Wu wei, Ubuntu, Buen vivir
Michel Dijkstra & Simone Bassie
ISVW Uitgevers, 2020
ISBN 9789492538499

In dit boek laten Michel Dijkstra en Simone Bassie enkele hoogtepunten van het mondiale levenskunstige denken zien. Drie hoofdgedachten staan centraal in hun overzicht: de netwerkgedachte, het zoeken zonder vooroordelen en grenzeloze nabijheid. Deze kernthema’s structureren de volgorde van honderd door hen gekozen ideeën uit de wereldfilosofie.

A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg
Harry Kalmer
Penguin Books, 2018
ISBN 9781485903475

Spanning more than a hundred years, A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg  is a novel that documents and probes the lives of the inhabitants of this incomparable African city – the exiled, those returning from exile, and those who never left.

Sorry, Not Sorry
Haji Mohamed Dawjee
Penguin Books, 2018
ISBN 9781776092666

In Sorry, Not Sorry,  Haji Mohamed Dawjee explores the often maddening experience of moving through post-Apartheid South Africa as a woman of colour. In characteristically candid style, Dawjee pulls no punches when examining the social landscape: from arguing why she’d rather deal with an open racist than some liberal white people, to drawing on her own experience to convince readers that joining a cult is never a good idea. 

Illuminating Lives : Biographies of fascinating people from South African history
Vivian Bickford-Smith and Bill Nasson (eds.)
Penguin Books, 2018
ISBN 9781776092642

In this fresh and highly readable collection of South African biographical essays, a distinguished group of authors illuminates the lives of eleven colourful, complex men and women whose personal experiences throw fascinating light on the times in which they lived.

The Theory of Flight
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
Penguin Books, 2018ISBN 9781415209424

Said to have hatched from a golden egg, Genie spends her childhood playing in a field of sunflowers as her country reawakens after a fierce civil war.

But Genie’s story stretches back much further: it tells of her grandfather, who quenched his wanderlust by walking into the Indian Ocean, and of her father, who spent countless hours building model aeroplanes to catch up with him. It is the tale of her mother, a singer self-styled after Dolly Parton with a dream of travelling to Nashville, and of her grandmother, who did everything in her power to raise her children to have character.

Opstokers, fopdossers en tweegatjakkalse
Herman Lategan
Penguin Books, 2018
ISBN 9781776091591

In hierdie boek kry jy insae in hoe stories rondom woorde gevorm word. Herman kies telkens ’n woord en bou ’n storie om dit. Die inhoud val uiteen as ’n tipe abecedarium – speelse inskripsies volgens die letters van die alfabet, dikwels met woorde wat nie meer alledaags gebruik word nie of die gevaar loop om in onbruik te raak. Herman is nie bang om (soms geniepsige) sosiale kommentaar te lewer nie, en van die stories handel oor verlies, verlange, patos; ander is sommer laf of selfs katterig.

The Boy Who Could Keep a Swan in his Head
John Hunt
Umuzi, 2018
ISBN 9781415209660

While other boys daydream about racing cars and football, eleven-year-old stutterer Phen sits reading to his father. In number four Duchess Court, Phen’s dad looks like a Spitfire pilot behind his oxygen mask.

But real life is different from the daring adventures in the books Phen reads and he is forced to grow up faster than other boys his age.

Poignant, witty and wise, The Boy Who Could Keep a Swan in His Head  is a meditation on being alive and shows us the power of books when we need them the most.

Patagonië
Maya Fowler
Umuzi, 2018
ISBN 9781415209288

Die middeljarige doktor Tertius Pelser is ʼn gefrustreerde geskiedenisdosent aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch. Sy vervelige lewe verander handomkeer wanneer hy op ’n aand homself oorgee aan drank en by ’n jong student, Carina, slaap. ’n Paar dae later is daar foto’s van Tertius en Carina se sekseskapades op sosiale media.