Language & Literature
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A Little Light R200.00
“The world may be full of women of varying beauty and talents, but I doubt there will ever be an encounter like this one, so charged, so urgent and, like I said, beautifully irrational.” – In Praise of Older Women
A new collection of short stories by one of South Africa’s most original writers, A Little Light is a timely and sensitive evocation of places, bodies, politics, regrets and hope, all revealed in tightly controlled and beautifully lit stories. Mohlele’s daring writing is on full display with the publication of this volume.
Nthikeng Mohlele was partly raised in Limpopo and Tembisa Township, and attended the University of the Witwatersrand, where he obtained a BA in dramatic art, publishing studies and African literature.
He is the author of six critically acclaimed novels: The Scent of Bliss (2008), Small Things (2013), Rusty Bell (2014), Pleasure (2016), Michael K (2018), Illumination (2019) and a short-story collection, The Discovery of Love (2021).
Nthikeng was the winner of the University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing in English, winner of the K. Sello Duiker Memorial Award, winner of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Best Fiction: Short Stories and was long-listed for the International Dublin Literary Award.
Author(s): Nthikeng Mohlele
1 in stock
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Revolutionaries House R220.00
Storyteller-in-chief, Nthikeng Mohlele, spins another glorious tale: a former high-flying politician who now sleeps under a bridge in Johannesburg’s city centre and washes dishes to survive. As his mind wanders in this self-imposed exile, he contemplates his political party, the false promises, the jaded ideology and hypocrisy that runs rampant, and the deception and treachery underpinning it. As his reveries take him through past relationships and a marriage which ended in adultery, his disillusionment, his fractured mind and unravelling personal life which led to this strange spiritual retreat is revealed.
Mohlele is a master at probing the depths of human consciousness and in Revolutionaries’ House he asks: how do we hold a unified moral self?
Author(s): Nthikeng Mohlele
1 in stock
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The Comrade's Wife R280.00
Claire is less cynical. ‘Fall in love, if you must. But do your research. And meet his people early on. They’ll give you a sense of who he is.’ Solid advice. And ultimately, this is how I found myself on a flight to Bloemfontein one Friday afternoon.
An instant classic, the lies and betrayals of love and party politics are told in gorgeous prose with an ear for our time’s intimate and public language. The Comrade’s Wife follows a turbulent marriage between a rising politician and an academic, told through her life and lens.
‘Tender, delightful, frightening. A testimony to Boswell’s inexhaustible vision.’ – Pumla Dineo Gqola, author of Female Fear Factory
‘Wonderfully plotted, emotionally rich, clever, and full of intrigue… Find a quiet, comfortable corner and settle in because you won’t want to leave Anita’s superb company until she’s finished her story.’ – Nadia Davids, author of An Imperfect Blessing
‘What a thrilling read! I could not put it down.’ – Terry-Ann Adams, author of White Chalk and Those Who Live in Cages
‘Some politicians are as immoral at home as they are in the halls of government. The Comrade’s Wife is a wonderful account of the political made personal.’ – Rehana Rossouw, author of New Times and What Will People Say.
Author: Barbara Boswell
1 in stock
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Lydia: Anthem to the Unity of Women Original price was: R300.00.R280.00Current price is: R280.00.
‘When I’m dead, you make sure that ordinary people, ordinary rural women, must be at the forefront of my funeral. I want my rural women to be there at the forefront: people that know me well.’
With great care and meticulous research, Kally Forrest brings us the life of Lydia Komape, also known as Mam Lydia Kompe. Kally travels in Lydia’s footsteps, with family, friends, comrades and ancestors from Limpopo and Johannesburg to Cape Town where Lydia sat in Nelson Mandela’s parliament.Her family’s shattering loss of land in the 1930s deeply impacted Lydia’s life choices. She was fiercely independent, yet bound by the collective, forceful but consultative, humorous and deeply serious.
Lydia closely identified with rural women, remarking, ‘We are so discriminated against, but we are made to work like donkeys. We do all the dirty work – you must go and plough, hoe, harvest, carry water, fetch wood, and men are just sitting drinking alcohol under the tree.’
This is a biography that will open your eyes and heart.
Author: Kally Forrest
1 in stock
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The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women R270.00
In Michelle Myeko Kekana’s exquisitely moving breakout novel, three thoroughly modern South African women find themselves brought to breaking point as they navigate the complexities of life, love and mental health.
On a moonless night, Hope, feeling desperate and trapped in her mother’s house after years of failed job searching, steps onto the highway, contemplating ending her life. Her failed attempt leads her to Bonga, a kindred spirit who helps her to rediscover her strength amidst the darkness of self-loathing. Meanwhile, Ayanga struggles with the harsh realities of motherhood, battling sleep deprivation and isolation while feeling disconnected from her newborn. As Ayanga’s husband Sizwe neglects his responsibilities, the weight of expectation drives her to a desperate act.
