Umuzi

Random House Struik and Umuzi are delighted to announce that We Are All Zimbabweans Now by James Kilgore (Umuzi, 2009) has been shortlisted for potential screen adaptation at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The work is one of 10 pre-selected novels chosen by Books at Berlinale, the co-production arm of the festival, taking place this February. Each novel will be pitched to international arthouse producers by the representatives holding the film rights.

We Are All Zimbabweans Now occupies an important place amongst the fictional chronicles of post-independence Zimbabwe. It is an accomplished and compelling novel and deftly analyzes the complex struggles for power in post-independence Africa.

The Berlin International Film Festival is one of the world’s top international film events, where approximately 20,000 filmmakers, industry professionals and film buffs from over 100 countries, come together for 11 days in February. With more than 270,000 tickets sold to the public, the ‘Berlinale’ is the largest audience festival in the world.

“Books at Berlinale” was introduced in 2006 in conjunction with the Frankfurt Book Fair with the goal of bringing the book and film worlds closer together. The programme also includes an information session for publishers and literary agents into the “film producing and financing world” as well as a case study on a literary adaptation screening.

About the Author

James Kilgore first made news in South Africa when he was arrested in Cape Town in 2002. He had been living under the alias Dr. John Pape and had become a respected academic at the University of Cape Town. US authorities extradited him to California where he served six and a half years in prison for his involvement in political activities in the volatile San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s. He was released on the 10th of May 2009.

Book details

• We are All Zimbabweans Now by James Kilgore
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781415200711
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Image courtesy Screen Australia.

Lin Sampson, a journalist who is notoriously stingy with praise, finds cause aplenty to recommend JM Coetzee’s Summertime as a stocking-stuffer this Xmas season:

His writing just gets better and better and there is something compelling about his detachment from himself (the story is about a dead writer and the interviews conducted for a biography). The style is understated but audacious.

• See more Lin Sampson recommendations in the Sunday Times

Book details

• Summertime by JM Coetzee
  EAN: 9781846553189
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Chris Barnard, reus van die Afrikaanse letterkunde, vier vandag sy sewentigste verjaarsdag. Sy skrywersloopbaan span oor 47 jaar, van die sy eerste roman toe hy 21 jaar oud was en waarvoor hy die CNA-prys ontvang het, tot met sy jongste, univereel geprese bundel kort vertellings in 2008.

Barnard het 29 boeke gepubliseer, in al die prosa-genres: romans en novelles, kortverhale, jegromans en dramas vir die verhoog, die radio, televisie en vir film. Onlangs het hy begin om lirieke te skryf wat opgeneem is deur van die voorste Afrikaanse sangers. Sy romans, kortverhale, jeugverhale, dramas en draaiboeke is vir geslagte skoolleerders en universiteitstudente voorgeskryf, en word steeds voorgeskryf.

Sy werke het klassieke status in die Afrikaanse kanon: romans soos Mahala (1971) en Moerland (1992), kortverhaalbundels soos Duiwel-in-die-bos (1968), jeugromans soos Danda (1971) en Voetpad na Vergelegen (1987) en dramas soos Pa maak vir my ’n vlieër Pa (1964), Die rebellie van Lafras Verwey (1971) en Taraboemdery (1977). Laasegnoemde, wat die eerste keer onder die regie van André Brink, opgevoer is, was onlangs weer op die verhoog, en sy jongste drama, Die twaalfuurwals (2008), was ’n lokettreffer. Barards is ook die skrywer van die draaiboek vir Paljas, die eerste Suid-Afrikaanse film wat vir ’n Oscar genomineer is (onde regie van sy vrou, Katinka Heyns, en vervaardig deur Anant Singh).

Chris Barnard het ’n indrukwekkende versameling bekronings ontvang, agtien altesaam, vir werke van al die genres waaring hy skryf. Dit sluit in feitlik al die hoogaangeskrewe pryse wat aan ’n Afrikaanse skrywer toegeken kan word, onder meer die CNA-prys dire keer en die Hertzog-prys twee keer. Hy is sonder twyfel een van die mees bekroonde skrywers in Afrikaans.

Hy was nooit ’n openlik politieke skrywer nie, maar trou aan die vakmanskap van die vertelkuns, het hy eenkeer gesê: as jy die waarheid skryf, kan jy nie die politiek misskryf nie. Wanneer hy dus skryf oor gewone mense in hul verskillende toestande van broos geluk, stemloosheid of verlange, sien hy verwonding – of dit nou persoonlik of politiek is – as universeel aan die menslike kondisie.

Hy is bekend onder sy portuurs, redakteurs en lesers as ’n uitnemende vakman en het het hom onderskei met skryfwerk van besondere ekonomie en oënskynlike eenvoud wat die fyn leser daarvan ryklik beloon. Saam met figure soos André P. Brink, Breyten Breytenbach en Dolf van Niekerk tel hy onder die oorblywende Sestigers, ’n losse versmaeling skrywers wat in die jare sestig op die toneel gekom en die grense van verlammende gemoedelikheid en versmorende engtes van die letterkunde van hul tyd dramaties versit het.

