Jacana

This April from Jacana Media

Spilt Milk is the story of two passionate people who share a shameful past and a tenuous present.

Decades after a childhood love affair earns upright school principal Mohumagadi and disgraced preacher Father Bill expulsion from their communities, the two characters are brought back together under the most unlikely of circumstances.

Mohumagadi, headmistress of the elite Sekolo sa Ditlhora school for talented black children, takes in Father Bill as a teacher much to the dismay of her students and faculty. Thus begins a battle of wills and wits for the hearts and minds of the students living in the shadow of revolution and change.

About the Author

The EU Literary Award-winning Kopano Matlwa is one of South Africa’s most vibrant young writers. A medical graduate, Kopano is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Coconut. She is a founding member and chairperson of Waiting Room Education by Medical Students, a non-profit organisation run by students and is a 2010 Rhodes Scholar.

Book details

• Spilt Milk by Kopano Matlwa
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770097919
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Zapiro is a busy political cartoonist these days, with our nation’s, erm, leaders providing more than ample fodder for his sharp wit. DStv subscribers will be able to enjoy his ZA News – a satirical puppet TV show based on his drawings, created by Thierry Cassuto – on Summit TV as of today, March 2nd 2010.

The Summit clips will be the same as those aired on the internet – see below for a sample!

Zapiro’s latest collection of cartoons is Don’t Mess with the President’s Head.

A satirical puppet show, the brainchild of cartoonist Zapiro and producer Thierry Cassuto, will hit the screens tomorrow evening, after it was yanked from the SABC line-up two years ago just before it was to debut on the state broadcaster.

The project had been partially funded by the SABC, which spent R1-million to create a pilot video in 2008, initially called ZNews. It was never screened, with the SABC citing finances and the sensitivity of viewers before pulling out of project.

At the time the show was canned, Jonathan Shapiro, better known as cartoonist Zapiro, said he was not surprised.

• Read the complete article at IOL Tonight

Watch the latest ZA News broadcast here:

• Not loading? Watch on ZANEWSTV

Book details

• Don’t Mess with the President’s Head: Zapiro Annual 2009 by Zapiro
  EAN: 9781770097575
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Archbishop emeritus, nobel laureate and South African icon, Desmond Tutu recently discovered that he is partly of Bushman descent. A group of French scientists came to this conclusion while sequencing the Bushman genome. Tutu, author of God’s Dream, is reported as being both surprised and delighted by the news.

Scientists said on Wednesday they had sequenced the genome of Bushmen, the longest-surviving lineage of modern humans, expanding our understanding of genetic diversity and inherited disease.

Comparison of DNA provided by a Bushman elder and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu showed that Tutu is partly of Bushman heritage, they added.

The 78-year-old Nobel winner voiced “astonishment and delight” at the news, a researcher told AFP.

• Read the complete article

Book details

• God’s Dream by Desmond Tutu, Douglas Carlton Abrams, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
  EAN: 9781770097032
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Today marks the 9th annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance, and Jacana Media is celebrating with the launch of TRANS: Transgender Life Stories from South Africa edited by Ruth Morgan and Charl Marais, at the South African Museum tonight.

The stories recounted in this collection are both inspiring and compelling and reveal the courage and strength of each of the storytellers involved. The narratives detail the constant challenges of living in a country that, despite its progressive Constitution, is still host to myriad prejudices and misunderstandings when it comes to trans people.

One blog that’s taken notice of this seminal book is the race, gender, sexuality and HIV/AIDS activist collective Black Looks, which ran a piece on TRANS yesterday.

I feel so proud and over joyed to be writing this post today. In spite of the struggle against transphobia and homophobia two exciting ground breaking pieces of work are happening in Africa which celebrate Transgender lives on the continent. The first is the launch of Trans: Transgender Life Stories from South Africa – a collection of more than 20 life stories from the Transgender community. The project was made possible by the collaboration of Gender DynamiX and GALA South Africa and will be launched in Cape Town and Johannesburg on 20th [International Transgender Day of Rememberance] and 28th November respectively [the latter at Constitution Hill].

