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Silence of the enslaved

Ashraf Kagee’s Song of the Slave Girl reimagines Cape slavery through emotion, love and loss, giving voice to histories erased from official memory

  • Eyaaz
5 min read

The Comrade’s Wife explores love, power and resilience in modern South Africa

Barbara Boswell’s novel tells the gripping love story of a middle-aged black woman in modern-day South Africa

  • Des Erasmus
6 min read
The new novel by Nigerian writer Onyeka Nwelue tells the story of a Nollywood actor who finds himself involved with the Johannesburg crime underworld

The Nigerian Mafia Johannesburg: Gripping crime drama in South Africa

An edited extract from The Nigerian Mafia Johannesburg by Onyeka Nwelue. It contains scenes that might upset sensitive readers

  • Des Erasmus
7 min read
Disillusioned: In Revolutionaries’ House Nthikeng Mohlele tells the tale of a politician who falls on hard times.

When a life falls apart

An edited extract from Revolutionaries’ House, the latest novel from Nthikeng Mohlele

  • Eyaaz
4 min read
Tradition: Sipho Sithole’s book Maye Maye traces the history and heritage of Kwa Mai Mai market in downtown Joburg where izangoma and herbalists ply their trade. Photo: Derek Davey

Marketing a cultural gem

A book by an anthropologist documents Joburg’s bustling Kwa Mai Mai

  • Derek Davey
7 min read
South African writer Sol Plaatje was aware of the irony that the British Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act was passed a year after the enactment of the Natives Land Act, says Sandra Swart in her book The Lion’s Historian: Africa’s Animal Past.

People and animals: A shared history, shared cruelties

An edited extract from The Lion’s Historian: Africa’s Animal Past

  • Des Erasmus
11 min read