BOOK Southern Africa

Book Launch: African Security Governance: Emerging Issues by Edwin Cawthra

by Tshepo on 16 Mar 2010   |   

Wits University Press and The Graduate School of Public and Development Management at Wits invite you to the launch of African Security Governance: Emerging Issues, edited by Gavin Cawthra.

Cawthra will discuss the results of research carried out over a number of years by the Southern African Defense and Security Management Network (SADSEM) on many new and emerging security issues. The broad discussion will include security governance.

We look forward to seeing you there:

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, 18 March 2010
• Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
• Venue: Executive Dining Room, The Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2 St David’s Place
  Parktown Campus
  Wits University, Johannesburg | Map
• RSVP: julia.wright@wits.ac.za, 011 484 5906

Book Details

• African Security Governance: Emerging Issues by Edwin Cawthra
  EAN: 9781868144839
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Poetry Reading: Helen Moffett and Liesl Jobson at Folio Books

by Liesl on 16 Mar 2010   |   

Folio Books’ poetry series launched with a bang last month and continues with wicked women’s words from BOOK SA regulars, Helen Moffett and Liesl Jobson. You’re invited to come and share a glass of wine while listening to poems that will delight, shock, comfort and amuse.

Helen Moffett is a freelance writer, editor, academic and poet, who’s lectured as far afield as Trinidad and Alaska. Her academic writings include a great deal of gloomy but necessary work on sexual violence in the post-apartheid context. She writes about cricket because it reminds her why she likes men (and because she loves the game with a passion). She has also published a university textbook on poetry, an anthology of South African landscape writing and several short stories. Her debut collection of poems, Strange Fruit</a , was recently published by Modjaji Books.

Liesl Jobson is a musician, photographer and writer, and the author of 100 Papers, a collection of prose poems and flash fiction (Botsotso, 2008) and an anthology of poetry, View from an Escalator (Botsotso, 2008). She is the winner of the POWA women’s writing poetry competition and the Ernst van Heerden Creative Writing Award.

Event Details

• Date: Friday, 19 March 2010
• Time: 6:00 PM for 6:30 PM
• Venue: Folio Books, | Map
• Refreshments: Refreshments will be served
• RSVP: Folio Books, FolioBooks@storm.co.za, 021 685 7190

Book Details

• Strange Fruit by Helen Moffett
  Book Homepage
  EAN: 9780980272963
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Scribd.com book preview:

Strange Fruit

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Book details

• View from an Escalator by Liesl Jobson
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9780981406831
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Pre-London Book Fair Special Offer on Modjaji Books new titles

by Colleen on 16 Mar 2010   |   

Modjaji Books has several new titles coming out in April and May. If you would like to pre-order any of these titles at a special discount price, here’s your chance. It’s also a way of supporting an indie publisher.

The titles are:

Arja Salafranca’s collection of short stories The Thin Line.
Recommended Retail Price in stores – R145.
Modjaji Pre-Order price including postage where relevant: R125

Meg Vandemerwe’s collection of short stories This Place Called Home
Recommended Retail Price in stores – R145.
Modjaji Pre-Order price including postage where relevant: R125

Jane Katjavivi’s memoir, Undisciplined Heart
Recommended Retail Price in stores – R170
Modjaji Pre-Order price including postage where relevant: R150

Small Publisher’s Catalogue 2010 (Africa)
Recommended Retail Price in stores – R150
Modjaji Pre-Order price including postage where relevant: R100

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers new collection of poems, The Everyday Wife
Recommended Retail Price in stores – R130
Modjaji Pre-Order price including postage where relevant: R110

Modjaji’s Book of Bed Short Stories
Recommended Retail Price in stores – R150
Modjaji Pre-Order price including postage where relevant: R130

Special Offer if you order all 6 of the titles you pay R690 (an extra R50 off, the already reduced price)

Check out all Modjaji Books titles here ….

Go on, you know you want them and you will be supporting independent publishing in a big way!

For more information about any of the titles click on the links above.

Book Launch: Home Away, Edited by Louis Greenberg

by Amanda on 15 Mar 2010   |   

Save the date! The Louis Greenberg-edited “book of cities and hours”, Home Away, will be launched on Thursday, April 15 at The Book Lounge in Cape Town.

This unique and captivating collection is a snapshot of South African writing today: emigrant and immigrant South Africans, living at home and away.

