust teen R170).
Die Zimbabwese skrywer Shimmer Chinodya kom ook oor sy boeke gesels (5 Maart om 17:00 in die kykNET-Boektent teen R30).
Nuwe skrywers word nie afgeskeep nie. Nuwe stemme 4, ‘n bundel propvol werke van nuwe digters word by die fees bekendgestel (5 Maart om 18:00 by die Erfurthuis – Gratis).
‘n Splinternuwe toneelstuk, Draadwerk, die wenner van die Nagtegaal Teksprys, word vir die eerste keer by die Woordfees opgevoer (6 Maart om 20:15 en 7 Maart om 18:00 in die HB Thom Teater teen R80). Willem Anker se nuwe toneelstuk, Skrapnel, kan ook nie gemis word nie (4 Maart om 18:00 en 6 Maart om
09:30 in die HB Thom Teater teen R80).
Vir die duur van die week sal daar verskeie kunsuitstallings in Stellenbosch te sien wees, byvoorbeeld “Oor die einders van die bladsy” waar kunstenaars met die konsep “boek” gespeel het.
Die fees bied beslis iets vir almal. Besoek gerus die Woordfees webtuiste vir die volledige program.
Feestelike Frankryk: Fabels en Geregte uit die Franse Platteland deur Louis Jansen van Vuuren, Hardy Olivier, Anet Pienaar Boektuisblad EAN: 9781868423606 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
Alert! The London Book Fair may be several months away, but a veritable army of South African writers have already booked their tickets. In several cases, of course, we’re talking bus tickets, because many an SA scribe lives or works in the UK, and won’t have much to do to get to Earl’s Court, where the Fair takes place. But literally dozens of others will be packing for the long-haul flight from JNB to LHR come the tail end of April 2010.
BOOK SA understands that the following authors have given commitments (ranging from tentative to firm) to be part of the LBF’s South Africa Market Focus programme:
What a lineup – it’s going to be one heck of a party! (Plus, several other authors who’ve been invited are still deciding whether they can make the trip.) BOOK SA will be there, of course – and we can’t wait to bring all the action to our readers online.
For Londoners who want to get to know these authors better, a sampling of their works:
He then asked her to walk into the house—but she declared herself not tired, and they stood together on the lawn. At such a time much might have been said, but nothing was. Elisabeth and Darcy merely looked at one another in awkward silence, until the latter reached both arms around her. She was frozen—”What does he mean to do?” she thought. But his intentions were respectable, for Darcy merely meant to retrieve his Brown Bess, which Elizabeth had affixed to her back during her walk. She remembered the lead ammunition in her pocket and offered it to him. “Your balls, Mr. Darcy?” He reached out and closed her hand around them, and offered, “They belong to you, Miss Bennet.”
– Excerpt from Pride And Prejudice And Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance—Now With Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem, Chapter 43, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
As in the original, there is much talk of balls in Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, the smash-hit reworking (often erroneously described as a “mashup”) of the classic Jane Austen novel, but in the 2009 version they are occasionally infused with more subtext. The novel caused quite a commotion upon its release earlier this year as it shot to the top of a number of best-selling lists. Meanwhile, half the literary world was facepalming itself at having not thought of the brilliant idea of reworking classics in the public domain first and the other half was crying “Blasphemy!” (The book made Time magazine’s The Five Worst Inventions Of 2009 list “The Jane Austen Monster Mashup Novel: it started with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Please let it end soon.”)
Inserting supernatural references into a classic in such a way as to remain faithful to the original text and its intentions, but still achieve a new story that is fascinating and interesting enough to hook readers, takes talent. I certainly enjoyed Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. I’ve never felt the urge to read the original, though I did download the text so that I could compare it to the new version, but I have seen the various film and television productions that have cropped up over the years and, while I have enjoyed them, I am quite certain that I would have struggled to enjoy the book. However, the addition to the storyline of the unmentionable scourge and the Bennet sisters’ expert training in the dark arts, completed over a number of years in China, made the story infinitely more entertaining to me.
