Book Launch , Cape Town Book Fair, Monday 18 June, 15h00, Cape Town Water Front . umSinsi Press launches 5 books, all very different, with the authors present to introduce you to their books and one musical isiZulu CD of anticrime music and songs. The same books were launched at the London Book Fair in April 2007.
In Flat 9, Mariam Akabor introduces you to Durban’s famous Grey Street, home to many of the Indian community, with her book of short stories which carry with them a gentle humour. Flat 9 has been included in the Grey Street Literary Trail in Durban.
Mariam Akabor was born and raised in Merebank, Durban. She graduated with a BA in English and Media & Communication from the former University of Natal and went on to obtain her Honours degree in Creative Writing and Media. She is editor of the Dancing Pencils Creative Writing Quarterly magazine.
Marí Peté will read you some poems from her new book, Amytis. The book’s title (also the title of the first poem in the book) refers to the beloved wife of King Nebucadnezzar, who pined, after marriage, for her lush native land, and for whom the king constructed the hanging gardens of Babylon. Two thirds of the poems are in English and the remainder in Afrikaans.
In this collection Marí Peté explores dreamscapes, everyday experiences, and the thin membrane between these two states of being. In many of her poems Marí weaves connections between the realms of Nature and Spirit. In contrasting mood, writing in Iscamtho or Tsotsitaal (an urban South African street dialect), the poet takes readers on alternative guided tours of her home city Durban.
Marí Peté grew up on the Eastern Highveld of South Africa and has worked in e-learning at the Durban University of Technology since 1994. Over a period of twenty years her poems have appeared in a number of literary journals.
Bongamusa Zondo, producer and manager of anticrime songs, also launches his book Gone to Earth, about a matriculant in a squatter camp and his struggle.
Bongo Zondo spent his early childhood years in the townships of Inanda and Mpumalanga. He is a qualified journalist and the General Manager of the Dancing Pencils Literacy Development Project and the manager of the anticrime project, Enhle. His poems are in a hardcover book by poets and artists from the major ethnic groups in KwaZulu Natal.
Maimoonah Gori’s novella The Gravedigger is a novella that enlightens one about the life of a Muslim gravedigger. The main character Yasin is portrayed as an individual as well as a family man. Brought up among the graves, which he considered as his playground, tells us that he led a very colourful childhood. His experiences entertain as well as enlighten us about the Muslim Indian community in the 70’s. The story is set in central Durban, near the Indian market. The story encapsulates Islamic morals and values. It educates as well as entertains the reader.
This novella tells the simple tale of a young Muslim girl’s trials and tribulations before she finds peace and lasting love with the gravedigger – a wise man who devotes his life to serving his community and doing Allah’s will. It educates as well as entertains the reader. This book is for all ages. It gives you an insight into the Islamic way of life. It is an easy read. The book is already in 1000 print run.
Maimoonah Gori has a B.A. degree from the University of Durban Westville. She has also done a journalism course. She runs the Bright Sparks Writing Club in Empangeni. She teaches remedial children as well as adults and school children. Maimoonah has six children and has also published Islamic children’s storybooks. This is her first published novella.
Alan Raubenheimer and Felicity Keats will introduce you to the book, Watercolour Painting with Alan Raubenheimer, A Beginners’ Guide.
Alan Raubenheimer began painting in 1964. He is represented in the Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban;Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg; and in many provincial and private collections at home and abroad. During 10 years of running a school of watercolour painting in Pietermaritzburg, he developed a unique strategy for success for a beginner. Now retired, he lives with his wife in Napier, Cape Province.
Felicity Keats has had many years of experience as a freelance writer and is the author of a number of children’s books and creative writing guides. She is also extremely well known for her right brained workshops and symposia which help people from the age of 5 years upwards, to write stories, poems, articles, poetry and books.
Catherine de Waal’s novel, A book Called a Moment, is about a woman trapped in wealthy surroundings who has lost her joy in life and needs to find it again.
Catherine de Waal lives amongst the birds on one of the last pieces of indigenous forest in Durban, KwaZulu Natal. Her hobbies are watercolour painting and photography. Although she has published a number of short stories, this is her first adult novel.