Here’s the brilliant line-up of contributors, the hours they’ve been assigned to and the cities they write about:

Midnight: Zukiswa Wanner (Nairobi)
1 am: S.A. Partridge (Triolet)
2 am: Richard de Nooy (Amsterdam/Rokytnice nad Yizerou)
3 am: Sarah Britten (Sydney)
4 am: Naomi Nkealah (Mainz)
5 am: Phillippa Yaa de Villiers (Havana)
6 am: Colleen Higgs (Kampala)
7 am: Moky Makura (Lagos)
8 am: Sarah Lotz (Maun)
9 am: Louis Greenberg (Ushuaia)
10 am: Fiona Snyckers (Oxford)
11 am: Lauren Beukes (Tokyo)
noon: Ted Botha (Los Angeles)
1 pm: Liesl Jobson (Victoria / the air)
2 pm: Jassy Mackenzie (Moscow)
3 pm: Makhosazana Xaba (Dakar)
4 pm: Jo-Anne Richards (Patmos)
5 pm: Henrietta Rose-Innes (Chanchan)
6 pm: Kathryn White (London)
7 pm: Karina Magdalena Szczurek (Salzburg)
8 pm: Ivan Vladislavic (Oklahoma City)
9 pm: Helen Moffett (Fairbanks)
10 pm: Rustum Kozain (Royaumont)
11pm: Victoria Burrows (Hong Kong)

Many of the authors will be on-hand at the launch to read from their selections. We look forward to seeing you there!

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, 15 April 2010
• Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
• Venue: The Book Lounge, 71 Roeland
  cnr Buitenkant
  Cape Town | Map
• RSVP: booklounge@gmail.com, 021 462 2425

Book Details

• Home Away, edited by Louis Greenberg
  Book Homepage
  EAN: 9781770220720
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Readings and Quotes from the 2010 Time of the Writer (Videos, Tweets)

by Sharlene on 15 Mar 2010   |   

The 13th annual Time of the Writer International Literature Festival concluded on Saturday after a week that was a veritable literary blur. BOOK SA livetweeted the final four sessions on Friday and Saturday evenings, and recorded readings from the four authors who appeared on stage. We bring you the best of BOOK SA’s coverage:

BOOK SA’s livetweeted photos

1. 
   BOOKSA Sihle Khumalo & Ndumiso Ngcobo #tow10 http://flic.kr/p/7KbK8P 12 Mar 2010 from Flickr
2. 
   BOOKSA The new Wordsetc cover – ‘Crime’ issue, featuring Margie Orford #tow10 http://flic.kr/p/7KbML8 12 Mar 2010 from Flickr
3. 
   BOOKSA The Ningizimu Steel & Marimba band #tow10 http://flic.kr/p/7KfV6C 12 Mar 2010 from Flickr
4. 
   BOOKSA Priya Narismulu, Elana Bregin & Thando Mgqolozana #tow10 http://flic.kr/p/7Kcezx 12 Mar 2010 from Flickr
5. 
   BOOKSA Imraan Coovadia, Ndumiso Ngcobo, Sihle Khumalo #tow10 http://flic.kr/p/7Kd19t 12 Mar 2010 from Flickr
6. 
   BOOKSA Zakes Mda, Sally-Ann Murray, Johan Jacobs #tow10 http://flic.kr/p/7Ku8vG 13 Mar 2010 from Flickr
7. 
   BOOKSA Aher Arop Bol, William Gumede #tow10 http://flic.kr/p/7KufBj 13 Mar 2010 from Flickr

Readings: videos

Thando Mgqolozana reads from A Man Who is Not a Man

Elana Bregin reads from Shiva’s Dance

• Not playing? Watch on BOOK SA TV

More livetweets – session highlights

Ndumiso Ngcobo and Sihle Khumalo in conversation with Imraan Coovadia:

1. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 …and we’re back! On stage now: Ndumiso Ngcobo (Is it Cos I’m Black) and Sihle Khumalo (Heart of Africa) hosted by Imraan Coovadia 12 Mar 2010 from web
2. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Ngcobo: Let’s quickly correct the name of the province. The name of the province is KwaZuma Natal. 12 Mar 2010 from web
3. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Ngcobo: definitely, because, unlike in other countries where sex sells, in SA, *race* sells 12 Mar 2010 from web
4. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Khumalo: “Obviously if someone has touched your goat, you’re going to want the lobola” 12 Mar 2010 from web
5. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Coovadia: “One more question from me before we allow the audience to make 10 minute speeches” 12 Mar 2010 from web
6. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Now Elinor Sisulu has the mic, makes the point that in many African countries – incl Zim – the men on stage might well be in jail 12 Mar 2010 from web
7. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Ngcobo, answering a question about whether Castle Lager makes him more creative: “Yeah, pretty much.” 12 Mar 2010 from web
8. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Khumalo: “My family don’t laugh at funerals. We take it as against the… the culture”. Ngcobo: “You’re boring.” 12 Mar 2010 from web

