Archive for the ‘News’ Category
by Thando on Mar 18th, 2013
Journalists Mandy Wiener and Barry Bateman have signed a book deal with Pan Macmillan to write Behind The Door: The Oscar and Reeva Story, which will be published once Oscar Pistorius’ trial for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, is over.
Pan Macmillan South Africa has acquired world rights to the book that, according to Joshua Farrington of The Bookseller, “have been sublicensed by Pan Macmillan UK (which will cover world English rights excluding the USA, Canada and South Africa) and Macmillan USA. The UK rights department will handle foreign language rights sales.”
Wiener, the author of Killing Kebble, an exposé of the Brett Kebble murder, will be writing the book along with her Eyewitness News colleague Bateman, who was one of the first journalists on the scene of Steenkamp’s shooting and who has been one of the stand-out journalists writing about the case on social media.
The book “will follow the background to the case, the events of the trial itself, and a broader look at violence and criminal justice in South Africa”.
Pan Macmillan South Africa has acquired world rights to a book which investigates the trial of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, with Pan Macmillan UK sublicensing rights.
Behind The Door: The Oscar and Reeva Story will be written by South African journalist and author Mandy Wiener alongside reporter Barry Batemam, one of the first journalists on the scene following the shooting which left model Steenkamp dead.
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Image courtesy The Guardian
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by Tarryn on Jun 6th, 2011
Last week, Jonathan Jansen announced via Twitter that the world’s most famous talk-show host, Oprah Winfrey, would be visiting the “transformed” University of the Free State later this month. Winfrey, who has officially retired from The Oprah Winfrey Show following her 25 May finale, is said to be arriving in South Africa on 24 June.
Talk show host and media magnate Oprah Winfrey will visit the University of the Free State this month, apparently because she is impressed by its transformation.
Prof Jonathan Jansen, vice-chancellor and rector, said Oprah approached the university three weeks ago to organise a visit.
He broke the news about her visit on Twitter yesterday morning.
UFS has also awarded Oprah an honorary doctorate which she will collected during her stay in South Africa. The doctorate Oprah will receive is co-incident with Jansen’s field of expertise, that of education:
The University of the Free State (UFS) confirmed on Thursday that world famous talk show queen Oprah Winfrey will be visiting the Kovsie campus on June 24.
According to Die Burger, Winfrey will receive an honorary doctorate in education from the UFS.
UFS spokesperson Lacea Loader declined to elaborate about the visit.
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Photo courtesy the Guardian
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by Tarryn on Nov 10th, 2010
Pan Macmillan and Boekehuis invite you to a discussion on Nelson Mandela’s Conversations with Myself.
Conversations with Myself draws on Mandela’s personal archive to show the private world of an incomparable leader. Encompassing never before seen diaries, letters, personal notes, draft speeches and audio recordings, The Nelson Mandela archive is the result of a lifetime of putting pen to paper, recording his thoughts and events, hardships and victories.
Tim Couzens, who edited and compiled the book, will be in conversation with Verne Harris and Sello Hatang from the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Please join us at Boekehuis Bookshop this Saturday, we look forward to seeing you there!
Event Details
- Date: Saturday, 13 November 2010
- Time: 12:00 PM for 12:30 PM
- Venue: Boekehuis
Corner Lothbury Road and Fawley Avenue
Auckland Park
Johannesburg | Map
- Guest Speakers: Verne Harris and Sello Hatang
- RSVP: Boekehuis@boekehuis.co.za, 011 482 3609
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by Tarryn on Nov 3rd, 2010
Pan Macmillan and Exclusive Books invite you to the launch of The Fear by Peter Godwin.
In mid-2008, after thirty years of increasingly tyrannical rule, Robert Mugabe, the 84-year-old ruler of Zimbabwe, met with his politburo. He had just lost an election. But instead of conceding power, Mugabe was persuaded to launch a brutal campaign of terror to cower Zimbabwe’s citizens. Journalist and author Peter Godwin was one of a few observers to slip into the country and bear witness to the terrifying period that Zimbabweans call simply, The Fear.
Following on from his compelling and moving memoirs Mukiwa, told with Godwin’s brilliant eye for character and natural story-telling gifts, this dark story of Africa’s corruption and violence is populated by extraordinary characters whose lives have been shaped by The Fear.
Join Peter Godwin in conversation with Moletsi Mbeki for an evening of captivating discussion-we look forward to seeing you there!
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by Nina on Oct 18th, 2010
Last week, a large collection of Nelson Mandela’s letters and writings were published worldwide in the acclaimed new book, Conversations with Myself. Media interest in the book has been tremendous; here we present several of the most compelling stories.
