Gone Little Cat by Gustav Preller Review by Michéle Moxham

A review: Gone Little Cat by Gustav Preller.   Gustav Preller’s new novel, aimed at children, is far more complex than it first seems

The Book of Gifts by Craig Higginson

Review by Caitlin Martin The Book of Gifts is Craig Higginson’s seventh novel. The novel opens at uMhlanga Rocks Hotel in Durban where Julian,

Rumblin’ by Sihle Ntuli

  Rumblin’- Sihle Ntuli (Uhlanga Press: 2020) Review by Sarah Frost Sihle Ntuli dedicates Rumblin’ to ‘Africa’s first UNESCO City of Literature, Durban,’ and

Red Earth by Tony Park

Red Earth Review by Caitlin Martin “An assassination, a stolen baby, a race to the death” reads the tagline of Tony Park’s new novel

Green remembered hills

By Stephen Coan With Hazara – Elegy for an African Farm John Conyngham (a featured author on the KZN Literary Tourism website) has broken

Review of Things Unseen by Pamela Power

Review by Beverley Jane Cornelius “ ‘Mum always said, even if the bombs are dropping around you, you must make sure that you have

Review of The Dream House by Craig Higginson

Review by Beverley Jane Cornelius “This is a strange land we live in,” Looksmart says to Patricia in Craig Higginson’s novel, The Dream House.

Review of A Native of Nowhere: the story of Nat Nakasa by Ryan Brown

Review by Mandla Matsha Nat Nakasa, and the Drum magazine with which he became associated, have without doubt marked the South African imaginary.  It

Review of Stranger by Sihle Ntuli

Review by, Alan Muller I first read about Sihle Ntuli and his debut collection of poetry on BooksLive in September of 2015. When Stranger

Review of Legends of the Tide: The Seine-netters & the roots of the Durban fishing industry

By Neelan Govender and Viroshen Chetty Review by Rasvanth Chunylall As an Indian growing up in KwaZulu-Natal, seafood and fishing has been an inescapable

Review of A Book of Rooms by Kobus Moolman

Review By Alan Muller Even if I have the help only of yellowing snapshots, a handful of eyewitness accounts and a few paltry documents

Review of Tossie van Tonder’s My African Heart

Review by Tamar Meskin I am generally not a fan of memoirs, especially ones written by people about whom I have little knowledge and

Review of Z.P. Dala’s What About Meera

Review By Bettina Pahlen The torn image of a marigold on the book’s cover should serve as a warning to unsuspecting readers: this book

Review of Charlotte Otter’s Balthasar’s Gift

Review By Penny de Vries Balthasar’s Gift is an extremely welcome newcomer to the South African crime fiction scene. It is refreshing to read

Review of Kriben Pillay’s Three Poisons

Review by Rasvanth Chunylall There is something intriguing about Kriben Pillay’s short story collection, Three Poisons (2014). Inspired by the writings of David Loy,

Review of Cayleigh Bright’s Close to Home

By Caitlin Martin Close to Home is Cayleigh Bright’s debut novel. Cayleigh is the online editor of Glamour South Africa, and the contributing books

Review of Ashwin Desai’s The Archi-texture of Durban: A Skapie’s Guide

Review by Rasvanth Chunylall   Although primarily recognised as a tourist paradise for its sandy beaches and perpetual sunshine, Durban is a city with

Review of Many a Cold Night by Cyril James

By Thomais Armaos A self-published life account by Cyril James, Many a Cold Night tells of this Durbanite’s journey towards finding peace – or

The Heart Knows No Colour

By Praba Moodley Review by Rasvanth Chunylall How does one describe Praba Moodley’s The Heart Knows No Colour? Is it a sweeping family saga?