Andile Mngxitama and William Gumede in conversation with Karabo Kgoleng:

1. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 The title of tonight’s first panel is “Writing, Truth and Power” 13 Mar 2010 from web
2. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Mngxitama: in SA, the truth is intertwined with the “black excluded”, who are outside of power 13 Mar 2010 from web
3. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Mngxitama “One problem is that we are cowards in this country. Look at the ANC/Eskom scandal. It’s robbery. We do nothing.” 13 Mar 2010 from web
4. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Mngxitama: “And look at the 2010 World Cup. We’ve been robbed again. And this time by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.” 13 Mar 2010 from web
5. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Gumede: “If you live in a rural part of Africa, how much of the truth, as it relates to power, can you actually know?” 13 Mar 2010 from web
6. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Gumede: “If we’re not going to speak truth to power, we’re not going to prosper” 13 Mar 2010 from web
7. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Mngxitama: “I promised to attack black SA writers this evening” so here goes. Post-1994 black writing – its underlying politics…. 13 Mar 2010 from web
8. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Mngxitama …is very problematic. Black writers chase white women readers – the main reading demographic – too hard. 13 Mar 2010 from web
9. 
   BOOKSA #tow10 Mngxitama moves on to Zakes Mda’s Black Diamond. By writing about BEE the way Mda does, the black bourgeoisie is highlighted… 13 Mar 2010 from web
10. 
    BOOKSA #tow10 Mngxitama: …and the unequal system powered by white wealth that created it is normalised. The danger is that we’ll reinternalise it 13 Mar 2010 from web

The Launch of Testing Democracy and Lobby Books at Idasa

by Sophy on 15 Mar 2010   |   

Thursday night saw the launch of Idasa’s 2010 Democracy Index, Testing Democracy alongside the opening of Lobby Books, a joint indie bookshop venture that is less about competition, as we previously reported, than it is about collaboration. Lobby Books is a partnership between Mervyn Sloman, of The Book Lounge, and Henrietta Dax, of Clarke’s Books.

After the event was opened by Idasa executive director Paul Graham, UCT associate professor of law Richard Calland spoke about the importance of a bookstore at Idasa, and the creative use of the space overseen by Architect Justin Cooke.

Continuing along the theme of development, guest speaker Njabulo Ndebele outlined the context in which the Democracy Index series, established in a distinctly different political era, now finds itself. He spoke particularly of the need for a reshuffling of our nation’s priorities; a shift to putting the people of South Africa ahead of political parties.

Judith February and Neeta Misra-Dextra, the book’s editors, highlighted the findings that Ndebele described as an “attempt at a qualitative assessment of democracy and equality” with a focus on the inter-relatedness of democracy and development. Testing Democracy is the third iteration of the Idasa’s Democracy Index. May the works continue to help actuate our democratic society, still-latent for many.

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Book details

• Idasa’s Democracy Index 2010: Testing Democracy: Which way is South Africa going? edited by Judith February and Neeta Misra-Dexter
  EAN: 9781920409159
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Notes from the Time of the Writer: New Frank Talk; Aher Arop Bol and Leonara Miano; Uwem Akpan and Imraan Coovadia

by Nadia on 12 Mar 2010   |   

Notes and galleries from recent Time of the Writer events

The launch of Andile Mngxitama’s latest New Frank Talk pamphlet

The fifth issue of the New Frank Talk series, titled White Revolutionaries as Missionaries?, was launched by series editor and founder Andile Mngxitama at the Wellington Tavern Deck at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre this week.

Black Consciousness revivalist Mngxitama has had a hand in four publications recently: From Mbeki to Zuma, Why Biko Wouldn’t Vote and Black Colonialsists: the Trouble with Africa, which he wrote for the New Frank Talk series, plus Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko<, which he co-edited for Pan Macmillan.

The fifth NFT book is edited by Heinrich Böhmke, who spoke about his involvement with social movements at the launch.

“I’ve been involved since 1999, when the Concerned Community Forum and the people of Wentworth put marches together against Mbeki’s policies.

