We’ve been hibernating a bit on the newsletter front for the past few months, partly because we have been incredibly busy and partly because of the cold wet weather in Cape Town. Here’s a bumper newsletter to make up.
Two of our titles were longlisted for The Sunday Times Literary Awards!
We are so proud of our two Modjaji stars Barbara Adair, author of In the Shadow of the Springs I Saw, and Ashti Juggath, author of Peaches and Smeets, and celebrate with them that their novels have been shortlisted. And of course we are waiting to hear about the shortlists.
Hot off the press: Tears of the Weaver!
Tears of the Weaver is available on our website and launched at Exclusive Books at Rosebank Mall on Thursday 27th July. Zaheera Jina Asvat was in conversation with award-winning author, Shafinaaz Hassim.
In ten superbly crafted stories, set in the South African suburb of Lenasia, but universally recognisable, Zaheera Jina Asvat takes us into the private worlds of a rich variety of characters, revealing the complex weave of emotions often hidden behind the veneer of everyday lives. The stories take a fresh look at conventions and roles governed by religion and culture, providing earthy portraits of people struggling with ongoing oppressions, especially concerning gender, in post-apartheid South Africa.
Upcoming launch of Cut to the Chase: Scriptwriting for Beginners!
Cut to the Chase: Scriptwriting for Beginners by Janet van Eeden will be launching in Cape Town on the 3rd August at Exclusive Books Cavendish. Janet will be in convo with Diaan Lawrenson, well known actor and the Dean of AFDA in Cape Town.
Cut to the Chase breaks down the essentials of writing for film. Janet van Eeden uses her experience of writing feature films and short films for more than two decades as well as her many years of lecturing in a series of eight modules with practical tasks to implement the knowledge given in each section. This user-friendly manual unlocks the world of film writing for students.
Chinongwa will be featured in this year’s Babelica festival!
Babelica, an initiative launched and led by the International Alliance of Independent Publishers, is a place for independent publishers from around the world to discover, share, meet and experiment, in a space created by independent publishers, artisans of bibliodiversity. Babelica invites publishers to embrace the unknown, be surprised and ask themselves questions; to imagine alternative possibilities.
Babelica takes place online from 20 to 22 September 2023, to coincide with the International Day of Bibliodiversity on 21 September. The Babelica platform will be unveiled in September 2023 (all of the activities will be accessible from this
platform).
There will be a presentation about co-publishing Chinongwa on the 22nd of September featuring Lucy Mushita, the author, and Irene Staunton, of Weaver books in Zimbabwe, and Susan Hawthorne, of Spinnifex in Australie. The presentation will be moderated by Colleen Higgs.
You can find out more about Chinongwa here!
The launch at Exclusive Books, Gateway Mall of Cut to the Chase: Scriptwriting for Beginners was great fun.
The launch featured a discussion between Janet and Roel Twijnstra, award-winning actor, lecturer, director and writer. and was attended by students from AFDA.
Modjaji authors had a ball at the Kingsmead Book Fair.
Pamela Power hosted a wonderful panel discussion with two of our authors, Ashti Juggath and Anne Schlebusch, as well as Penny Haw called A Wise Look at the Written Word. The talk explored the benefits of experience when writing books. Janet van Eeden, author of Cut to the Chase: Scriptwriting for Beginners, hosted a workshop on scriptwriting for young adults. Zaheera Jina Asvat, author of Tears of the Weaver, and Barbara Adair, author of In the Shadows of the Springs I Saw, participated in discussions about their books.
Fiona Snyckers, Sally Partridge, Arja Salafranca and Lynn Joffe, all of whom have published with us, were also at Kingsmead either in the audience or as active members of the discussions.
We love to see our authors shining!
The Sindiwe Magona Conference.
The conference, which featured presentations from Mamphela Ramphele, Antjie Krog and Sindiwe Magona herself, has got us reflecting on Magona’s work with us.
In 2009, we published Magona’s first collection of poetry called Please, Take Photographs.
‘Sindiwe Magona’s poems conspire with her. Even years after being written, they still seem warm from her lips, and it is this residue of her telling them that draws you into their confidence. From the languid innocence of the poems about her village, to her shattering images of Africa at war, Magona leads you headlong into her fireside circle where archetypes flicker like shadows on a face that has seen, and been. Please, Take Photographs is defiant and tender, horrific and homely, at once irreverent, outspoken and beautiful.’
Modjaji is off to Frankfurt in October!
We’ve been invited as one of 5 African publishing companies to participate in this year’s Frankfurt Invitation Programme along with Parresia (Nigeria), Amalion (Senegal), Afram Publications from Ghana, and Imanzi from Rwanda. Publishers from Latin America, Asia and the Arabic World will also be there. It’s our third time being invited to this programme, and we are very grateful. The programme, founded in the 1970s, is supported by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, and curated and organised by Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH.
After that Colleen will go to the annual Paris meeting of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers. She is currently the co-ordinator of the English Language network.
And action! Filming for the movie adaptation of Modjaji title, Snake, has begun.
Meg Rickards is creating a movie adaptation of Snake with a screenplay written by the author, Tracey Farren. Filming began earlier this month.
