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On the pulse: Writer Lebohang Mazibuko’s debut novel will appeal to adults and teenagers alike; the plot follows protagonist Naledi as she navigates the pressures of becoming a woman. Photo: Anthony Horak

Extract from ‘Bantu Knots’: The time of budding breasts

Lebohang Mazibuko’s debut novel, ‘Bantu Knots’ is both poignant and relevant — and speaks to teenagers and adults alike

Extract: ‘These Are Not Gentle people’ by Andrew Harding

‘These Are Not Gentle People’ is an account, by Andrew Harding, the BBC correspondent in South Africa, of a murder in Parys, in the Free State, and what happened next. This…

Mermaid Fillet is, among other things, an intricately woven tale of wannabe gangsters.

Extract from ‘Mermaid Fillet: A Noir Crime Novel’ by Mia Arderne

This extract from Mia Arderne’s debut work of fiction, ‘Mermaid Fillet: A Noir Crime Novel’ introduces readers to Uncle ‘M16-in-your-bek’

Polyhedra, still 5 from Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum’s book There Are Mechanisms in Place (2018), published by Michaelis Galleries, UCT

The landscape of meaning: mechanism and memory in depictions of disaster

‘There Are Mechanisms in Place’ posits that the all-encompassing physicality of the landscape does not reference an ‘abstract’ danger, but one that is created by both nature and…

Mark Gevisser and Tiwonge Chimbalanga at the StreetScapes  Community Garden in Cape Town, where she works (Ellen Elmendorp)

‘Courageous reinvention’: an extract from Mark Gevisser’s ‘The Pink Line’

In this extract from Mark Gevisser’s new book, Aunty, fleeing abuse and witchcraft, treks to northern Malawi

Bessie Head was forced out of South Africa after being interrogated by the Security Police. (George Hallett)

Extract: Gunning for Bessie’s head, from ‘The Terrorist Album’

Jacob Dlamini’s new book, The Terrorist Album, tells the stories of people saddled with that catch-all phrase during apartheid and how their presence on that list made them fair…