“About two years ago, I felt uncomfortable with middle class academics, mostly whites, so-called activists who were promoting themselves in their careers, and wore their suffering on their sleeves,” he said.

His essay is essentially about the motivations of and roles played by white people in black struggles, taking as its departure point a missionary named Stephen Kay who published Travels and Researches in Caffraria in 1843, describing the character, customs and moral condition of the peoples inhabiting portions of Southern Africa.

Mngxitama, who holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Witwatersrand, said he was delighted to be in Durban for the launch.
“Black Consciousness was founded here, Strini Moodley and Steve Biko did a lot of work to unite black people at that particular era, so it was like coming back home,” he said.

Mngxitama also related some personal thoughts on Black Consciousness in the 21st Century, quoting the Winnie Mandela of the recent and controversial Nadira Naipaul “interview”, in which she says that Nelson Mandela sold South Africans out, that black people were excluded economically, and that those blacks who were included were merely tokens.

“Those of us in BC did not have to hear this, because we already knew it. Our freedom has been compromised for a long time. It’s interesting to see the responses – white people’s first reaction to her statement is to protect Mandela and project Winnie as a mad, black woman,” he remarked.

Mngxitama also asked the question, “What makes us understand that democracy has not liberated the majority of black people? How did we move from wanting freedom to fighting for RDP houses?” People who were prepared to die for freedom before, now accept so little.

“In this book, Böhmke exposes how the process of conversion works, and he goes 185 years back to reveal it. He writes very well, showing how the missionary used the bible to convert black people. The same thing happens now, with the ‘new missionaries’ using the constitution to convert black people to perform the same job” of co-option.

Mngxitama concluded by saying that with white revolutionaries, all are not bad, but the way their interests are organised makes it impossible for them to come together with BC organisations.

***

***

***

Writing Home

Literary enthusiasts and writers have been converging on UKZN’s Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre for the evening sessions of the 13th Time of the Writer Festival. Earlier this week, the first order of the night was to present the prestigious Currie Award, given to Dr Betty Govinden for her contribution as a South African Indian woman to SA society and letters. Dr Govinden received the award for her book, Sister Outsiders.

After that it was time for writers Aher Arop Bol of Sudan/SA and Leonara Miano of Cameroon/France to address the audience with the help of faciltator Lindy Stiebel.

Aher Arop Bol’s The Lost Boy tells the tale of the journey of a small Sudanese boy in 1987, who is carried into the Panyido Refugee Camp, Ethiopia, on the shoulders of his uncle. He does not know why he is there or if he ever will see his parents again. The boy, of course, is Bol, who is launched upon an epic quest for survival, education,and a refusal to remain “lost”. Bol now lives in South Africa, studying for an LLB at UNISA, and running a spaza shop in Pretoria, the income from which he uses to support his brothers in Uganda.

Leonara Miana, widely-recognised in Francophone literary circles, writes with an uncompromising view, and doesn’t shrink from what she sees. Her latest offering, Les aubes ecarlates, follows child soldier Epa on a journey that intimately examines the memory of slavery on the Afrcian continent and the scars it has left. Her book will be launched in English in America in April.

“My book is about my homeland,” said Bol. “I had to learn about the problems it faced from the outside world.”

“Home,” he continued, “is where people recognise you.”

Miano countered, “I don’t have a home and I’m not looking for one.” She loves living with mixed cultures, which is part and parcel of the life of a true artist, in her opinion – but she also believes in active change, and strives to take part in transforming “Old France” into a place that will be better for children.

***

***

***

Why I Write What I Write

Another of the Time of the Writer’s evening talks had award-winning Nigerian author Uwem Akpan discussing his book of short stories, Say You’re One of Them, which was featured on Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club in September 2009, the first book of short stories ever chosen by Winfrey.

Akpan was paired with the sharp, witty Imraan Coovadia of South Africa, whose latest novel is High Low In-between. This riveting read is born of the current, post-apartheid dispensation, and turn on several themes, including human suffering and death. “Suffering is real in the world, people die and people get hurt,” said Coovadia.

Akpan’s book highlights the perspective of children’s suffering, whereas Coovadia’s sends a woman into widowhood and the painful aftermath. Both writers, hosted on stage by Karabo Kgoleng, believe that working in fiction allows them the greatest freedom of exploration in writing.

When questioned on the youth of today and what democracy means to them, Coovadia said, to laughter, that strongly believes the youth are a lost cause – and they have their parents to blame. “There’s a disconnection between parents and teenagers, but hopefully the future generations will be better. Keep them away from this one!”