I was able to grasp the gist of the original work (as most of it is left unchanged) but the addition of the new material spoke directly to my sensibilities and made the original text far more palatable to me. In places it is very amusing, not only due to the almost anachronistic contrast between the added distraction of the sisters’ zombie slaying in service to His Majesty peppering their attempts to navigate a complicated, restained society and meet potential husband material of suitable standing, but also because Seth Grahame-Smith has a way of inserting, at times, a handful of extra words into a paragraph that are unexpected and absolutely hilarious. So, too, are certain turns of phrases emulating 19th-century diction, such as “exercise moisture” (although I must hasten to add that the word “manky” appears on page 72). There is also the occasional allusion to amusing indiscretions that Jane Austen most certainly did not write about in her original draft. Additionally, the story still being set in the same polite, constrained, gossip-mongering society as the original, the sisters face even more societal pitfalls in that they have to juggle, or try to reconcile, being respected, though unbecoming, masters of the dark arts adhering faithfully to the warrior code and partaking in vapid, husband-seeking inanity. At one point it is even remarked that it is impossible to be, and do, both.
The scourge is also always mentioned and described in a very nonchalant, disconnected manner that mirrors the attitudes and behaviours of the 19th-century society but is rather disconcerting to 21st-century readers used to adrenalin-fuelled gratuitous murder and mayhem.
Another surprise was the welcome addition of full-page illustrations, by Philip Smiley. Each illustration relates to one of the new pieces of text so there are many instances of zombie slaying and zombies feasting, as well as the immortalisation of a game of Kiss Me Deer, which the sisters are fond of playing to hone their skills (it requires stalking a deer, wrestling it to the ground, and kissing it lightly on the nose before releasing it).
The book concludes like a student’s handbook with a reader discussion guide of questions to ponder. Samples include:
5. Due to her fierce independence, devotion to exercise, and penchant for boots, some critics have called Elizabeth Bennet “the first literary lesbian.” Do you think the authors intended her to be gay? And, if so, how would this Sapphic twist serve to explain her relationships with Darcy, Jane, Charlotte, Lady Catherine, and Wickham?
6. Some critics have suggested that the zombies represent the authors’ views toward marriage—an endless curse that sucks the life out of you and just won’t die. Do you agree, or do you have another opinion about the symbolism of the unmentionables?
7. Does Mrs. Bennet have a single redeeming quality?
My only complaints regarding the book are: in places the additional text gives itself away in a sometimes jarring manner: the copy editing process was not very good and relies on American punctuation conventions; and the use of both “judgment” (additional text) versus “judgement” (original text), among other issues, can’t help but be noticed.
That aside, Pride And Prejudice And Zombies has been a triumph, so much so that the publishing company responsible for it, Quirk Classics, commissioned a different author, Ben H Winters, to rework Sense And Sensibility (remaining with the Jane Austen theme that has served it so well) and a prequel to Pride And Prejudice And Zombies (“Pride And Prejudice And Zombies: Dawn Of The Dreadfuls” by Steve Hockensmith) has subsequently been announced, which, presumably, will be an original work.
Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters, a collaboration by Jane Austen and Ben H Winters, debuted at the end of September 2009, complete with an amusing trailer to whet your appetite. It has also garnered fabourable reviews and I am looking forward to reading it. Winters wrote a piece for Slate magazine detailing the experience and the constraints and framework in which he had to operate, as well as how it differed from Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. He also provided some insight into the challenge of creating the appropriate 19th-century diction for 21st-century terminologies, which happily appears to be as prevalent as it is in Pride And Prejudice And Zombies.
An excerpt from his article:
One of the most consistent creative challenges of writing the book was on the basic level of vocabulary. For the conceit to work, the new material would need to sound as much like Austen’s marvelous and precise early-19th century diction as possible. So how to find the right vocab words to describe stuff that Austen never would have described in a million years? I borrowed a lot from my sources. From Verne, I got great fish-describing words like cartilaginous and bioluminescence. From Stevenson, great deserted-island words like miry and marish, not to mention nautical words like cockleshell and flying jib. I also turned frequently to the thesaurus. Poring through my Roget’s, I arrived at the appropriately eloquent and disgusting phrase to describe the slimy stomach of an oversize hermit crab just before it smothers someone to death: mucocutaneous undercarriage.