Chris Barnard is op 15 Julie 1939 gebore op ’n plaas buite Nelspruit. Sy eerste roman is gepubliseer toe hy ’n Tukkie-student was. Hy het as joernalis gaan werk, uitgewyk na Parys, destydse wêreldmekka van vernuwende kunstenaars en skrywers, en teruggekeer om boekeredakteur te word. Hy is later terug na die joernalistiek, maar sy huwelik met die filmmaker Katinka Heyns het hom as skrywer en vervaardiger diep betrokke gemaak by die televisie- en filmbedryf. ’n Dekade gelede het hy teruggekeer na die Laeveld waar hy, soos sy vader, in die Nelspruit-distrik boer.

BOEKE VAN CHRIS BARNARD

Romans
Man in die middel (1963)
Mahala (1971)
Moerland (1992)
Boendoe (1999)
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‘n Augustus titel van Umuzi

David Lurie, twee maal geskeide Engels-professor van Kaapstad, verlei ’n student. Die gevolg is dat hy sy werk en reputasie kwyt is en uitwyk na sy dogter se plaas in die Oos-Kaap, waar hy stadigaan deur die natuurlike ritme van die plaas tot ’n mate van lewensharmonie terugkeer.

Daar is egter ’n plaasaanval waarin sy dogter verkrag en hy wreed aangerand word, wat hom hard konfronteer met die feit dat daar in hierdie land vir hom, ’n ouer wordende wit man, dalk tog nie plek is nie.

In oneer – Disgrace in Engels – is die eerste keer dat Coetzee in Afrikaans vertaal word. Die bekende digter Fanie Olivier het dit vertaal.

Oor die outeur

JM Coetzee is in Kaapstad gebore en het in Worcester en Kaapstad grootgeword. Hy het Wiskunde en Engels aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad gestudeer voordat hy na Londen toe is waar hy as progammeerder vir IBM gewerk het. Hy het aan die Universiteit van Texas ’n doktorsgraad oor die werk van Samuel Beckett behaal en het in die VSA gedoseer voordat hy in 1971 professor in Engelse letterkunde aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad geword het. Na sy aftrede in 2002 is hy na Adeleide in Australië waar hy steeds woon, ’n Australiese burger sedert 2006.
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From legal eagles to movie muses.

Two Umuzi authors whose legal careers inspired haunting page-turners have clinched deals that will hopefully see their books travel to the big screen.

Durban advocate Chris Marnewick fused fact and fiction in Shepherds & Butchers, a riveting cliff-hanger courtroom drama about capital punishment – and has now also sold movie rights for an undisclosed sum to Anant Singh of Video Vision Entertainment.

The deal was clinched shortly after the news that Shepherds & Butchers had been awarded the debut prize in this year’s University of Johannesburg Creative Writing Awards.

Movie rights for In a Different Time: The inside story of the Delmas Four were also sold this week, to Two Oceans Production. Johannesburg author Peter Harris practised law for fifteen years and was the lawyer who fought for the lives of the four MK soldiers that would, in the course of the last big political trial of the apartheid era, become known as the Delmas four.

In a Different Time tells the story of that dark chapter in South African history. It is shortlisted for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award and has been a consistent bestseller for Umuzi (a Random House Struik imprint).

“Both these books are not only great reads but are naturally filmic and should make wonderful movies,” Umuzi publisher Frederik de Jager said yesterday.
(more…)

Fourteen years after Wessel Ebersohn’s last novel comes The October Killings, in which thriller and police procedural, action and social commentary are deftly combined.

Abigail Bukulu, a young star in the Justice Department, receives a visit from Leon Lourens. Many years ago when she was only 15 he saved her life when he was one of a group of South African soldiers sent to attack an ANC safe house in Lesotho. Having paid the price for his rebellion, Leon now needs Abigail’s protection.

On 22 October each year, the date of the Lesotho attack, another member of the SADF squad is killed. Now, that date is approaching, and only two of them remain: the squad commander, who’s serving his sentence in C-Max, and Leon. Abigail immediately knows who is behind the October Killings: a sinister and dangerous man named Bishop who had joined the Struggle for dubious reasons.

In a rush against time, over a course with many obstacles, Abigail finds a partner in the eccentric prison psychologist Yudel Gordon, a “veteran” from three earlier Ebersohn novels. And so a fiery partnership is established that is likely to electrify several future books.

The October Killings is intelligent entertainment that also draws an honest picture of the ills of South Africa today.

“I gulped down this book in one sitting.” — Michele Magwood

From The October Killings, page 59

Yudel Gordon circled his wife’s kitchen stove. After a considerable struggle he had managed to drag it far enough from the wall to go right round it. He was looking for the fuses.

Rosa, his wife, was sitting at the kitchen table, observing this singular scene. Yudel rarely attempted to repair anything and, on those few occasions, he was even more rarely successful. “We could get a repair man,” she suggested. “I know they’re expensive, but at least they have experience.”