However, Father Uwem believes not putting too much pessure on the youth to become who they are can make our lives richer.

On the Couch: uMlungu Steven Otter at The Rainbow Experience

by Tracey on 12 Mar 2010   |   

The Rainbow Experience in partnership with The Book Lounge invites you to an “On the Couch” session with author Steven Otter.

Otter will be speaking about his book, Khayelitsha: uMlungu in a Township.

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, 18 March 2010
• Time: 5:00 PM for 5:30 PM
• Venue: The Rainbow Experience, Mandela Rhodes Place,
  23 Church Street, Cape Town | Map
• RSVP: The Rainbow Experience,
  manager@therainbowexperience.co.za, 021 422 1428

Book Details

• Khayelitsha: uMlungu in a Township by Steven Otter
  Book Homepage
  EAN: 9780143025474
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Extract from Mike van Graan's Time of the Writer Keynote Speech

by Sharlene on 12 Mar 2010   |   

The 13th Time of Writer Festival hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu- Natal), began on Tuesday, March 9 at the Elizabeth Sneddon. Mike van Graan – writer, playwright and arts activist, delivered the keynote address entitled “The State of the Arts”. Below is an extract from this address.

The state of the arts

“There is no better metaphor that illustrates the state of the arts today than the recent furore around our Arts Minister and the black lesbian photographic exhibition.

But there is a broader frame for this 13th Time of the Writer Festival as it takes place in a most significant year for Africa. Not significant because of the FIFA World Cup, but rather because 2010 marks 50 years of independence for no less than 17 African countries.

The first point about the Innovative Women exhibition is that it took place on Constitution Hill. The Constitutional Court is the ultimate arbiter of what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, not in terms of some individual’s arbitrary moral prejudices or any party’s political agenda, but in terms of the country’s Constitution, the highest law of the land. Our Constitution affirms the fundamental right to freedom of creative expression and outlaws discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. What this incident has shown is that it doesn’t matter if rights are guaranteed on paper, those in power will always seek to create democracy in their self-serving image, so that the artistic space for freedom of expression can never simply be assumed; it needs to be asserted and defended in practice constantly.

This incident took place in August 2009 and yet the story only broke six months later. The question is why? Which brings me to my second point. I think it has to do with the culpability of artists in disempowering themselves. At the time, there was probably outrage, but a decision was taken not to cause a fuss, lest the new Zuma administration be alienated, thereby compromising future funding. Artists are complicit in their own disempowerment by keeping silent, by seeking to align their interests with those of the ruling elite. Censorship is enforced today not through apartheid-era censorship boards, but through informal forms of intimidation and the threat of withholding public funds; the resultant self-censorship compromises the practice of freedom of expression and shrinks democracy.

The third point to take note of in this story is the Minister’s contention that the exhibition did not contribute to social cohesion and nation-building. This goes to the core of the state of the arts in our country at the moment for it points to the conscription of the arts for some political or socially good end, rather than the arts being deemed to have value in their own right.

Post-apartheid cultural policy in the mid-nineties has shifted away from a human rights approach, with Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights being the touchstone: ‘everyone shall have the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts…’ to a neo-liberal, market-driven cultural industries paradigm. This has mean a shift away from “everyone shall have access to the arts” or the “the doors of learning and culture shall be open” Freedom Charter paradigm, to “everyone who can afford it or who has disposable income can access the arts”.

The fourth point arising out of this incident is that even if the minister rejected art for its own sake in favour of the more politically expedient, instrumental approach with the arts essentially being a vehicle for social cohesion and nation-building, her action makes no sense. Unless it is her view that black lesbians are not to be included in the nation. Or that social cohesion excludes one of the most marginalised groups in our society i.e. black lesbians. More than 30 black gay women have been murdered for no other reason than being gay. If the minister was serious about social inclusion and nation-building, then she would have made an extra effort to ensure that these women artists felt part of the South African nation.

One of the reasons suggested for the Minister’s boycott of the exhibition was that the exhibition stereotyped black women. Here is an exhibition by one of the most marginalised groups in our society, black lesbians, asserting their right to depict themselves as sensual, beautiful, human, loving and they are accused of “stereotyping black women”. This is not only an outrageous act of intellectual dishonesty, but yet another appropriation of race in order to legitimise a foolish act. For this is not the affirmation of blackness in the Biko sense of an inclusive identity for all those inferiorised by apartheid, nor of dignifying self-empowerment, nor the psychological affirmation of humanity and wholeness, but rather the all too common cry-wolf blackness that provides the banner under which opportunists pursue their self-enriching ends, fend off legitimate criticism, and in the process, compromise the real struggles of black people. The women who are most abused because of their sexual orientation are so abused precisely because they are black.