Zethu enters university with dreams and vaulting ambitions but when her roommate dies by suicide, her world spirals into chaos. Amidst the disarray a new relationship transforms her into a version of herself she no longer recognizes. Bound together by a psychiatrist, Hope, Ayanga and Zethu confront their demons in a deeply relatable book that touches on queer politics, childhood trauma, the stigma of depression and the burden of social media.
0With compelling prose and an unforgettable cast of streetwise characters, The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women is a poignant gift to those journeying toward self-acceptance. Black women have been labelled strong; their tears seen as indulgent, their suffering expected to have an imminent expiration date. Don’t believe that label.
Author: Michelle Myeko Kekana
Out of stock
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The Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology 2023 R240.00
Now in its 12th year, the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award is a launching pad for upcoming poets, writing in all South African languages. From slam poetry to formal rhyme, the anthology is a celebration of language and cultural diversity. Assembled by a brilliant team of judges, from a blind selection, this year’s compilation contains the best poems from over 250 entries, in 10 of the 11 South African languages. Named after Solomon Tshekiso Plaatje (1876 – 1932), the award recognises the life and vision of this highly respected political and social activist. This annual poetry anthology opens up on political and social attitudes of these times and reflects the complex, nuanced and subtlety of South African life in poetry.
Authors: Mongane Wally Serote, Makhosazana Xaba et al
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When Rain Clouds Gather (AWS Classics) R190.00
In the heart of rural Botswana, the poverty stricken village of Golema Mmidi is a haven to exiles from far and wide. A South African political refugee and an Englishman join forces to revolutionise the villagers’ traditional farming methods, but their task is fraught with hazards as the pressures of tradition, opposition from the local chief and the unrelenting climate threaten to divide and devastate the fragile community.
Author: Bessie Head
2 in stock
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Joburg Noir R260.00
This place is labelled the city of gold, Jozi Maboneng. There is indeed a constant rush, the winner takes it all, and a survival of the fittest mentality driving the hunger and competitive spirit of those born here, and equally seen in the eyes of the immigrants; legal and illegal alike. Dreams not realised have left most of the once-eager hopefuls desolate, seeking shelter under bridges and abandoned city buildings.
Oh Yeoville, Yeoville man, now this was a whole different world on its own the culture, the music, the DJs and live bands, the food and the hangout places in Gloria Bosman, A Little Something from the Pot, Joburg Noir is a collection of writings about memories, legends, loss, jokes, stories, myths and experiences by twenty-two gifted and versatile authors in South Africa. It makes the reader experience present-day Johannesburg as if one were in the past.
The stories seek to understand, reconstruct, reinvent and recover this city space of loss, joy, deprivation, resistance and possibility by revealing its complex dynamics. They are funny, shocking, violent, absurd, strangely tender and memorable. Their lasting resonance lies in the fact that they invoke the joys and traumas of the past and present, making the two to co-exist and interlock.
After reading this uncompromising and gritty anthology, the reader is bound to feel like a time-traveller who has voyaged into a magical alternate city and a reality that was either misnamed or not named at all. The intention is to help the readers to delve into their own memories in search of pictures of their sweet childhood and fractured identities.
Author: Niq Mhlongo
1 in stock
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Hauntings R280.00
A thrilling array of African writers, including Fred Khumalo, Sibongile Fisher, Lucas Ledwaba, Vonani Bila, Lynn Joffe and Christopher Mlalazi, tell surprising and unnerving tales in this collection of commissioned stories from the master of narrative writing, Niq Mhlongo. These stories give answers to the question: what does being haunted and hauntings mean in our southern African world, in the past, the present and the future?
Author: Niq Mhlongo
1 in stock
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Quality of Mercy R300.00
This is indeed a story of mercy – and the redemption it offers.
On the eve of his retirement, Spokes Moloi, a police officer of spotless integrity, investigates one final crime: the possible murder of Emil Coetzee, head of the sinister Organisation of Domestic Affairs, who disappears on the same day a ceasefire is declared and the country’s independence beckons. In following the tangled threads of Coetzee’s life, Spokes raises and resolves conundrums that have haunted him, and his country, for decades under colonial rule. In all this, he is staunchly supported by his paragon spouse, Loveness, and his unofficially adopted daughter, the unorthodox postman Dikiledi.
In her most magnificent novel yet, award-winning author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu showcases the history of a country transitioning from a colonial to a postcolonial state with a deft touch and a compassionate eye for poignant detail. Linked to The Theory of Flight and The History of Man, Ndlovu’s novel nevertheless stands alone in its evocation of life in the City of Kings and surrounding villages. Dickensian in its scope, with the proverbial bustling cast of colleagues both good and bad, villagers, guerrillas, neighbours, ex-soldiers, suburban madams, shopkeepers, would-be politicians and more, The Quality of Mercy proposes that ties of kinship and affiliation can never be completely broken – and that love can heal even the most grievous of wounds.