One can only wonder what will be next and whether Quirk Classics can continue to dominate the market with quality releases or if this is, as many hope, but a passing fad.
Book details
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now With Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem by Jane Austen, Seth Grahame-Smith EAN: 9781594743344 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
An essential new social networking service for authors:
Noveller, the online macroblogging service that lets users post their impromptu narrative ruminations on modern life, society, and the nature of existence itself, celebrated its millionth post late last week, officially making it the world’s most popular prose-sharing tool.
Social media experts said they’re not surprised so many people have subscribed to the exciting new site, as it’s the only online service in which users can post a major multivolume epic in the morning, and have it read, critiqued, and reNovelled by thousands of other people around the world before lunch.
“You know, before we came up with Noveller, we had all these friends creating these great 75,000- to 300,000-word works of fiction, but there was no quick, easy, fun way to share them,” cofounder Chuck Gregory said. “To be honest, we were stunned there wasn’t already anything like it out there. It seemed so obvious.”
At 10 a.m. Pacific time on Mar. 13, Gregory and his team of programmers launched Noveller. By 10:03 a.m., the first-ever Noveller post—a primitive but vigorous account of an insurance salesman who becomes obsessed with his father’s boyhood on a Philippines naval base—was put up by user johnnyK_67.
The Sunday Independent’s books editor muses over three current books. The piece is worth the click-through for her email conversation with Ben Trovato alone:
I accidentally slept through the launch of Rian Malan’s Resident Alien, his first published work since My Traitor’s Heart, written two decades ago, because I was feeling under the weather. However, I perked up when I read this new collection, packed with Malanisms.
Herein lies all the provocation, and the often-searing perception about the places, the writers and politicians we love and loathe.
“I called it as I saw it,” says Malan in his introduction, and those who have forgiven him for challenging the US Agency for International Development’s mechanism for ascertaining HIV/Aids stats during the depths of denialism in South Africa and the aims of the aids lobby, which Malan set out so eagerly to discount, and even those who have not forgiven him for this, will do well to buy this book.
The undead, ghosts, zombies, a serial killer or two, and a wolf who cried boy were out in full force on Friday night to entertain visitors at Bloody Parchment, a literary precursor to the HorrorFest film festival, which starts tomorrow, the 29th of October, at the Labia. Bloody Parchment was hosted by the Book Lounge in Cape Town.
A selection of writers, some established, others up and coming, presented original short stories, poems, or excerpts from upcoming novels, surrounded by macabre decorations and dressed in appropriate Halloween attire. Joe Vaz, the editor of Something Wicked magazine, acted as MC for the night.
First up was Nerine Dorman, who helped to organise the event, with “Trying Times For South Africa’s Wickedest Man”, a dream-sequence excerpt from her forthcoming novel Khepera Rising (Lyrical Press). Next was Sam Wilson with an original work, The Wolf Who Cried “Boy”: A Cautionary Tale, a humorous reworking of the classic fairy tale complete with props (illustrated cards) and assistant (Lauren Beukes). Watch:
Danielle Eriksen then read “Mary, Mary, Down In The Dungeon”, an excerpt from a short story to be published next year by Intimate Free Press; she was followed by Diane Awerbuck, who told a spine-chilling tale of a presence in a lake that had the audience questioning their trust in water and its contents. Carine Engelbrecht offered “A Curious Case For The Pizza Guy”, a cautionary tale regarding the rarely reported on horrors of a respectable occupation featuring a highly entertaining delivery:
Video: Carine Engelbrecht reads “A Curious Case for the Pizza Guy
Next, SA Partridge entranced with a ghostly piece that will be included in the Home Away collection, edited by Louis Greenberg, to be published next year.
Henrietta Rose-Innes read an excerpt, full of robust creepy crawlies (literally), from a novel in progress and Kate O’Brian read “Don’t You Know You Should Never Leave The Path?”, in which a young boy on an errand to the shops for his mother has to try to save his sister, who was following behind, from a monstrous serpent, with an unexpected conclusion. Werner Pretorius then read “Night Time Is A-Coming”, which was first published in an issue of Something Wicked in 2007 (visit the link to find a podcast of Joe Vaz reading this story).