In conclusion, the state of the arts is not to be found in the amount of funding available. For, quite frankly, whatever the arts sector’s whining about the lack of funding, there has never been so much funding for the arts. The Department of Arts and Culture’s budget this year is in excess of R2 billion, more than 12 times what it was in 1994. The Lottery raises more than R250 million per year in funds for the sector. And certainly, with better vision, with greater political will, with increased levels of competence and strategic management capacity, the arts sector can do much better than it is now.

But for me, the health of the arts is to be analysed in terms of the democratisation of our society: the space created for freedom of artistic expression and for the arts sector to engage with those in power, the energy and willingness of artists to fight for and defend their rights, and the access which the poor, the vulnerable have to resources, infrastructure and the arts themselves to improve their lives.

We are seriously wanting in all of these, and our democracy is the poorer for it. That will only change when the arts sector begins to follow the lead of social movements in other sectors, and take up the cudgels to advance and defend their interests. No-one else will do it for us.

It is time of the writer, but also of the theatre maker, the musician, the dancer, the filmmaker and the visual artist to stand up and be counted.”

• Click here foror the full programme and more information about the Time of the Writer festival, or call 031-2602506

The buzz

by Mike Nicol on 12 Mar 2010   |   

Stray doppies

At the London Book Fair in April ‘Writing Crime in South Africa’ is up for discussion with Deon Meyer, Jonny Steinberg, Angela Makholwa, and Gillian Slovo. Seems a mixed bag: two crime fiction writers, a thriller writer, and a true crime dude.

Then at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in May, Deon and Angela are at it again joined by Margie Orford, Wessel Ebersohn and Sue Rabie. According to the blurb they ‘will have their magnifying glasses out discussing X-ratings and crime taboos’.

The review below I snitched from Glen Harper’s excellent US-based blog International Noir Fiction because it seems Cape Town is gaining an international profile in the krimi stakes. Glen writes of a new addition from a French novelist:

Zulu, the first novel by French author of “polar,” (as the French call crime fiction) Caryl Férey is about Cape Town, South Africa: truly an international crime novel. Zulu (published this spring in English by Europa Editions) begins as a police procedural, centered on the head of the homicide team of the Cape Town police, Ali Neuman, whose Zulu background will become relevant to the plot, though, as it shifts from mystery to pulp noir to thriller (almost to futuristic thriller in its vision of an extreme category of crime), in constantly shifting plot lines circling around the drugs and violence in the townships surrounding Cape Town and the murder of two white women. Férey has a tendency to explain South Africa to the reader, more so than the indigenous crime writers of the country (Deon Meyer for one) whose first audience has been South African readers who don’t need the “back story” filled in. In that sense, perhaps, Zulu is a book that could introduce South Africa as a setting for crime fiction to those unfamiliar with the country’s history. And Férey gives a very comprehensive “tour” of Cape Town and environs, from the beaches (some with penguins) to the townships to Table Mountain, to the Cape of Good Hope, and several surrounding towns. But a reader will need considerable tolerance for fictional violence as the novel shifts from “policier” to pulp to thriller, as the tone shifts from the struggle against ruthless gangs to drug-induced of almost ritual intensity to sociopathic mass murder and international corporate crime. The novel becomes almost apocalyptic as it leaves behind more and more corpses and any sense of hope for the country (much less for this story) becomes less and less viable. Roger Smith’s recent novel of Cape Town gang violence is violent and nearly hopeless, but Férey’s raises the violence to another level. And Férey’s story shifts from driven by dialogue and action to historical information to the biographical background of his characters and to philosophical and politically impassioned narrative: in that way, it seems more in one of the traditions of French crime writing, a philosophical and tendentious approach–but Férey never forgets about his story and the reader will be pulled along through the various stages and into identification with those who are killed and those few (people and values) that survive. This impressive and distinctive novel is a different angle on the South African crime story, and a bleaker one than some of the viewpoints offered by others in that rapidly developing field. After reading Zulu, the reader, a little stunned by the experience, may be left hoping for the no less jaundiced but perhaps more hopeful (and occasionally myth-making) Cape Town crime stories offered by Deon Meyer, whose new novel is to be released in English very soon.