Pan Macmillan

Listen to last week’s Talk Radio 702 books show with Jenny Crwys-Williams to hear an in-depth interview with Ways of Staying author Kevin Bloom.

Their chat is preceded by a review of the book by the station’s Jean Jacques Cornish, who says it “provides a stark snapshot of our country” and contains some of the “most chilling pieces of journalism” that the reviewer has read in many a year. Cornish adds the name Hunter S Thompson to the list of journalists with whose work Bloom’s has been compared (a list topped by Rian Malan).

Ultimately, the book – and the show – is about “living under pressure in South Africa – under serious pressure, actually”, says Crwys-Williams. Don’t miss it:
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The Joburg Book gazes at the history of southern Africa’s pre-eminent city through a range of different-coloured glasses, says the book’s editor, Nechama Brodie, in a podcast interview with Tymon Smith.

A number of writers and photographers, who’ve been working on the project for quite some time, present the city of gold from a multitude of perspectives; as a consequence, says Michelle Magwood – who wrote the story up in a cameo feature for her former newspaper – the book’s “tone is immensely positive and forward-looking.”
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