Sarah Lotz’s “Till Death Do Us Part (An Anti-Twilight Love Poem To A Zombie)” was one of the highlights of the event, proving yet again that dark horror with a little humour is always a hit (click the link for the full text) . This poem, complete with Sarah’s self-proclaimed “drunken” delivery, wowed the crowd and, I’m sure, had a lot of the authors and aspiring writers in the audience resolving to go home and write their own humorous horror poems.
Hennie Lombard then read “Underground, No One Can Hear You Scream”, in which a group of spelunkers crawling in a tunnel meet an underground horror in a lake. This story was presented very atmospherically, to enhance the feeling of claustrophobia, as the lights were switched off, bar one faint light emanating from Hennie’s headlamp. Finally, Lauren Beukes took to the podium, dressed as an Angry Robot, and explained how the Book Lounge’s horror section actually encompasses most of the store… with a twist, of course.
Bloody Parchment was a huge success and I suspect that in future it will be a permanent feature of the annual HorrorFest festivities.
Alert! Open the Xmas floodgates! Today, Exclusive Books announces its selections for “The List” 2009 – “68 of the best books to give or receive this festive season”.
Zapiro’s here, as is Chris Hani and John van de Ruit; Julius Malema, Jacob Dlamini and Moeletsi Mbeki make strange bedfellows; there’s Nelson Mandela in several guises; Wilbur Smith, Zakes Mda, Deon Meyer and Dana Snyman compare notes; Koos Kombuis hangs out with Alan Knott-Craig (who’d of thought?); Marlene van der Westhuizen swops recipes with Nataniël, Emilia le Roux and Justin Bonello; two big men of Africa (for different reasons), Kingsley Holgate and John Smit, share a pint; the kiddies get theirs with the Nuwe Kinderverseboek; and Sue Williamson and Alf Kumalo visit the galleries together.
Oh, and there’s a whole bunch of non-SA Lit, too, wink-wink. Here are all “The List” 2009 books, save for three titles for which we couldn’t find covers – Dr Seuss Favourites by Dr Seuss, Great White, Eminent Grey by Chris Fallow and the New Scientist Box Set by Mick O’Hare – plus the official Exclusive Books press release at the bottom of the post. Happy holiday gift-book hunting!
Warren Buffet’s Management Secrets: Proven Tools for Personal and Business Success by David Clark, Mary Buffet EAN: 9781847376923 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
Superfrekonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D Levitt, Stephen J Dubner EAN: 9780713999907 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy and Commitment by Steve Harvey EAN: 9780061917431 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
The most riveting, langverwagte, visionary, superbly-penned, audacious, eye popping genius-infused List of books is about to hit our shelves, because the countdown has begun to the official announcement on 23 October, of the Exclusive Books bumper selection of 68 of the best books to give or get this festive season.
The List, offers the choice books of 2009 in one place. Lovingly compiled by the Exclusive Books managers, bibliophiles can look forward to an A-Z of fabulous reading from Afrikaans, biographies, collectable box sets and business books, to children’s titles, cookery, current affairs, fiction, humour, inspiration, lifestyle, nature, reference, sci-fi, and of course, books for sports lovers.
“The development of The List is a labour of love on the part of our staff and we believe that it reflects the very best books available,” says Jaco Nel, marketing manager of Exclusive Books.
“We cater for a broad spectrum of tastes with our Festive Season selection and look for special books that make memorable gifts. People often find it hard to find the right book and The List is the result of years of customers asking for help with gift books.”
“Exclusive Books is always right on top of trends in bookselling and The List reflects this insight.”
Afrikaans features real culture in a “Smullekker” cookbook from Emila le Roux and Francois Smuts, a range of “stoepstories” from Deon Meyer in Karoonag en Ander Verhale and Dana Snyman’s Op die Toneel: stories,reise,stemme, and the “skreeusnaaks” memoirs of Koos Kombuis in Die Tyd van die Kombi’s.
Larger than life heroes feature strongly in the biographies, from a poignant tribute to Chris Hani, to Barack Obama’s journey to power, to the wild adventures of intrepid explorers Kingsley Holgate and Ranulph Fiennes.
