Pan Macmillan

The Alliance Française of Johannesburg, Dibuka, and Pan Macmillan are proud to bring you a day in Paris on Thursday 18 March. Enjoy “Intimate Paris”, a conference by Rachel Uziel at 12:00 PM followed by the opening of Eric Miyeni’s photographic exhibition, “A Letter from Paris” at 6:00 PM.

Entrance is free and copies of Eric Miyeni’s A Letter from Paris: Essays and Photographs will be on sale. The exhibition runs from Thursday the 18th March to Thursday the 1st April.

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, 18 March 2010
• Time: 12:00 PM “Intimate Paris” Conference with Rachel Uziel
  6:00 PM Opening of Eric Miyeni’s “A Letter for Paris” exhibition
• Venue: Gallery Gerard Sekoto,
  Alliance Française of Johannesburg,
  Cnr Kerry & Lower Park Drive
  Park View
  Johannesburg
• RSVP: Pauline, 011 646 1169,
  culture.jhb@alliance.org.za
  www.alliance.org.za

Book Details

• A Letter from Paris: Essays and Photographs by Eric Miyeni
  EAN: 9781770101722
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Moeletsi Mbeki has made it his business to know what’s going on in Africa and to study the reasons behind the continent’s struggles. His extremely popular and widely recognized work on the subject, Acrhitects of Poverty: Why African Capitalism Needs Changing, provides the backdrop to a recent speech he gave to AFRICOM (U.S. Africa Command) members in Stuttgart, Germany, as part of the AFRICOM Speaker’s Series:

“Security and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Looking to the Future”

Africa’s colonial legacy

The challenge facing Sub-Saharan Africa is not State building as many analysts believe. The immediate challenge most of Africa faces is society building.

Building a viable, sustainable and stable society requires the establishment and development of legitimate, socially hegemonic group or groups that can then build a viable state. This was what European colonial powers failed to do in Sub-Saharan Africa before they departed in the mid- 1950s to early 1960s. Instead they left behind a semblance of a state which had no social anchors. This was what led to Africa’s instability during the last half a century. This instability continues to this day in many countries despite a few signs of hope, in a handful of countries.

The most important factor in the creation of a stable capitalist society is the rise of a property owning class that controls extensive assets. On its own, this class of property owners is not sufficient to create a stable society because in order to develop the assets of these property owners and make them profitable, the owners require the technical and managerial skills of professional and artisan classes, generally referred to as the middle class. The bargaining power of this middle class also acts as a restraining influence on the political power of the large property owners.

• Read the complete article at Africom.mil

Book details

• Architects of Poverty: Why Africa’s Capitalism needs Changing by Moeletsi Mbeki
  EAN: 9781770101616
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

It was a mixed book- and theatre-loving crowd at the launch of Craig Higginson’s third novel, Last Summer, at the newly refurbished Mandela Square Exclusive Books on Wednesday, 3 March.

With luminaries such as Malcolm Purkey and Michael Titlestad participating in the launch, and theatre notables such as Nicky Rebelo and Irene Stephanou in the audience, the event was quite a treat. Higginson is a novelist, playwright, theatre director, editor and university lecturer, and Purkey opened by mentioning that, having worked Higginson at the Market Theatre for the last five years, it was a pleasure to witness “a very important voice emerge” – one that will continue to grow and develop over the next decade. Calling Higginson a “remarkable person”, Purkey prompted the crowd to “watch this space”.

Michael Titlestad engaged Higginson in conversation about Last Summer and how he sees the work fitting into a South African context. Titlestad noted how he has been seeing a change on the South African literary scene, where it is “no longer necessary to write about a prescribed set of themes” – including politics. He said the way has been opened for authors to write about the “possible and imagined”, which created an “exciting opportunity not to inhabit the familiar”.

Titlestad feels these changes also allow South African writers a chance to find their voices anew. Echoing these thoughts, Higginson commented that he views himself as a “citizen of the world, writing about whatever I want to write about”. Higginson spoke about literally “writing what we like”; about “not worrying about the local thing – if what we’re making is of relevance to people, they will read it”.

Last Summer is a novel set in Stratford-upon-Avon in the UK. It deals with a cast of characters involved with a Royal Shakespeare production of The Tempest. The book is dedicated to theatre man Barney Simon, and Higginson attributed much of his Harry character’s make-up to Simon, although he says parts of himself are present, too. The ultimate theme of the book is success: “What is success and what is not? Who do we think is great and what values make them great?”

Titlestad and Higginson also engaged with the challenges of launching a book in South Africa, saying it is a “fragile process”. The conversation explored the need to look for “spaces and opportunities” in a market that is caught up in present-day non-fiction writing, such as the Jake White biography.

This launch provided food for thought on the changing writing landscape that South African authors inhabit, and how the books emerging from this landscape are changing the local book-buying market.

Facebook gallery

Book details

• Last Summer by Craig Higginson
  EAN: 9781770101814
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

In ‘Last Summer’ the elegies of love are sung in measured and ironic tones. Higginson’s narrative poise, his understated and restrained emotional charge, are like cool air in our hot literary landscape.

– Leon de Kock

Pan Macmillan and Exclusive Books invite you to join author Craig Higginson for the launch of his new novel, Last Summer.

