The Oslo House of Literature was an impressive sight recently with the gathering of several big names in African literature – including Petina Gappah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Niq Mhlongo and Binyavanga Wainaina.
Nigeria’s Tolu Ogunlesi (Conquest and Conviviality) was also there and reports back on the experience:
In a piece I wrote after my first visit to Oslo in September 2008 I observed: “To the eyes Oslo is not a very appealing city. To my mind parts of it were plain depressing. In my journal there is a note I made, as follows: ‘Norwegians think [Oslo] is an ugly city. I think so too.’ But it is a city of proud inhabitants.”
Returning a little over a year later for a week-long celebration of African literature organised by the Oslo House of Literature, I’m more forgiving. The city is not that ugly after all. But with a population of about half a million, it will always be a Tiny City in my estimation. Half a million people will be a housing estate in Lagos, I think.
There are no direct flights between Lagos and Oslo. A Lufthansa flight deposited me in the German city of Frankfurt, where I would catch a connecting flight to Oslo’s modest airport. (The last time I was in Oslo I came by train, an endless journey from Gothenburg in neighbouring Sweden to Oslo’s Central train station).
Alert!Suite101.com’s Cathy Sunshine – yes, that’s her real name – has, erm, spread some light on post-apartheid fiction for the online magazine’s rather gigantic audience (last known absolute ranking on the web: a fearsome 819).
Fiction writers in SA, as Sunshine points out, have been broadening their scope since democracy’s advent, and thus present an illuminating snapshot of the country – as long as you choose the right reads. Sunshine includes work from JM Coetzee, Zakes Mda and Sello K Duiker, plus BOOK SA members Niq Mhlongo and Rozena Maart; here are her top ten recent SA novels:
For half a century, South African novelists, poets, and playwrights focused on the brutality of apartheid and the struggle for a nonracial society. Prominent writers such as André Brink, Dennis Brutus, Nadine Gordimer, Zakes Mda, Ezekiel Mphahlele, and Alan Paton challenged apartheid, and some of their books were banned by the racist state.
The country’s first democratic elections in 1994 ended the era of anti-apartheid protest literature. But while legalized apartheid is gone, its toxic effects linger. Recent South African novels remain concerned with race, but they also look at urgent issues in the post-apartheid society: unemployment, poverty, and economic inequality; HIV/AIDS; rape and domestic violence; xenophobia (South Africa is a magnet for immigrants); and homophobia.
These gifted writers have keenly observed the world we inhabit, its dehumanising politics, the shifting landscape of its history and the schizoid geography of its psyche. The poets paint in nuanced tones the eccentrics and ordinary folk who people this land, exploding the conventions and subverting our assumptions.
Their numerous works, published locally and internationally, over many years represent dozens of books and hundreds of poems. The voices represented here speak with directness and elegance, wit and insight to the inner terrain of memory and the outer experiences peculiar to South African existence.
The poets represented in this issue have also contributed significantly to the development of international awareness of South African art and culture, the preservation of its languages and history, and the development of its writers. In their various and overlapping capacities as teachers, editors, publishers and mentors they have encouraged and supported the growth of South African literature, nurturing emerging artists and keeping the flame of language alive.
It is a delight and privilege to bring their work to light.
Alert! This notice about the late K Sello Duiker’s novels from Isobel Dixon via Facebook:
Strong foreign interest in the late K. Sello Duiker’s novels has resulted in sales of THIRTEEN CENTS to France (Editions Yago), Norway (Solum) and Egypt (GEBO) as well as of THE QUIET VIOLENCE OF DREAMS to Germany (Das Wunderhorn).
THE QUIET VIOLENCE OF DREAMS, which was longlisted for IMPAC Literary Award 2003, is a daring novel giving a startling account of contemporary South African urban culture. From the corridors of the Valkenberg mental hospital, to the strange comfort of the male escort agency he works for, Tshepho’s story is raw, powerful and original. It was first published in South Africa in English by Kwela Books in 2001 and was also translated into Dutch by De Geus in 2003.
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:
Alert! BOOK SA received this press release from Sandile Ngidi, author Lewis Nkosi’s literary agent, which was sent out in response to David van Wyk’s recent post about Nkosi’s purported critical medical condition. According to Ngidi, Nkosi is in relatively fine fettle, and ready to celebrate his 73rd this Saturday (tomorrow):
Press release
Author Lewis Nkosi on Road to Recovery
Contrary to a chain email message currently in circulation in the literary news portal Book Southern Africa, the renowned South African writer and distinguished literary critic Lewis Nkosi, is not in a coma in hospital.
Nkosi is recovering in a frail care facility in Johannesburg, and is looking forward to celebrating his birthday this coming weekend. The author of Mating Birds, Underground People, and Mandela’s Ego, among others, turns 73 on Saturday.
Born in Chesterville township, near Durban, Nkosi who lives in Switzerland, returned to South Africa in May this year when he took ill in early July. He was working on his long-awaited memoirs tentatively entitled, Memoirs of a Motherless Child, a project we hope he will still be able to complete in the near future.
His fourth novel, After, is due for publication in 2010. “I am just trying to get the best way of ending it off with a bang,” Nkosi said recently.
On the eve of Nkosi’s birthday, literary scholars and friends alike, wish only the best for one of Africa’s sharpest and enduring literary figures. US-based South African literary scholar Ntongela Masilela, said “ You gave us a historical intellect and a critical imagination not only to understand our South Africanness but also to negotiate it in relation to the continent and to the African Diaspora; or for that matter, to articulate it in our interaction with the rest of the world.
In enabling us to construct our cultural voice in the present moment, you simultaneously connected us to our modern cultural history which stretches from S. E. K. Mqhayi through Ernest Mancoba and Kippie Moeketsi to Mazisi Kunene.”
Friend and former musical director of the world-renowned South African musical, King Kong, Stanley (Spike) Glasser and his wife Liz, said: “To our brother Nkosi: Get better quickly, you Zulu! We want to see you.”
Meanwhile, in a poem, dear friend and leading publisher Annari van der Merwe, said: “So what if he sometimes knew no bounds? It enabled him to write stuff that still dumbfounds. So what if he was sometimes irresponsible and wild? He made us smile and had us all beguiled.”
In line with the wishes of Lewis Nkosi’s family, we kindly urge that matters relating to the author’s health be communicated in consultation with Talk To Me Literary Agency and Nkosi’s family. We nonetheless appreciate the support Nkosi’s friends and fellow writers have given him since he took ill.
Alert! Poet and novelist Yvette Christiansë is returning to South Africa briefly later this month – and Kalk Bay Books has capitalised by organising a poetry reading with her and Ingrid de Kok.