The book comes at a time when Mandela’s legacy is something very much contested over, with a half-dozen figures and organisations claiming to speak on Madiba’s behalf. While young upstarts like Julius Malema claim that the former President called for nationalisation of South African industries while he was in prison, Conversations reveals Mandela’s pragmatic and non-ideological style of governance. In conversation with Time‘s Richard Stengel, Mandela reveals his understanding of the concerns of business. Malema will be shocked to read his words, “the one thing that is important is … to have the support of business”:
Julius Malema take note. Nelson Mandela indeed called for nationalisation of South African industry while in prison, as the youth leader is fond of pointing out, but he did a radical about-face on returning to the real world.
Nelson Mandela — Conversations with Myself, published this week, records Mandela’s reaction to the fallout from his prison declaration.
In a conversation with American editor Richard Stengel, he describes how the concerns of the business community “set one thinking, because the one thing that is important is … to have the support of business”.
Elsewhere, Mandela’s grandson Mandla has caused a stir in the village of Mvezo, Eastern Cape, where the carefully-preserved the ruins of Mandela’s birthplace stood for years, a symbol of the village’s suffering at the hands of the Apartheid regime. Mandla Mandela, the village’s new chief razed the old foundations and walls and built six imitation huts in their place:
Then the village’s new chief arrived on the scene: Nelson Mandela’s energetic young grandson, Mandla. Ignoring the historians, he razed the old walls and foundations, cleared away the ruins of his grandfather’s birthplace, and built a collection of six replica huts on the site to attract tourists. For the first time, the museum was shut out of the birthplace of its namesake.
In public, neither side is saying anything about the dispute. But the bitterness is close to the surface when museum employees are asked privately about the young chief. “He destroyed a lot of history and heritage,” one official fumes. Another says: “The museum was conserving and preserving those ruins as physical evidence. It was so important to people all over the world. Now the ruins are gone.”
The book, meanwhile, reveals a Nelson Mandela in the round – a private persona that often sharply diverged from the image of the amiable public figure. Mandela the family man could, at times, be an emotionally aloof and patriarchal figure. His oldest daughter Maki talks about her feelings towards her father:
Increasingly frail at 92, Mandela is revered around the globe for his warmth, dignity and moral authority. Indeed, unlike most political autobiographies, the book appears not to seek justification or aggrandisement.
He dismisses any suggestion that he is a saintly figure and discloses that he never sought to be president of South Africa, preferring instead that a younger man should take the job.
For all the humanity he displays in public, however, readers have been struck by the cold, rather stilted tone of Mandela’s letters to his family during his long years of imprisonment.
Though Mandela “the man” remains an enigma, there are a few personal tidbits one can glean between the book’s covers, ranging from the “Reluctant Mandela” – the man who thought he was too old to be president – to the “Sexy Mandela”, who recalls a memory of Winnie as “barely 25 … tasty in her young and smooth body that was covered by a pink silk gown.” Here are the many facets of Mandela:
—The Wise Mandela
Mandela went underground in May 1961 and eluded a massive manhunt for 15 months. When he was finally caught, the South African police tried to plant rumors that Walter Sisulu, one of Mandela’s closest friends, had betrayed him. When Sisulu finally met face-to-face with Mandela (in jail, naturally), he was extremely worried that Mandela had believed it. Mandela calmed Sisulu, telling him he wasn’t fooled. (It turned out the CIA had tipped off the police.)
Conversations with Myself was also featured on US television station CBS’ 60 Minutes programme. The creation of the book began with an mandate of extraordinary latitude from Madiba; “Take my personal writings, and do what you will with them”. Watch:
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by Nina on Sep 2nd, 2010
Pan Macmillan and CitiVibe are delighted to announce the winner of this year’s Citizen Book Prize, held for teen-fiction manuscripts: Justin Germishuys, for his synopsis on his manuscript, The Discoveries of Wispish.
Justin is a 27-year-old bookseller at Exclusive Books Woodlands. His favourite authors are PG Wodehouse and John Steinbeck. Justin says, “I have enjoyed creating things. Sculpting, drawing, inventing amazing contraptions that don’t work, I’ve done them all, but writing is by far my favourite, because in writing everything that I imagine exists. Even dragons.”
He receives R10 000 from The Citizen, and review of his manuscript, with the possibility of publication, by Macmillan South Africa. Congratulations to Justin!