Hilarious and deeply affecting by turn, Thomas’s account is compelling in its lyricism, eccentricity and energetic attachment to life. Through him, we get to meet a colourful cast of characters and live through the gripping events of an ill-fated summer in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday, 03 March 2010
• Time: 6:00 PM for 6:30 PM
• Venue: Exclusive Books, Mandela Square, Shop 111, Upper Level
  Sandton City | Map
• Refreshments: or add your own
• RSVP: thesquare@exclusivebooks.co.za, 011 784 5416

About the author

Craig Higginson is a novelist, playwright and theatre director. Currently he is the Literary Manager of the Market Theatre in Johannesburg and teaches writing at the University of the Witwatersrand. In the course of ten years spent in England, he worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. Last Summer is his third novel.

Book Details

• Last Summer by Craig Higginson
  EAN: 9781770101814
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Trend guru Dion Chang – who recently hosted the 2010 Flux Trend conference – candidly answers questions for Izimvo about what’s in vogue, a few of his favourite things and living in Johannesburg:

Q: The all important personal profile. How would a close friend introduce you at a social event? i.e. Name, age, company, interesting fact etc.

A: Dion Chang, Trend Analyst from Flux Trends.

Q: Tell us something that not many others know about you. This could be anything from a phobia to your favorite movie.

A: People who read my column know me quite well. I also release a lot of personal information through online services such as Twitter. The stuff that people don’t know, they shouldn’t know and are not going to know.

As for my favorite movie of all time, a movie that really made an impression on me is Blade Runner. It was the first movie that was a realistic look at what the future could be.

• Read the complete article

Book details

• The State We’re In: The 2010 Flux Trend Review edited by Dion Chang
  EAN: 9781770101661
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Pan Macmillan is delighted to invite you to the launch of international bestselling author Peter James’ Dead Tomorrow, a Roy Grace novel. James will be in conversation with SA krimi queen Margie Orford.

Don’t miss what will surely be a riveting discussion of the dark and mysterious world of crime thriller fiction. We’ll see you there!

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday, 03 March 2010
• Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
• Venue: The Book Lounge, 71 Roeland
  cnr Buitenkant
  Cape Town | Map
• Guest Speaker: Margie Orford
• RSVP: booklounge@gmail.com, 021 462 2425

Book Details

• Dead Tomorrow by Peter James
  EAN: 9780230710849
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Photo courtesy sanderus

A speaker to look out for at this year’s Flux Trend Conference Menzi Mthethwa, gives us a preview of what he thinks 2010 holds in store for corporate social investment campaigns. More of his and other trend spotters’ insights are available in The 2010 Flux Trend Review.

As we start seeing the biggest global economic meltdown on our review mirror, corporate social investment campaigns will never be the same again. We can expect innovative campaigns that we have never seen before.

In other words, fundraisers (NGOs, NPOs and companies) will be going that extra mile in making sure that people show interest in their campaigns. Those who will not try to evolve – and are expecting cheques because they feel they are entitled to donations since they are helping the poor – will be left behind. It’s a harsh reality.

• Read the complete article at BizCommunity

Book details

• The State We’re In: The 2010 Flux Trend Review edited by Dion Chang
  EAN: 9781770101661
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Image courtesy Bizcommunity

Nelson Mandela 20 years of freedom 1990 – 2010

20 yrs later – We commemorate the Long Walk – for kids!
20 jaar later – ons onthou die Lang Pad na Vryheid – vir kinders!

Please join us for the Boekehuis Storie-Uur / Story Hour with Chris van Wyk, who will read from his adaptation of Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom. Delightfully illustrated by Paddy Bouma, this book brings an inspirational man to life for a younger generation and is published in South Africa’s eleven official languages. (All languages are available OR can be ordered from Boekehuis.)

We look forward to seeing you there!

Event details

• Date: Saturday 20 February 2010
• Time: 10:00 AM for 10:30 AM
• Venue: Boekehuis
  cnr Lothbury & Fawley
  Auckland Park
  Johannesburg | Map
• RSVP: Boekehuis, 011 482 3609, boekehuis@boekehuis.co.za

About the author

Chris van Wyk is the author of many books, amongst them poetry collections, children’s books, especially non-fiction for children. His delightful memoir Shirley, Goodness and Mercy about growing up in the Coloured township of Riverlea, Jhb, “is like eating dark chocolate – rich and bittersweet, and best when you savour it slowly, experiencing the richness as it melts in your mouth. His powerful writing is simple and clear, and the bright, bold characters in his book burst out of the pages” (the Write Co.).

Book details

• Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela, adapted by Chris van Wyk, illustrated by Paddy Bouma
  EAN: 9781405091886
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

White Lion, the film based on the remarkable life of Kevin Richardson, South Africa’s own “lion whisperer” opens in theaters on Friday 19th February. Richardson, together with Tony Parks, chronicled his incredible experiences with lions in Part of the Pride.

What started out as a dream has grown into an awe-inspiring new film by Rodney and Ilana Fuhr, the husband and wife team who are also the owners of the Johannesburg Lion Park.

White Lion, released in South Africa on 19 February, is a family adventure that follows the life of a white lion, Letsatsi, who is born into a tawny pride in the wilds of Africa. His colour difference makes life very difficult for him, forcing him to find his own way in the world, amidst numerous obstacles. Cast off by his pride as a young cub because of his curious complexion, Letsatsi is forced to make his way on his own in the wild, learning how to survive the threat of competitors for food, predatory crocodiles, and the growing threat of hunters who are willing to pay anything for the chance to track and kill this rare creature.

• Read the complete article

• White Lion the Movie homepage

Watch the trailer:

• Not loading? Watch on Channel24

Book details

• Part of the Pride by Kevin Richardson and Tony Parks
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9780312556747
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!