Three Women Out of Love

By Gertrud Strauss   Reviewed by Sarah Frost Initially dense, with a narrative that progresses slowly, Gertrud Strauss’s foray into novel-writing (she has published

DURBAN DIALOGUES, INDIAN VOICE – FIVE SOUTH AFRICAN PLAYS

By Ashwin Singh Review by Devarakshanam Govinden It was the Italian philosopher and organic intellectual, Antonio Gramsci, who stated with passion: “The crisis  consists

Under a Swirling Sun

By Maria Victoria Pereira Review by Joshua Masojada Under A Swirling Sun is a fictional account of the life of a beautiful and intelligent Portuguese woman

Review: Left Over

By Kobus Moolman Review by Alan Muller Something left over might often carry connotations of being unused, unnecessary, unwanted; remnants after the best bits

Review: Left Over

By Kobus Moolman Review by: Sbongiseni Dladla Last night’s food that we eat today is called ‘left overs’. This clever title, which relates to

Review: One hand washes the other

By: Christopher Nicholson Review by: Sarah Frost I found this novel quite engaging, although at times a little didactic. My main criticism would be

Review: A World of Their Own: A History of South African Women’s Education

By: Meghan Healy-Clancy Review by: Rev Dr Scott Everett Couper   Meghan Healy-Clancy eruditely grafts the macro and the micro in her book A

Taken Captive by Birds: a Memoir

By Marguerite Poland Review by Alan Muller To refer to Marguerite Poland’s newest offering, Taken Captive by Birds, as purely a memoir would be

Book review: James Siddall’s Dystopia

Review by Sibongiseni Dladla James Siddall, well known South African writer, took time out to launch his new book Dystopia (MF Books) at Exclusive

Heretic: a novel

By Shabbir Banoobhai Review by Alan Muller In a coffee shop in modern-day Cape Town, a dark shadow is encroaching on the lives of

Small Things, the fascinating story of a flaneur in Johannesburg

By Nthikeng Mohlele Review by Sarah Frost Nthikeng Mohlele has written a superb second novel in ‘Small Things’. This book is philosophically interesting, and

Transformations

By Imraan Coovadia Review by Alan Muller A book of essays that opens with a piece serving as an “expression of doubt in the

Shakespeare and the Coconuts on postapartheid South African culture

By Natasha DistillerReview by Marko Rezajkula This book explores the complex and relevant concept of cultural identity in post-colonial or post-apartheid South Africa. Distiller

Spud – Exit, Pursued by a Bear

By John van de RuitReview by Tomas Masojada Before reading the book, the title suggests that there shall be some sort of ending and

The English Major’s Daughter,

By Rubendra Govender Review by Betty Govinden From the very first page of the novel, The English Major’s Daughter,  by Rubendra Govender [Bambata Publishing

Prodigal Daughters: Stories of South African Women in Exile

By Lauretta Ngcobo Review by MJ Daymond The stories told by the seventeen women who contribute to this compelling volume have two things in

Africa Inside Out: Stories, Tales and Testimonies

Edited by Michael Chapman Review by Sephen Coan A feature of the annual Time of the Writer Festival run by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s

Murder She Wrote

By Stephen Coan The name of Margaret von Klemperer will be familiar to Witness readers; it’s frequently appended to book reviews and other articles

Inheriting the Earth

By Jill Nudelman Review by Sarah Frost Inheriting the Earth is an intriguing first novel, by Wits Creative Writing Masters graduate Jill Nudelman. I

The Agony of Valliamma

By Aziz Hassim Review by Jessica Blignaut Hassim’s latest book tells the tale of Valliamma, a child revolutionary respected by Gandhi and viewed as

The Plains of Camdeboo & Return to Camdeboo

By Eve Palmer Review by Camille Tabosa-Vaz “A story [is] like the wind, it comes from a far-off quarter, and we feel it…” (2011: 82).

Snake by Tracey Farren

Review by Caitlin Martin Snake is Tracey Farren’s second novel, following the success of Whiplash which was published in 2008. Snake shows the interaction

Stranger at Home The Praise Poet in Apartheid South Africa

Written by Ashlee Neser (Wits University Press) Review by Mbongeni Malaba Ashlee Neser’s book is a thoughtful, ground-breaking analysis of the considerable poetic oeuvre

SA Lit Beyond 2000

Edited by Michael Chapman and Margaret Lenta (UKZN Press) Reviewed by Margaret Daymond   This survey of recent South African literature has 17 chapters

When The Chalk Is Down – An Odyssey

  Written by: BP Singh (KraftMedia Publishers) Review by: Rasvanth Chunylall Behind every great man is a woman. Similarly, behind every great lawyer, doctor or accountant