Author(s): Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
1 in stock
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The Theory of Flight R260.00
As Imogen Zula Nyoni, aka Genie, lies in a coma in hospital after a long illness, her family and friends struggle to come to terms with her impending death. Genie has gifts that transcend time and space, and this is her story.
As Imogen Zula Nyoni, aka Genie, lies in a coma in hospital after a long illness, her family and friends struggle to come to terms with her impending death. Genie has gifts that transcend time and space, and this is her story. It is also the story of her forebears – Baines Tikiti, who, because of his wanderlust, changed his name and ended up walking into the Indian Ocean; his son, Livingstone Stanley Tikiti, who, during the war, took as his nom de guerre Golide Gumede and who became obsessed with flight; and Golide’s wife, Elizabeth Nyoni, a country-and-western singer self-styled after Dolly Parton, blonde wig and all.
With the lightest of touches, and with an overlay of magical-realist beauty, this novel sketches, through the lives of a few families and the fate of a single patch of ground, decades of national history – from colonial occupation to the freedom struggle, to the devastation wrought by the sojas, the hi virus, and The Man Himself. By turns mysterious and magical, but always honest, The Theory of Flight dwells not on what was lost and what went wrong in a nation’s history, but on the personal triumphs and why they matter.
Author(s): Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
1 in stock
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Idayimani Icholwa Eluthulini R120.00
Idayimani Icholwa Eluthulini
Le yincwadi engumdlalo olungiselelwe ukufundwa okanye udlalwe eqongeni. Owona mxholo wale ncwadi luthando olunokufumaneka naphina apho uThixo alathe khona. Aba abantu bade batshate behlangene endaweni yentselo eyindawo ke apho kungekho bani ungacinga ngokufuna iqabane lobomi bakhe. Iqabane elililo lifumaneka kwindawo yezicunayi noochwenene, hayi etywaleni nokwenza linxilile.Author: Zama A. Japhta
1 in stock
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The Bus People R220.00
This book is about the lived experiences of the bus commuters. The Bus People are the Black-working class who primarily reside in informal settlements. The book covers the impact of taxi violence on the bus people, the targeting of bus drivers when there are conflicts about public transport routes, the struggles of domestic workers, #FeesMustFall, access to water and dignified sanitation, policing, absent fathers and family planning.
Author(s): Chumile Sali
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Decolonising the Mind - The Politics of Language in African Literature R280.00
Ngugi wrote his first novels and plays in English but was determined, even before his detention without trial in 1978, to move to writing in Gikuyu.
Ngugi describes this book as ‘a summary of some of the issues in which I have been passionately involved for the last twenty years of my practice in fiction, theatre, criticism and in teaching of literature.’East Africa [Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda]: EAEP
Author: Ngugi wa Thiong’o
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Mama Ndigeyi R200.00
Mama Ndigeyi is an IsiXhosa novel written by Madoda Gcwadi in 2020. Mama Ndigeyi (Mother I am Gay) is a novel set in Cape Town and Eastern Cape from the 1976s until the late 1990s. The novel explores the struggles of a young gay man Thozamile, living in homophobic communities and his challenges of falling in love with Samie, a white gay man. Thozamile, the leading character, responds to a religious mother who fails to accept her gay son due to the shame triggered by the church members. It is a novel that possesses the characteristics of a drama. In this novel, Madoda carefully examines his characters’ thoughts and spurs while creating suspense through the risky struggle between love and hate. Appropriate to the drama genre, the themes of this narrative include cultural dynamics, criminality, religion, inequality, self-reliance, racism and love of others. Madoda’s writing style challenges more able readers with complex thread and ironic tone. The narrative engages the general reader until the stimulating ending. Mama Ndigeyi is uniquely appropriate for the young and seniors appealing to readers on many levels.
Author: Madoda Gcwadi
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Mouth Full of Blood: Essays, Speeches, Meditations R170.00
“She was our conscience. Our seer. Our truth-teller. She was a magician with language, who understood the power of words.” – Oprah Winfrey
A vital non-fiction collection from one of the most celebrated and revered American writers
Spanning four decades, these essays, speeches and meditations interrogate the world around us. They are concerned with race, gender and globalisation. The sweep of American history and the current state of politics. The duty of the press and the role of the artist. Throughout Mouth Full of Blood our search for truth, moral integrity and expertise is met by Toni Morrison with controlled anger, elegance and literary excellence.
The collection is structured in three parts and these are heart-stoppingly introduced by a prayer for the dead of 9/11, a meditation on Martin Luther King and a eulogy for James Baldwin. Morrison’s Nobel lecture, on the power of language, is accompanied by lectures to Amnesty International and the Newspaper Association of America.
She speaks to graduating students and visitors to both the Louvre and America’s Black Holocaust Museum. She revisitsThe Bluest Eye, Sula and Beloved; reassessing the novels that have become touchstones for generations of readers.
Mouth Full of Blood is a powerful, erudite and essential gathering of ideas that speaks to us all. It celebrates Morrison’s extraordinary contribution to the literary world.
Author: Toni Morrison