We’re thrilled to announce that we will bring out a new edition next year when the movie is released.
The re-launch of Stray at Salon Hecate went purrfectly.
Stray includes journalism, fiction, humour, poetry and memoir. It’s a blend of classic works and fresh new material written especially for this cause. The authors have generously contributed or written stories and other works for free to help raise funds for TEARS Animal Rescue.
The re-launch at Salon Hecate featured readings by Colleen Higgs, Nerine Dorman, Margaret Clough and Colleen Crawford-Cousins. All proceeds from sales went to TEARS.
Hands-On author Keith Gottschalk receives the Ikhamanga Award!
He was recently awarded the Silver Order of Ikhamanga medal by President Cyril Ramaphosa in April this year. The honour is conferred by the Presidency to South African citizens who have excelled in the fields of arts, culture, literature, music, journalism or sport. The Office of the President recognised the poet “for using creativity to draw critical attention to oppressive and unjust laws through performative political poetry. The work provided strength and motivated many people to fight for liberation”.
We’re really proud to have published his second collection, Cosmonauts Do It in Heaven, through Hands-On Books.
Picture is from the South African Jewish Report
New Hands-On title will be launching at the Book Lounge in September!
We are thrilled to announce that Alone in the House by Michael Wessels will be launching in September at the Book Lounge. Kobus Moolman will talk about Michael and read from the book.
In this posthumously published collection of poems, Michael Wessels’ passionate love for and knowledge of the natural world shines through. The poems are about life’s joyful and also painful journeys, whether physical or spiritual or emotional. The poems are about encounter. And discovery. They are testaments to a life lived to the full. A life filled with deep compassion and wisdom.
Spotlight on Flipped by Tracey Hawthorne.
Flipped, one of our latest books, has been receiving some positive attention.
News24 Q and A.
Tracey Hawthorne did a Q and A with News24. Hawthorne reveals that, “It was a story I’d been thinking about for quite a while, in various forms, before I wrote it as a novel. In fact, it began as two separate stories, and I realised that they complemented each other, so that’s how I developed it.”
You can read the full interview here.
Review by Beryl Eichenberger.
Beryl Eichenberger wrote a thoughtful review for the Cape Argus. She writes, ‘Hawthorne keeps us in suspense. Her pace ebbs and flows with the seasonal change – keeping the reader engrossed and desperate to know what the outcome will be. Clever plotting and surprising revelations make this an excellent read. I’m looking forward to her next book.’
You can read the full review here.
Two lovely reviews by Hazel Makuzeni.
Chinongwa.
Hazel Makuzeni explores the issue of child marriage in a thoughtful and sensitively written review of Chinongwa by Lucy Mushita for Woman Zone CT. Makuzeni writes, ‘Chinongwa is a glaring reminder of the countless horrors faced by many young girls, from mostly impoverished and deeply patriarchal societies, around the globe. It’s a sad indictment on mankind and the abhorrent treatment meted out to the truly vulnerable and most deserving of our love, protection and care.’
Peaches and Smeets.
Makuzeni also wrote a review of Peaches and Smeets for Woman Zone CT. She writes, ‘The story takes you on a roller coaster ride taking in painful racist injustices, patriarchy, and the journey of a young woman finding her way and becoming more aware of self in a world that is consistently reforming.’
The reviews for Bloomer by Anne Schlebusch keep rolling in, here are three more.
Review by Janet van Eeden.
Janet van Eeden wrote a review for Litnet. She writes, ‘The novel is deeply satisfying and encouraging, and puts a whole new slant on the aging process. One does not have to “go gentle into that good night”, but – like Maggie – one can choose to flounce out in a blaze of flamboyant glory while wearing a tea cozy on one’s head. The story is captivating and immersive. ‘ You can read the full review here!
Review by Carmen Coetsee.
Carmen Coetsee wrote a review for The South African. She writes, ‘Author Anne Schlebusch’s new novel tells the wildly funny and touching story of a 70-year-old woman’s journey of self-discovery.’ You can read the full review here!
Review by Tiah Beautement.
Tiah Beautement wrote a review titled “Blooming Marvellous” for The Sunday Times. Beautement writes “In Bloomer, Anne Schlebusch creates a delightful coming-of-age tale set in a retirement village”. You can read the full review here!
Reviews of Thicker than Sorrow and Obeisance to Frogs in Stanzas Poetry Magazine.
Archie Swanson wrote a beautiful review of Thicker than Sorrow by Khadija Heeger. Swanson concludes, ‘This collection is deeply South African, deeply Cape, yet the narrative is universal, the narrative of the oppressed, a warts-and-all story of a family surviving and thriving. All being said, Heeger
is at her best describing the quotidian texture of everyday life… plainly told stories that speak volumes.’
Moira Levell wrote a review of An Obeisance to Frogs, a Hands-On title by Robin Winckel-Mellish. Levell writes, “In the title poem of her collection,
An Obeisance to Frogs, Robin Winckel-Mellish writes of her “animist heart”, and certainly many of the poems reveal her heightened sensitivity to, and empathy with, the world around her, in both South Africa and Europe; a world replete with beauty and epiphany, capable of evoking awe and providing solace. But it is also a world of threat and, increasingly, a world threatened.”