Ten Poems

By: Khulekani Magubane (Umsinsi Press) Reviewed by: Sbo Dladla This book of Ten Poems (Umsinsi Press) tackles issues that young people in Africa, especially

Gallows Hill

Written by Margie Orford (Jonathan Ball) Review by Margaret Lenta This is Margie Orford’s fourth Clare Hart thriller. All but the second, Blood Rose,

Sunken Treasure

Written by Vasigie Munsamy.Review by Caitlin MartinLast year marked the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Indian indentured labourers to South Africa.  The build-up

Other Signs

Written by Ingrid de Kok Review by Margaret Lenta The title of Ingrid de Kok’s collection, Other Signs, seems to point away from the

Magema Fuze: The Making of a Kholwa Intellectual

Written by Hlonipha Mokoena Review by Scott Couper Hlonipha Mokoena does Inanda Seminary, her high school alma mater, very proud with her publication of Magema

Déjà Vu

Written by Ravi Govender Review by Betty Govinden Déjà Vu, composed by Ravi Govender, is a selected collection of his  columns that have appeared

Kitchen Boy

Written by Jenny Hobbs Review by Jessica Blignaut Jenny Hobbs’s latest novel, Kitchen Boy, opens with the death of its protagonist, JJ Kitching, and

Onion Tears

Written by Shubnum Khan Review by Jillian Nicholson Shubnum Khan’s first novel, Onion Tears signals the arrival of a delightful new voice in the

Lost Ground

  Written by Michiel Heyns (Jonathan Ball) Review by Margaret Lenta Lost Ground is set in a Karoo dorp, Alfredville, with the narrator, newly returned

In the Shadow of Chief Albert Luthuli: Reflections of Goolam Suleman

Written by Logan Naidoo (Luthuli Museum) Review by Scott Couper, Inanda Seminary Arguably, I was the first to read and comment upon an early

Together

by Julius Chingono and John Eppel, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press In a country that is ruled through fundamentalist narratives along racial, tribal, political and property

A SANGOMA’S STORY : THE CALLING OF ELLIOT NDLOVU

by Melanie Reeder (Penguin Books) If asked to name a South African sangoma, most people would refer to Credo Mutwa, but Elliot Ndlovu is

Africa South: Viewpoints 1956-1961

Edited by M J Daymond and Corinne Sandwith. University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2011. In the Preface to Fine Lines from the Box (2007), Njabulo

A Fire That Blazed in the Ocean – Gandhi and the poems of Satyagraha in South Africa, 1909 -1911

The exemplary role of writers in providing a voice against colonial and apartheid oppression is well-known in South Africa, where the traditions of  protest

Albert Luthuli – Bound by Faith

Scott CouperUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal Press More than forty years after the death of its subject Scott Couper’s book rectifies a glaring omission in South

Sugar Cane Boy

Rubendra Govender’s short novel, Sugar Cane Boy, tells the story of Soya Sivaraman and his best friend Boniwe Mkhize, two young boys growing up

It’s been a long time coming

By Nomusa Xaba (CLEARWATER PUBLISHING) This is a memoir written by a mother, story teller, percussionist, social activist, educator and motivational speaker affectionately known

Beyond Bollywood and Broadway

Neilesh Bose Indiana University Press Not many in South Africa will know or appreciate how highly some of  our own local Durban  playwrights rank

Salt Water Runs in My Veins

by Prithiraj Ramkisun Dullay Salt Water is a collection of richly-textured autobiographical accounts and opinion pieces by a respected anti-apartheid political activist and social

Lives like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family’s Feuds.

Lyndall Gordon. 2010. London: Virago. The title of Lyndall Gordon’s fascinating book alludes to one of Emily Dickinson’s poems: “My life has stood –

Light and After (DEEP SOUTH) by Kobus Moolman.

Today many people go to churches to find answers, to be closer to their creator, to seek for forgiveness, to seek light after death!

