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Reunited: Anthony Akerman with his birth mother in 1990

A return to the literal motherland

This extract from playwright Anthony Akerman’s memoir tells of coming home after 17 years’ exile

‘Gogo is too much’: Zukiswa Wanner is the author of several novels, including Men of the South, which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

Discover God’s gift to women

This is an edited extract from prolific writer Zukiswa Wanner’s new novel, Love Marry Kill

Confronting the madness of war, trauma

This is an extract from ‘The Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD’ by Fergal Keane

Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela’s wedding photo. Today marks their 65th anniversary. (Photo by Gallo Images / Avusa)

Winnie and Nelson Mandela: The politics of parenting from prison

An edited excerpt from Jonny Steinberg’s ‘Winnie & Nelson : Portrait of a Marriage’ where their daughter Zindzi visits the jail

Bodybuilding theme party at Frágil, Lisbon, 1983. (José Soares e Nica)

A time capsule Lisbon of revolution, hangovers, hedonism

African influences help merge periphery with centre to widen our frames of references

An extract from bell hooks’s ‘Outlaw Culture’: Seduced by violence no more

In this extract from bell hooks’s book ‘Outlaw Culture’, (chapter title above) she expounds on women’s role in confronting rape culture

A mural in Memphis depicting its musical legacy, and its complicated place in history as the site of Dr King’s assassination. (Photo: Fred de Vries)

The ghosts of Memphis: The good, the bad, the rock ’n soul

The city where Martin Luther King Jr took his last breath remains haunted by urban blight, blues and soul

‘Partner’ by Mercy Thokozane Minah. (Digital oil painting, 2020)

‘The Sweetest Ache’ extract: Dark brown and midnight black magic

An activist’s encounter with an attractive waitress leads her to take an inventory of her own body in Mercy Thokozane Minah’s ‘The Sweetest Ache’

Extract: Mandy Wiener’s ‘The Whistleblowers’ shows the cost of speaking out

In this extract from journalist Mandy Wiener’s latest book she examines the death of ANC Youth League member Sindiso Magaqa in KwaZulu-Natal

Undeniable: Memoir of a Covert War (Jacana Media)

Doing acts of journalism

Philippa Garson’s memoir details the heady days of being a Weekly Mail journalist in the 1990s

Happy Sindane’s body was found a few hundred metres from his home in Tweefontein, Mpumalanga on Monday, 1 April 2013. A family picture of Happy among his adopted family. (Madelene Cronjé)

From Ebbie to Happy Sindane

Our society remains carved up because differences are viewed as weaknesses