The runner-up this year was Nic Zav for The Altar of the Spirit Thief. Here are the two synopses:
The Discoveries of Wispish by Justin Germishuys
For five hundred years, a family of four dragons has been living in exile in an underground system of caves.
Manvreet, his mate Doris, their son Lester, and Grandpa are all sitting around a rock table when Doris calls Manvreet aside to express her concerns that cave life is stifling Lester’s development. She asks Manvreet to consider returning to the topside world. Manvreet agrees to think about it, but he is afraid of the unknown dangers outside.
The next morning, Manvreet saves an unusual human named William Wispish from drowning in the underground river. William is possibly the only survivor of a team of four cave explorers. Manvreet realises he can find out more about the outside world from this man. So, to Doris’s annoyance, Manvreet decides, in the hopes of establishing a bond and getting information, to take William on a tour of the caves. Lester begs to go along, but when Manvreet denies him, he storms off on his own, blaming William.
On the tour, The Chariot, a box carried by rats, breaks down alongside the underground river. After William has a near-death experience with a catfish, the two males have a snack and William tells Manvreet how the world has changed. Suddenly, a dire rat attacks William, but just before it’s too late, Manvreet rescues him.
That night, a wounded William joins the dragons, excluding Lester, at the Main Chamber for a dinner of dire rats. There he learns some of the story behind the dragons’ exile. He also finds out that, in the morning, because of his wound, he will be staying alone with Doris, who hates him, while Manvreet attends to some chores.
Being alone with Doris is scary, which results in William’s needing to use the dragon’s very large toilet. William almost falls in, but Doris catches him, after which their relationship improves so much that Doris confides in him about her relationship problems with Manvreet. William decides to intervene with cosmetology and dance. The couple reconcile and decide they need time alone, so they cunningly convince Grandpa to take William to the tannery.
During the tannery adventure, William endears himself to the gruff and grouchy Grandpa, loses three priceless jewels, finds evidence that his teammates could still be alive and, most importantly, makes leather pants to replace his pair that was torn when he was attacked by the dire rat.
Later, when everyone is asleep, Lester tries to abduct William but fails. Manvreet insists they go looking for Lester to get an explanation. To William’s surprise, Manvreet abandons him in the middle of nowhere, and Lester finally captures him and takes him to his den. There, William finds Maggie, his teammate, very much alive in Lester’s care.
Manvreet, who secretly followed Lester to his den, eavesdrops and hears Lester explain to William how he doesn’t want to leave the caves. To decide finally if they should stay or go, Manvreet challenges Lester to a showdown. Manvreet wins. They have to leave.
~ ~ ~
The Altar of the Spirit Thief by Nico Zaverdinos
Deep in the heart of Zululand, Sarah Stevenson stumbles across a diamond embedded in a mysterious cave, and thinks she has found the answer to all her problems. But instead she and Bongani Ndladla, who that very same night is orphaned in a freakish attack and with whom she shares a strange magic, are drawn into an age-old and bitter war.
Pursued by a mysterious shape-shifting man who is able to transfigure ordinary people into homicidal zombie-like ghouls, the two teens flee to a ramshackle hotel near Greytown. There they find themselves in the midst of an eccentric group of people calling themselves the Children of Orford. The leader of this motley gang, the amiable Baba Ali, tells them the ancient story of the war being waged, and the part that Bongani and Sarah are to play in it. And he teaches them how to unlock the magic lurking in their bloodlines, while they in turn discover another phenomenon – they literally share each other’s dreams.
But can these people be trusted? Sarah has misgivings and decides they must leave. She drags Bongani off into the night and into immediate danger. They are attacked by a gruesome swarm of tokoloshes, controlled by their erstwhile shape-shifting adversary. Fortunately, Ali and his friends catch wind of the attack and Bongani and Sarah are rescued, and afforded the chance to test their new magic abilities.
Bongani and Sarah are moved to Durban, where they meet up with an expert on the mystery magic, Ignatius Chinsammy – a veteran of the ancient war, now forever fettered to a wheelchair. Ignatius has discovered that the Children of Orford’s mortal enemy is set to uncover an artefact that will grant them absolute supremacy in the war. He sends our two heroes to retrieve it, but they fail in their quest and in the process Sarah realises that her birthright – unlike the pureblood Bongani – is that of the enemy they have been fighting – she is a child of the people she has come to hate. Fleeing her fate, she again places Bongani in peril and it is only through the quick thinking of Ignatius that he is saved.