Young Blood

by Sifiso Mzobe   Young Blood is the story of Sipho, a seventeen-year old Umlazi dropout who hankers after the high life with fast

Small Moving Parts by Sally-Ann Murray

There is good reason for Sally-Ann Murray’s debut novel, Small Moving Parts, meeting with the many accolades and short listings that it has (the

Creative INK Anthology ( Izimbongi Zesimanje)

compiled and edited  by Mthobisi Mqadi. The Creative INK Anthology (Izimbongi Zesimanje) book is another living tale among the townships of Inanda, Ntuzuma and

Yes I am! writing by South African gay men

Compiled by: Robin Malan and Ashraf Johaardien In a world of sexual categorisation, undoubtedly the gay and lesbian categories are the most controversial. The

SALT WATER RUNS IN MY VEINS

A Collection of short stories and opinion pieces  by Prithiraj Ramkisun Dullay. The year is 1978. The apartheid machine is grinding all in its

South Africa: A Traveler’s Literary Companion

(eds.) Isabel Balseiro and Tobias Hecht. 2009. Berkeley, California: Whereabouts Press. R179.95 The first thing to strike one about this handy, attractive book is

Funeral Meats

Review of High Low In-between by Imraan Coovadia.  Cape Town: Umuzi, 2009. All things that we ordainèd festival Turn from their office to black

ENDURING FOOTPRINTS by PHYLLIS NAIDOO

“I make no apology for the many NAMES. Some reading this account were confused by the names. Blacks even in the “new South Africa”

Spud – Learning to Fly by John van der Ruit

Following on from its best-selling predecessors, Spud and Spud – The Madness Continues, the third instalment of Spud Milton’s schoolboy diaries charts his diabolical

IZINGANEKWANE ENGAZIXOXELWA NGUGOGO by Lisa Grainger

This is an interesting story book with a wide range of stories that contain the wisdom of the African people.  The stories range from

Review of Mandla Langa’s The Lost Colours of the Chameleon

It might seem outrageously trite to suggest that reading Mandla Langa’s fifth book, The Lost Colours of the Chameleon, was akin to meeting the

Daniel Fox and the Jester’s Legacy by Andy Petersen

This novel has had plenty of praise from its publisher, and has apparently been a hit with ‘younger’ readers. For me, though, it was

Mandleve’s Gold by Daniel J. Joubert

In the spirit of Rider Haggard's King Solomen's Mine, Mandleve's Gold is a great, rollicking African adventure novel based around the mineral that made

Aziz Hassim’s Revenge of Kali

“If you listen carefully, and the wind is in the right direction, you will hear them, as I now did  – the spectral voices,

Coconut by Kopana Matlwa

Readers outside South Africa may not know why the title ‘Coconut’ is such an eye-catching one, but all South Africans will know that coconut

Classrooms in the Shade

Lifetime resident of Pietermaritzburg and teacher at various schools there for over 45 years, Shanthee Manjoo launched her memoir, Classrooms in the Shade at

ALL THE DAYS by ROBERT BEROLD

Published by Deep South, 2008. Robert Berold’s All the Days is his fourth collection of poetry. The collection evinces all the characteristics of Berold’s

Jeqe, the Body-servant of King Shaka by John Langalibalele Dube

John Langalibalele Dube, a founding member of the African National Congress and its first president, was also author of the first novel to have

Patrick Cullinan’s Escarpments

Poems 1973 – 2007. Published by: Umuzi Patrick Cullinan is a distinguished, grand old man of South African letters, with a writing career that

Separating the Seas by Kobus Moolman

I like the title of Kobus Moolman’s recent collection of poetry, Separating the Seas. The turmoil in the words encouraged me to do this

Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey

Published by Penguin. This remarkably wise, prize-winning first novel is about power.  Although the setting is deliberately not identifiable (like Coetzee’s Waiting for the

For the Sake of Silence by Michael Cawood Green

The new novel recently published by Michael Cawood Green, entitled For the Sake of Silence, has considerably enriched the literary-historical landscape of Durban. The

Behind Every Successful Man by Zukiswa Wanner

This beautifully told story ignites a fire in the reader, especially the female reader, creating a world where nothing is impossible. Zukiswa focuses on

The Madams by Zukiswa Warner

The Madams is a well told story with Thandi, the narrator pulling the reader along to experience life as she and her friends know

Chant of the Doves by Stephen Coan

Chant of the Doves is Stephen Coan’s first collection of poetry. And I hope that it will be the first of many. It is

