Pan Macmillan

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
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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.

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Book details

• Last Summer by Craig Higginson
  EAN: 9781770101814
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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!

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:

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Book details

• Part of the Pride by Kevin Richardson and Tony Parks
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9780312556747
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Editor of the The State We’re In: The 2010 Flux Trend Review and local fashion fundi Dion Chang says conspicuous consumption is old hat. We’re all into “Emphatic Economy” and innovation now. Design-wise it might just be one of the best things to happen in a long time.

Conspicuous consumption is so “last season”. This is the message from trend analyst Dion Chang.

At a presentation yesterday, he said 2008 had been the year of the “wake-up call, while last year was a global peak year”, an expression that describes a year when a way of life comes to an end.

The previous peak year, he said, was 2001, when fear of terrorism in the US came to dominate global events.

The global recession that began in 2008 reached a trough last year, throwing millions of people out of work. The outcome, Chang said, was the start of an “empathetic economy” – the topic of his presentation, in which “value systems changed drastically” and companies, communities and families collaborated to survive.

• Read the complete article in the Business Report

Book details

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

In a preview article for a book that’s coming out from Pan Macmillan later this year, the Sunday Independent’s Maureen Isaacson asks, Who is the real Mandela – the person who lives practically in his own media-and-Hollywood generated shadow? Vernon Harris of the Nelson Mandela Foundation is in charge of directing the “memory archive” of Madiba’s papers. Isaacson speaks to him about the task of curating the legacy of a legend:

Nelson Mandela is in danger of being swallowed by Morgan Freeman and Hollywood.

Even as celebrations for the 20th anniversary of Mandela’s release from prison conjure memories of the stoical “prisoner in the garden”, the face of liberation, the Gandhian reconciler, there is an attempt to rescue him from the jaws of his admirers.

Among those looking for the nuances once associated with Mandela, man of many faces, is the memory team at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, in Houghton. It is hard at work, retrieving the light and shade that fashioned Mandela the dancer, boxer, lover, husband, lawyer, comrade, revolutionary, guerrilla leader and statesman. We are familiar with some of these.

But what was really happening in the heart of the man who at 75 went to the hustings, leading the ANC’s election campaign as he faced down the possibility of a rampant right wing onslaught?

Did anyone ever know?

• Read the complete article

Photo courtesy Daymix

The Cow Artworks was the hottest place to be in Joburg’s trendy Parkhurst last Thursday: Famed broadcast personality, actor, author and now photographer Eric Miyeni launched his latest literary offering, A Letter from Paris – a collection of essays and photographs capturing his visit to the City of Light in 2007 – at the jazzy venue, which was packed to the rafters.

Cellist Kutlwano Masote provided the music as guests mingled in the gallery taking in Miyeni’s black and white photographs on the walls. The French Ambassador to South Africa, Jacques Lapouge, was introduced as the guest speaker.

Praising the book and its approach, which, for once, has an African observing and commenting on European culture, La Pogue said, “Black people have been brutalised for centuries. To heal we need moments to be proud of, we need something that focuses our attention in the world to find joy, and the will to be better and successful.” Acknowledging Miyeni’s well-known outspokenness Lapouge added, “we find it interesting that someone like you could experience our capital city during the Rugby World Cup”.

When it was his turn to take the floor, Miyeni sincerely thanked Ambassador Lapouge, and paid tribute to the former French Ambassador to South Africa, Denis Pietton, remembering him for his “easy smile and deep understanding and love for this country”. Miyeni included IFAS Director Laurent Clavel, and Alliance Francaise’s Frédéric Jagu in his thanks for supporting the work.

“I hope you like the work,” the author quipped, “and if you don’t, write vigorously in protest!” Miyeni honoured his mother Mavis, who was present, “for all the goodness” in him and for teaching him to “stand on his feet”.

Wrapping up, he reminded guests that the walls were filled with his debut photographic work and playfully advised readers to read his book the “traditional way”: “patiently start where the book begins and work you way through to the end”.

Post the speeches the DJs took over and the real party started. Even Joshua Lindberg was spotted popping over to the gallery while on his evening walk with his dog!

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Book details

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