Danger pursues them southwards and Sarah discovers first-hand how terrifying a perversely possessed mob can be. They are rescued from sure death by a kindly but bumbling police officer – another warrior in the primeval war – who takes them to a farm in Underberg. It is here that they meet the oracle Ouma Shipton, a woman who pervades their shared dreamscape. But battle soon looms and the two are whisked away to the Wild Coast for a final showdown with their adversaries.
In an almighty contest between these two factions, Sarah reconciles herself to the fact that she carries within her the blood of the enemy, and Bongani learns his true destiny. Our heroes fight for their lives to conquer all the terrors that have pursued them across the country. Except one … the shape-shifter is still on their trail.
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by Nina on Jun 10th, 2010
Pan Macmillan SA’s colleagues at Farrar, Strauss and Giroux have announced that US President Barack Obama will write the foreword to Nelson Mandela’s Conversations with Myself, which will be published by Macmillan and Farrar in October this year. Both men are Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
The Associated Press reports:
Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux announced Wednesday that Obama will contribute to Mandela’s “Conversations With Myself.” It is a collection of diaries, journals and other personal materials of the former South African president and apartheid foe.
Such thrilling news! We can’t wait to read what Obama writes.
Images courtesy eev.liu.edu and Cambiohistory @ Blogspot
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by Nina on May 24th, 2010
Pan Macmillan SA sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading The Mistress’s Dog: Short Stories 1996 – 2010 by David Medalie, launched in May 2010. Due to an unforeseen printing error, we have had to recall all stock of this title currently in circulation with immediate effect.
As a result of this error, all stock has been removed from book stores and distributors. Pan Macmillan is arranging an urgent reprint and a corrected version of the book will be on shelves as soon as possible. We will notify you when the corrected copies are in the stores.
Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused; we hope that you enjoy reading this engaging collection of short stories by award-winning author David Medalie.
Your sincerely
Terry Morris
Managing Director
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by Nina on Jan 20th, 2010
Coming out at the tail end of this summer!
“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
It is summer in Stratford-upon-Avon. Thomas is a young theatre director at the Royal Shakespeare Company who is desperately in love with Lucy, the leading actress in a production of The Tempest. Their experiences are woven into the life of a theatre presided over by Harry, an ageing South African exile who becomes caught up in a history he sought to escape.
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.
“Writing believably about theatre folk is hard to pull off, given the slippery slope of their own fictional allegiances, but in Last Summer Craig Higginson manages with some panache a multi-layered love story filled with warmth and lyricism. I was captivated.”
– Janet Suzman, Actress
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.
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by Nina on Nov 19th, 2009
The Citizen and Macmillan South Africa are proud to announce the winner of the Citizen Book Prize 2009 – the only book prize decided by the reading public.
The Wewelsburg Covenant by Johan Broens is a gripping World War 2-to-present-day account of one man’s conflict against his Nazi upbringing.
Swayed by an unintentional and undeniable love affair, James Trevellian’s choices will eventually decide the fate of the world.
There were almost 1 000 votes across all the titles in the final week, with The Wewelsburg Covenant receiving a record number of votes for this competition.
Macmillan have taken the decision to not publish the manuscript in its current form (a right detailed in the Prize conditions), but Johan Broens still receives a R10 000 cash prize and a writing course sponsored by Macmillan.
Broens looked back on the process he’s been through. “I wrote the novel, since it had been my ambition for nearly 10 years to do so. “I resigned my position at a consultancy to wholly spend my time devoted to the novel. I could not foresee any other way of writing it,” he says.
“I wrote on a fulltime basis, every day of the week, for four to eight hours per day, for seven weeks. Although I was confident of my writing abilities, I was even amazed at how readily the words flowed from my mind,” Broens says.
“Writing, to me, came naturally, most probably due to my passion for writing, my fertile imagination and very wide general knowledge. I have reached a stage in my life where I want to be creative. What could be more creative than writing a novel?” Broens says.
“It is my absolute ambition to be an author for the rest of my life.”
The Wewelsburg Covenant should find a large audience.
“My intended audience would be the same as those targeted through novels by authors such as Frederick Forsyth, Wilbur Smith, Tom Clancy, Harry Patterson, etc,” says Broens.
“The novel, I believe, would appeal to a wide variety of people, as it contains much intrigue and is closely associated with historical fact,” he says.
“Most importantly,“It is a novel which is believable. It has an authentic ring to it, making the reader believe that such events could have happened.
“It also, on a personal level, addresses an issue that many people face in today’s world, namely prejudice,” Broens says.
“And people generally enjoy reading books about secret organisations and novels that span over generations.”
Watch The Citizen‘s CitiVibe for a full interview with Johan Broens and more news about The Wewelsburg Covenant.
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