The Wading by Tom Eaton

Published by Penguin. It is no easy task to create an entirely new place from scratch. Tom Eaton, in his new novel The Wading,

Poetry of place

clear night skywind in the pinesMay moon breathing This is a poem from Chant of the Doves, a new collection by Stephen Coan, who

The Hero of Currie Road by Alan Paton

Published by Umuzi. This collection of short stories by a South African master of the form must give enormous pleasure to convinced admirers of

AmaZulu by Walton Golightly

(Kwela Books) According to AmaZulu's blurb its author "weaves fact and fiction, history and myth, to create a compelling tribute to the might of

The Impostor by Damon Galgut

Johannesburg: Penguin. Adam, a middle-aged white man, edged out of urban South Africa by the loss of his job to a young black man,

Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black and Other Stories by Nadine Gordimer (Penguin)

The handsome appearance of this book could give the reader the impression that its claims are considerable, as might their memories of recent collections

The Way of the City

A fascinating publication provides insight into the lives of ten Durban residents, writes Peter Machen. One of the most enduring by-products of the recent

Shameless by Futhi Ntshingila

Futhi Ntshingila introduces her central character, Thandiwe, in the first sentence of her novel with the words: “Thandiwe has been shot”. And then we

Home Affairs by Bree O’Mara

I judge books by their covers. There, I said it. And usually it’s a pretty good judge, I think. If there are swooning women,

The Virgin in the Treehouse by Willemien de Villiers

Willemien de Villiers writes hauntingly. Long after I’d put down The Virgin in the Treehouse, images from the story kept swimming in my head.

The Rich Man of Pietermaritzburg by Sibusiso Nyembezi

(Inkinsela YaseMgungundlovu translated by Sandile Ngidi) The novel was written by Nyembezi in 1961, and is set some years earlier in rural Northern Natal

Durban in a Word edited by Dianne Stewart

This attractive little paperback contains 30 short contributions by writers with connections to Durban, making up a portrait of the city. It is the

Fanie Fourie’s Lobola by Nape ‘a Motana

Fanie Fourie’s Lobola is, without doubt, unlike any book I’ve ever read. And not only because it’s written from an Afrikaner’s perspective (by a

Ja, No, Man by Richard Poplak

Take the nostalgia bred from having spent sixteen years growing up in South Africa, and then sixteen years out of it, and combine it

7 Steps to Heaven by Fred Khumalo

New on the shelves is 7 Steps to Heaven, Fred Khumalo’s much-anticipated follow up to Bitches Brew. The story is resolutely South African, but

Strange Nervous Laughter by Bridget McNulty

I approached Strange Nervous Laughter somewhat apprehensively, a little worried that this chick lit novel, which is a self-proclaimed “book about love”, would simply

Undressing Durban: An Ode to Living

In keeping with the tradition of travelogues documenting the progress of South Africa’s often stumbling journey into the democratic arena, much has been written

Portrait with Keys – Joburg and what-what by Ivan Vladislavic

It goes without saying that any book that wins the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award is well-written. In fact, the criteria set for the

The Story of Maha by Sumayya Lee

With a tagline of ‘A spunky tale of Romance, Rotis and Unsuitable Boys’, The Story of Maha is certainly unlike any other South African

The Madams by Zukiswa Wanner

The Madams has put Zukiswa Wanner in a position that no other woman in South Africa has been in – she is the author

Rediscovering Haggard

Witness staffer Stephen Coan has helped to unearth another facet to Henry Rider Haggard. SHARON DELL reports. “Good idea … but what about the

Close the door softly behind you… by Emmaleen Kriel

Close the door softly behind you… is Emmaleen Kriel’s first book, and it is full of a fresh candour rarely seen in more established

Daughters are Diamonds – Honour, Shame and Seclusion – A South African Perspective

“‘Honour killings’ suggest that the female is a symbol of her family honour, and that any marring of this symbolism requires that she (the

The Wedding by Imraan Coovadia

The Wedding is a love story, of sorts, set in East, South and North. That is, set in India, South Africa and America. Through

Kitchen Casualties by Willemien de Villiers

Kitchen Casualties is the story of four generations of women in the Cape Peninsula, woven into the course of a single day. We hear,