UKZN Press

An late obituary for South African activist and poet Dennis Brutus which functions as a near comprehensive biography.

Best known as founder of Sanroc, the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee, as a rival to the official committee Sanoc, he became a familiar figure in the corridors of Olympic power. Sanroc's brilliantly-conducted campaign persuaded individuals and international sports federations that to compete in South Africa, or even against South Africans, was to condone apartheid.

After the historic transition from rule by the National Party (NP) to the African National Congress (ANC), Brutus was virtually written out of the history of the period, because he had only for a time, while living in England, been a paid-up member of the ANC. Though he had worked closely with Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders, he prided himself on his independent base in Sanroc.

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Book details

• Poetry and Protest by Dennis Brutus, Aisha Karim, Lee Sustar
  EAN: 9781869140809
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Image courtesy the Telegraph

The following article on “the Johannesburg aesthetic” by Chris Thurman, author of Guy Butler: Reassessing a South African Literary Life, first appeared in The Weekender:

There are many facets to the Joburg aesthetic. There’s the ‘minedumps and highways’ cliché that out-of-towners hold so dear when they deride SA’s biggest city. There’s the capitalist/consumerist synthesis expressed in corporate palaces, coffee shops and couture boutiques. There’s the leafy suburban street, complete with high walls and grassy pavements.
 
Driving along the roads of this heavily-treed metropolis and listening to the mild inanities of afternoon talk radio has its own particular appeal. But after hearing yet another show in which the host bemoans the lack of village cricket in Parkhurst, solicits ice-cream recipes, promotes the delights of Jacaranda blossom viewing from the Westcliff Hotel or panders in some other way to the petit- and haute-bourgeois ambitions of Gauteng’s denizens, one begins to think: surely there are other (more interesting) ways of representing Johannesburg, of exploring its multiple contradictions, of experiencing the city?

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Book details

• Guy Butler: Reassessing a South African Literary Life by Chris Thurman
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  EAN: 9781869141837
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When A Man Cries is Siphiwo Mahala’s first novel. Before its publication, he was known as an accomplished short story writer and freelance journalist with articles featuring in The Sunday Times and The Sowetan. The Mail and Guardian, doing a series on South African writers, met with Mahala to learn more about his writing, loves and inspiration:

Describe yourself in a sentence.

Some people say I’m reserved but I love to laugh and make other people laugh even more; and I guess that makes me a sucker for fun, love and peace.

Describe your ideal reader.

Imaginative individuals who allow words to invade their minds, penetrate their heart and soul, and take them to the highest peaks of ecstasy.

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Book details

• When a Man Cries by Siphiwo Mahala
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  EAN: 9781869141318
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UKZN PRESS is pleased to announce the appointment of Debra Primo (centre, with blue folder) as the new Publisher as from 1 July 2009. She brings with her a wealth of experience and knowledge of the academic publishing industry.

Debra matriculated from Paterson Senior Secondary School in Port Elizabeth. She completed an undergraduate B.A. degree at UWC, and an LL.B. at UNISA. She started her career teaching Sociology at Khanya College in Cape Town, and then moved into the publishing industry.

Debra’s publishing career started at Juta Law in 1998, with publishing legal texts – left for a brief two year stint to join Heinemann to gain experience in educational publishing – and then rejoined Juta Law until July 2009.

The Press is grateful to Glenn Cowley’s contribution over the years, and wishes him well for the future.

Here’s a splendid photo from the double launch of Vonani Bila’s Handsome Jita and Kobus Moolman’s Separating the Seas at Poetry Africa earlier this week.

One of the poems Bila read at the launch was “Dennis on the March” – dedicated to fellow poet Dennis Brutus.

Dennis himself then appeared and bought a copy of the book – congratulating Vonani in the moment captured here. The pic was taken by Monica Rorvik of Poetry Africa/Centre for Creative Arts, UKZN. Thanks, Monica!

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