Published in 2011

Modjaji Books Titles:

Narrative:

Bom Boy: Yewande Omotoso's debut novel, set in Cape Town, takes us into the life of a troubled young man who has developed the habit of stalking people, stealing small objects and going from doctor to doctor in search of companionship rather than cure. The narrative is well-crafted and complex, highlighting both the smallness and the magnitude of a single life.

Snake: Tracey Farren's second novel makes compelling reading. Told in the voice of twelve year old Stella, Snake deals with love and violence, psychosis and shame. Farren's characters leap off the page; it is impossible not to become deeply involved in their lives and crises.

Hemispheres: Karen Lazar takes us into the gyre of re-orientation post-stroke, sharing what is lost and what is claimed when what you've always been and known changes.

The Suitable Girl is Michelle McGrane's third collection of poetry shows a sophisticated range of reference together with a powerful and moving emotional address. The poems exhibit a great technical range, the language is precise and the imagery powerful and moving.

Reclaiming the L-Word: Sappho's Daughters Out in Africa: The stories in Reclaiming the L-Word: Sappho's Daughters Out in Africa eloquently deal with the depth and complexity of lesbian experiences and serve to contradict stereotyping. The writers come from all walks of life, race groups and religious persuasions. The book includes a photo essay by well-known artist and activist, Zanele Muholi, and her article of lesbian rape in South Africa, originally published by Agenda.

Poetry:

Conduit: Sarah Frost is a new voice in South African poetry: clear, strong and exciting. These are poems of longing and loss; of searching for a foothold in a world where all slides and changes.

Go Tell the Sun: Wame Molefhe's stories have a gentle, unassuming yet intimate and captivating feel to them. Set in Botswana, the stories trace the lives of characters whose paths cross and re- cross each others', some times in and through love, at other times through tragedy. And through them the author brings to bear a woman's perspective on the societal mores in which sexual abuse, homophobia and AIDS, among others, flourish and spread.

At Least the Duck Survived offers a series of lyrical observations about old age, retirement and approaching death; about Tai Chi classes, dogs, lesbian aunts, grandchildren, bicycles and symphony concerts.

The Suitable Girl is Michele McGrane's third collection of poetry, co-published by the UK's Pindrop Press. McGrane shows a great technical range and her poems are witty, ironical and sensual.

Hands-on Books Titles:

Lava Lamp Poems is Colleen Higgs's second collection of poetry. The poems are compelling: at once conversational and uncanny.