Yudel did not answer. This was a matter of pride. He had asked about stoves at the local hardware store and was trying to remember what the assistant had said. He recalled being advised that the fuses were probably behind a little lid or a flap.

• To read further (pdf download)

About the author

Wessel Ebersohn lives in Johannesburg. Most of his eight books have been international successes. They include A Lonely Place to Die, Divide the Night, Store up the Anger and Closed Circle. He stopped writing fiction to create, with his wife Miriam, Succeed, a magazine for entrepreneurs. Fourteen years later, The October Killings is his first new novel, with more to follow.

Book details

• The October Killings by Wessel Ebersohn
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781415200742
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Set in KwaZulu-Natal, Imraan Coovadia’s latest offering, High Low In-between, charts the relationship between Nafisa, who is coming to terms with her husband’s murder, and the people around her: her dysfunctional family as well as her patient, Millicent Dhlomo, who is dying of AIDS.

With gathering momentum, the novel exposes the reader to Nafisa’s world of organ donation, greedy AIDS denialists, quack doctors, bribes and the looming threats by the South African Revenue Service. Having been part of the struggle, Nafisa now faces the sinister complications of the post-apartheid dispensation and finds herself ostracised once more.

We learn with Nafisa what it is to live in a time of various plagues: in which a slip of a needle is a prospective death, in which your husband can be murdered because he received a kidney he didn’t know was acquired illicitly, in which death by Aids has become a currency in the hands of the morally bereft and the politically expedient, and in which acquiring, concealing, and channelling funds determines the lives and prospects of us all.

From High Low In-between, page 27

Jadwat was correct. Nafisa smiled to be reminded of the discrepancy. She had no mysteries. Even Jadwat, Jadwat the fool, knew who she was. The large room on the ground floor had belonged to her son almost twenty years earlier, a span of time so great that surely it could not apply to her own existence.

Nafisa felt she must have slept through these twenty years. Her understanding had not caught up with them. Her son’s long absence, his experiences in San Francisco and around the world, were facts she hadn’t accommodated. She was slow, she knew, to work out what happened around her. Others were rapid.

• To read further (pdf download)

“A wise book, full of provocative insights.”
– Vikas Swarup, author of Slumdog Millionaire

“Imraan Coovadia has a unique and marvellously talented voice. High Low In-between effortlessly extended my capacity to imagine the moral inner world of the kind of character I often wonder about.”
– Antjie Krog

About the author

Born in Durban and formerly resident in New York, Imraan Coovadia now lives in Cape Town, where he lectures in the English Department at the University of Cape Town. He has taught 19th Century Studies and Creative Writing at a number of US universities.

His debut novel, The Wedding, published simultaneously in the US and SA in 2001 has been translated into Hebrew and Italian. It was shortlisted for the 2002 Sunday Times Fiction Award, Ama-Boeke Prize (2003), IMPAC Dublin International Literary Award (2005), and was chosen as book of the week by Exclusive Books (South Africa) and Asian Week.com.

He is most recently the author of Green-eyed Thieves, published by Umuzi in 2006, which was runner-up for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize in 2007.

Book details

• High Low In-between by Imraan Coovadia
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781415200704
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Umuzi proudly announces the release of We Are All Zimbabweans Now by James Kilgore. Written from a California prison cell by this one-time fugitive author, the book occupies an important place amongst the fictional chronicles of post-independence Zimbabwe.

We are All Zimbabweans Now tells the story of young American historian Ben Dabney who arrives in Harare in 1981, full of admiration for Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe’s policy of reconciliation. His euphoria in this country he calls the “Land of Forgiveness” heightens when he becomes involved with disabled ex-freedom fighter Florence Matshaka who connects him with the emerging black elite.
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In his regular “Accidental Tourist” column, Chris Harvie, author of Do NOT Take This Road to El-Karama, writes about a recent trip to England where he seeks out the legendary King Arthur, yet finds his man distinctly lacking.

In his place, he encounters a group of fat French kids who don’t have much care for English medieval history. And a huge statue of King Alfred:

We wanted knights and a round table, but all we got was some fat French kids and a rectangular pool.

We’d heard much about “the lure of the Arthurian legends that cling to Tintagel” but they weren’t clinging very hard.

“The Famous Arthyre Kynge of the Brytons was here begotten in the (more…)

Oscar Pistorius is sonder fibula (kuitbene) gebore. Op 11 maande is beide sy bene tussen die knie en enkel geamputeer. Droomloper vertel die storie van hoe ʼn dapper jong man met die ondersteuning van sy wonderlike ouers die struikelblokke van die lewe oorkom het deur eenvoudig te weier om die stryd gewone te gee.

Oscar het in 2004 eers met die hulp van kunsledemate begin hardloop en het goud gewen in die 100 en 200 meter by die Paralimpiese Wêreldbeker die volgende jaar.
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