Last Saturday morning saw the launch of CA Davids’ debut novel, The Blacks of Cape Town at UJ’s Creative Arts Centre. Davids was in conversation with Craig MacKenzie, Professor of English at the University of Johannesburg. For more pictures click here to see the ones we loaded onto the Modjaji Books Facebook page.
Bookslive covered the event by Twitter, here are some of the tweeted highlights:
At the launch of Carol-Ann Davids' The Blacks of Cape Town, published by @modjaji_bks. Author with her book: pic.twitter.com/cn8TBSw5iC
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Davids will be in convo with Prof Craig Mackenzie pic.twitter.com/Y452WqaRj9
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
The Blacks of Cape Town is premised on a double crime: the theft of a handful of diamonds, and the concealment of the thief's race
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Mackenzie is particularly impressed by CA Davids' evocation of early life on the diamond mines. Davids: 'that's where apartheid started'
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Davids: Being South African I didn't want to let anyone off the hook. Betrayals happen at all levels in our country.
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Davids: The community I grew up in was very political. We weren't Coloureds, we were so-called Coloureds.
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Davids: that's one of the reasons I stuck with the title, The Blacks of Cape Town. It's ironic, but it also provokes, hopefully.
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Mackenzie: for me this is a novel of the now, because there's a sense of disillusionment; the question, What was it all for? arises.
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Here are Mackenzie & @ca_davids in action. @ashrafjohardien reminds us the book was runner up for the EU Lit Award pic.twitter.com/GpWJ7esXff
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Mackenzie: it's very brave in that respect. Davids: when I was abroad I watched SA from a distance and felt very ambivalent abt developments
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Mackenzie: important to stress that this novel is not an intellectual exercise – it's a highly-readable story, and something new
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
@ca_davids My novel is about race and shame, about lingering problems I have with Cape Town. 'Coloureds' are brought up w/shame.
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
@ca_davids: I never felt the shame associated with 'Colouredness'. But I did feel shame, at one point, about being Souh African.
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
..and that's a wrap! Enter musicians to play Round Midnight, the tune that opens @ca_davids' The Blacks of Cape Town pic.twitter.com/jKwwQngXKR
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) June 22, 2013
Book details
- The Blacks of Cape Town by CA Davids
EAN: 9781920590383
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