• Read the complete article

Please join us tonight in Cape Town!

Book details

• TRANS: Transgender Life Stories from South Africa edited by Ruth Morgan, Charl Marais
  EAN: 9781920196226
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Italian Footprints in South Africa chronicles the history of the Italian people who have made South Africa their home, and the generations after them who are both Italian and South African.

Whether in the realms of food, motorsport, architecture, politics, art, music or wine, the influence Italian people and culture have had on South Africa is as vibrant as the people themselves. While the times and places they have found themselves have not always been easy, they have forged ahead with signature Italian warmth and enthusiasm.

A fascinating text and an impressive collection of photographs make this book an invaluable archive of the Italian contribution to South Africa, and offer a glimpse of a people known for their passion and love of life. The result is a unique record of the history of the Italian nation on South African soil.

The book is full colour, and text is both in English and Italian.

About the author

Ilse Ferreira is a freelance writer and publicist. She has been published in Succeed, Keur, Insig, De Kat, several medical journals, and the web magazine ScienceinAfrica. She also writes regular columns for the Mail & Guardian and for Business Day. Her work on the history of Italian and Portuguese people in South Africa was first published in Time magazine. This is her first full-length book.
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The 4th Laugh it Off Annual is underway and we want your creative juices flowing our way.

If you think you can give the LIO creatives a run for their cash-cow with some loudly and proudly South African contributions, bring them on!

If you know someone who is bold, young and has pumping fresh ideas, send this through to them and lets make this year’s Laugh It Off Annual, one to be remembered.

Up for the challenge? I think so!

• Email contributions to annual@laughitoff.co.za
• For more info please email info@laughitoff.co.za
• To preview previous annuals please click HERE

Professor Pippa Skotnes, director of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, was awarded the prestigious Outstanding Academic Title status by Choice magazine for her book, Claim to the Country.

The book and accompanying DVD brings together much of an archive on the San people, created by philologist Wilhelm Bleek and linguist and folklorist Lucy Lloyd in the late 1800s.

• Read the complete article

Book details

• Claim to the Country: The archive of Lucy Lloyd and Wilhelm Bleek by Pippa Skotnes
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770093379
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

The European Union, participating EU member states and Jacana Media are pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2008/09 European Union Literary Award.

Jury Chair, Craig MacKenzie, comments, “The entries to this year’s European Union Literary Award are truly impressive – of an excellent quality. The shortlist includes compelling, iconoclastic, wickedly satirical South African writing.”

The short-listed manuscripts for the 2008/09 European Union Literary Award are:

• Big Dan’s Sofie by Keith Cornelis-Britz
• African Cook Boy by Woody Irving
• Wayward Nature by Elan Gamaker
• Saracen at the Gates by Zinaid Meeran
• Rainmaker by Don Pinnock

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The great people, places and events in South Africa’s rich history are gathered together in this beautiful new box set from Jacana, Great People, Great Places of South Africa; six books that explore the history and heritage of South Africa.

The first five books in the series contain stories of people and events from different historical periods. A few of the great people examined are Olive Schreiner, Mohandas Gandhi, Brenda Fassie and Nelson Mandela. The sixth book is a practical guide for both learners and teachers on how to conduct an oral history project.

The books include activities pages and lists of websites and reference books for readers to study further, as well as advice for teachers on how to use the information presented in the series. The books are useful for both school projects and classroom discussions and the information is concise and easily accessible.
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Till We Can Keep an Animal, the 2008 EU Literary Award winner, is about a middle-aged woman who was attacked, raped and murdered in her home by armed robbers. Author Megan Voysey-Braig says, “I keep her alive so that her story continues. I invite her family members, those who are alive and dead, to tell their stories through her. She is the main protagonist and the narrator”.

The author lived with the novel for about a year before sitting down to write it. The first draft required about three months’ time and, as Voysey-Braig tells Sunday Times books editor Tymon Smith in this podcast, writing in the voice of a dead person never struck her as unnatural: “it’s not something that [came] to me [later], it’s something I believe, that writers tell dead people’s stories, there seems to be some kind of connection with those who are not here any more”:
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