This beautifully told story ignites a fire in the reader, especially the female reader, creating a world where nothing is impossible. Zukiswa focuses on the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) kings and queens and celebrates their dominance and independence respectively while at the same time emphasizing the importance of a united family. Unlike The Madams, here we see the woman dismantling that stereotype that defines her first as a mother, then as a wife and finally as a professional.
It is the tale of Nobantu's struggle to find her identity and finally do something for herself and not for her mother, husband or children. Patiently, she begs for her husband's support and he unwaveringly refuses because he sees it as a sign of incompetence on his part for his wife to work. Ntsiki, her lesbian friend , tries to persuade her to follow her heart with or without her husband and after much ado, she eventually does, proving to us that still waters indeed run deep. She wakes up and packs her things, leaving behind her husband, kids and mobile phone with no contact address. That marks the beginning of her not-so-smooth journey away from her bourgeois lifestyle in Johannesburg to a simple life in Soweto pursuing her dream to create a clothe line- Soweto Uprising.
KZN Literary Tourism spent last week training community guides from Cato Manor. The course examined the trail writers and their texts in detail and the guides are now ready to take tourist groups around the township. Contact us to make a booking.
Thanks to Shiney Bright for taking the photographs.
The Madams is a well told story with Thandi, the narrator pulling the reader along to experience life as she and her friends know it. We are drawn into their world of Hawaiian cocktails,American blokes, Indian hunks, philandering husbands, ungrateful maids, indirect offsprings of the Royal family... and we can't help but tag along; and happily too. The writer laces her fiction with traditional lingo which just few of our Nigerian writers do effectively. There's also a lot of reference to traditional cultural values/beliefs, without coming off as anti-21st Century. The language is very simple and the narrative is detailed and explicit. This makes the book 'unputdownable'. The Madams is loaded with humour, wit and sarcasm and yet creates a world so real to the reader that at the end you come out looking at your world with new eyes.
Diplomatic Corpse Productions present Kobus Moolman's STONE ANGEL. Running from the 23rd of September 2008 to the 5th of October 2008 at the Square Space theatre on the UKZN campus.
Directed by Clare Mortimer, and starring Janna Ramos-Violante and Josette Eales.
Stone Angel was the joint winner of last year's National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund / Performing Arts Network of South Africa Festival of Contemporary New Writing. This is the second time that Kobus has won this prestigious award for new South African dramatic writing. In 2004 he received the Jury Prize for Best Script for his play, Full Circle.
Diplomatic Corpse is very excited to bring Stone Angel to Durban for a limited run after seeing its premiere at the Grahamstown festival earlier this year. Reviewers at the festival called the play, 'masterful', 'brilliant' and 'amazing' all in one review!
Chant of the Doves is Stephen Coan’s first collection of poetry. And I hope that it will be the first of many. It is a slim, pocket-sized collection, comprising approximately seventy short untitled poems. A large number of these are haiku poems – although not in the strict ninth-century classical Chinese style, but rather more loose and open-ended.
Coan has made a name for himself as feature writer at Pietermaritzburg’s daily newspaper, The Witness (where he is assistant editor), and also as a researcher on the work of H. Rider Haggard. In 2000 he edited for first-time publication, Haggard’s account of his 1914 visit to southern Africa, Diary of an African Journey. And in 2007 he edited (with Alfred Tella), Mameena and Other Plays: the Complete Dramatic Works of H. Rider Haggard.
This beautifully told story ignites a fire in the reader, especially the female reader, creating a world where nothing is impossible. Zukiswa focuses on the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) kings and queens and celebrates their dominance and independence respectively while at the same time emphasizing the importance of a united family. Unlike The Madams, here we see the woman dismantling that stereotype that defines her first as a mother, then as a wife and finally as a professional. 
The Madams is a well told story with Thandi, the narrator pulling the reader along to experience life as she and her friends know it. We are drawn into their world of Hawaiian cocktails,American blokes, Indian hunks, philandering husbands, ungrateful maids, indirect offsprings of the Royal family... and we can't help but tag along; and happily too. The writer laces her fiction with traditional lingo which just few of our Nigerian writers do effectively. There's also a lot of reference to traditional cultural values/beliefs, without coming off as anti-21st Century. The language is very simple and the narrative is detailed and explicit. This makes the book 'unputdownable'. The Madams is loaded with humour, wit and sarcasm and yet creates a world so real to the reader that at the end you come out looking at your world with new eyes.
Chant of the Doves is Stephen Coan’s first collection of poetry. And I hope that it will be the first of many. It is a slim, pocket-sized collection, comprising approximately seventy short untitled poems. A large number of these are haiku poems – although not in the strict ninth-century classical Chinese style, but rather more loose and open-ended.