Business inspiration comes from investment guru Warren Buffet’s Management Secrets to Alan Knott-Craig’s Second is Nothing, the riveting account of his involvement in building Vodacom, to the suprising collaboration between 50 cent and Robert Greene in The 50th Law.
Current affairs cover a contentious kaleidoscope of politics and history from Dinosaurs, Diamonds and Democracy by Francis Wilson to The World according to Julius Malema by Max du Preez and Mandy Roussouw, to the megapopular Superfreakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner.
Cookery reflects a strong return to home cooking and African influences in books such as A Farm in my Heart: From the Yard to the Table and Pantry by Emelia le Roux and Francois Smuts to Cooked in Africa by BBC presenter Justin Bonello, with a touch of decadence added by Marlene van der Westhuizen’s gorgeous book on French cooking, Sumptuous.
Nataniel’s Gatherings: A year of Invitations offers an opulent but informal peek into get-togethers in his home.
Fiction focuses on the hits of 2009, including the Twilight series by Stepheni Meyer, Stieg Larsen’s trilogy and bestsellers, such as Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna, Wilbur Smith’s Assegai and Marian Keyes The Brightest Star in the Sky.
Inspiration focuses on the core issues of conquering fear and finding faith, hope and love.
Best seller The Shack by William P Young features as does the must-read Act like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey.
On a lighter note Zapiro returns with Don’t mess with the Presidents’ Head while John Farndon Offers the odd yet challenging read, Do you think you’re Clever?
The QI Book of the Dead by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson continues the quirky theme with a biographical dictionary full of hilarious facts and details about famous and obscure people, now dead.
Two predators, lions and sharks feature in the nature genre, with Part of the Pride by Kevin Richardson and Great white and Eminent Grey by Chris Fallows, offering new understanding of these magnificent creatures.
Science takes on creationists and looks at the wonders in the everyday world, while legendary sci-fi writer Eoin Colfer offers his sixth novel in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series with And Another Thing….
Sport scores bit hits with Captain in the Cauldron – The John Smit Story and the Big Book of Top Gear 2010.
The show, which already has an advertiser in airline Kulula.com, debuted today with a puppet in the likeness of talk show host Tim Modise, who announces ZA NEWS’ new beginning, and then conducts an interview with a puppet likeness of “Pedipurist” Julius Malema (who, in turn, denies that there is no such thing as the “internet”, because it’s not a word in Pedi).
It’s no secret that Julius Malema is unwilling to hand over his throne as the country’s grandest comedian — but it seems that his spoof will outshine his classiest deliveries.
The ANC Youth League president has tight competition with the arrival of ZA News. It takes the form of a Malema puppet — one of the political satire TV show’s lead characters — that resembles and sounds like Grumpy. And the Malema puppet is bound to ignite the same indecision among his fans and followers: is that a line to laugh or cry about?
ZA NEWS (pronounced as it’s spelled, not “zed ay news”) has a very ambitious programming schedule, with three-minute episodes booked from Tuesday to Friday – and it allows new episodes to be auto-embedded on websites, which is just what BOOK SA will do. Watch for our new ZA NEWS widget on our front page at http://book.co.za!
Alert! Happy Heritage Day! A day that, as most know, has been hijacked by a marketing campaign and is now also firmly registered in many an SA consciousness as “National Braai Day”. But we aren’t going to say “Happy Braai Day”. We refuse.
That said, there are some pretty darn good braai books out there and, if you’re quick, you can pick one up for 30% off at Kalahari.net, which is having a big sale on SA books – including some pretty terrific SA Lit titles.
The sale lasts until Friday. We’ve compiled most of the SA sale books below. Get a-clickin’!
Thesen Islands: Rise with the Sun, Fish with the Tides and Rest with the Moon by Les Aupiais EAN: 9780980265132 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
Prickly Pears and Pomegranates: Local, Organic and Seasonal Food from the Plains of the Camdeboo by Marianne Palmer, Bernadette le Roux EAN: 9780980265149 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
A Touch of Rooibos: Over 100 delicious recipes from 14 of South Africa’s leading chefs by Rooibos Limited EAN: 9780620429962 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
