Neither the poems, nor Okai himself, need my voice – the poet has long established himself as one of the towering figures in the field of modern African poetry in English.
Readers will find that all the familiar elements of the Okai signature are present – the declamatory posture of the poet – persona; the tactical deployment of assonances, the mobilization of memory; and remembrance; the constant mingling of customary codes and the violent conjoining of names from diverse epochs - all these and more are patently in evidence here.
It is this burning desire to celebrate the black experience and culture through the iconic figures who symbolize our struggles and triumphs, that governs the collection. We encounter names like Mandela, Cabral, Lumumba, Nkrumah. Femi Osofisan – Ibadan, Nigeria.
FAT SONGS FOR MY GIRLFRIENDS
- Napo Masheane
ISBN: 9780620519472
PRICE: R150.00
FAT SONGS for my girlfriends is a timely collection of poetry. As urgent in it’s message as it is entertaining, women and those who love them ignore this collection at their own peril…’ Zukiswa Warner: author and literary activist
‘You are drawn into intimacies about joy, pain, soft anger, quietness and you will ask: what is going on?’ Dr Mongane Wally Serote: poet, writer and statesman
DREAMS OF FLIGHT - Myesha Jenkins
ISBN: 9780620516891
PRICE: R120.00
In Dreams of Flight, Myesha takes the reader on a journey of sensuality, memory and resilience. Her language is simple, emotional and descriptive allowing the reader to easily engage with her words. Written over a six year period, this work reveals the growth and insights of a woman who is comfortable with herself but willing to explore and expand into new dimensions.
“You will find yourself in these poems,” says Jenkins, “I did.”
WENA - Ntsiki Mazwai
ISBN: 978-0-9814398-1-5
PRICE: R145.00
Mazwai’s tone is refreshingly free of pretension, which allows the force and individuality of her voice to come through.
Fellow poet David wa Maahlamela writes: “The poetry of Ntsiki Mazwai is built from the stuff of everyday life. She imbues her poems with a deep sense of verse, whilst also making it clear that this is Ntsiki Mazwai you’re reading and not Wordsworth or Joyce.”
AZANIAN LOVE STORY - Don Mattera
Price: R145.00 • ISBN NO: (Soft Cover) 978-0-620-39486-4
Price: R180.00 • (Hard Cover) 978-0-620-39489-5
“Azanian Love Song remains an important work of art – both at an aesthetic and a political level.” The Star
The long wait for the re-publication of Mattera’s much loved work is more than worthwhile – it was first published in 1983.
NOSTALGIC WAVES FROM SOWETO
- Sol Rachilo
ISBN: 978-0-9814398-0-8
PRICE: R145.00
In his poetic reminiscences about a generation that put up a fierce fight against injustice, Sol Rachilo puts forward an urgent agenda.
The anger is not hidden, nor is his love of life and people. These poems and short prose pieces are not simply about the disappointment of a generation, they are also a call to action: “Better to be a loose cannon, than trapped in the labyrinth”, and a warning: “What happens if a dream is deferred?”
Shining out of the Rachilo’s poems we see humanity in all its manifestations – dignity, indignity and the longing to love and be loved.
FLYING ABOVE THE SKY
- Lebogang Mashile
ISBN: 978-0-620-41241-4
PRICE: R145.00
“Lebogang Mashile has proved once again that she is a wordsmith par excellence. From God to hip-hop, feistiness to silly observations, she’s applied her incisive and poetic intellect and gifted us with ribbons of rhythm that leave us breathless.”
Gail Smith, Editor - City Pulse Magazine
NON - FICTION
CHE GUEVARA READER - Ernesto Che Quevara
ISBN: 9780981439884
PRICE: R220.00
Recognized as one of Time Magazine’s ‘icons of the 20th century, ‘Che Guevara became a legend in his own time and now has re-emerged as a symbol of a new generation of political activists. Far more than a guerrilla strategist, Che Guevara made a profound and lasting contribution to revolutionary theory and Marxist humanism as demonstrated in this best selling Reader.
HIS MASTERS VOICE - Sandile Mamela.
ISBN: 9780981441047
PRICE: R220.00
In this eargerly awaited novel, Memela gives an intimate portrait of power dynamics in the corporate media. He narrates the story of a rookie journalist who is not afraid to challenge authority in the hierarchical corporate media world.
Memela illuminates the historical events before the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the liberation movement, bringing rare insight into the office politics in newsrooms, the violence of the apartheid State and comrades, the sacrificing of the black youth through the ‘liberation now, education later’ slogan and the disillusionment of young professionals who, ultimately, resort to drink and promiscuous sex to save themselves.
MEMORY IS THE WEAPON - Don Mattera
ISBN: 9780620394871
PRICE: R165.00
Don Mattera sets his boyhood experiences against the background of Sophiatown and offers a compelling account of how a multicultural and cosmopolitan society was transformed and destroyed by apartheid.
Powerful, honest, and full of insight, Sophiatown is an extraordinary testimony to the triumph o the spirit over the devastating effects of apartheid.
THE POLITICS OF SOUTH AFRICAN FOOTBALL - Oshebeng Alphie Koonyaditse
ISBN: 9780981439822
PRICE: R145.00
The Politics of South African Football tells the story of people whose declaration “no normal sport in an abnormal society” proved to be a powerful antidote to the state’s assurances that “all was well”.
Koonyaditse describes the tough journey which culminated in that memorable Saturday of May 15, 2004 – the day South Africa, and indeed Africa, for the first time won the right to host the nations of the world at the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
As a seasoned sportswriter and commentator Koonyaditse’s skill in telling this historic story is enriched by his easy command of the subject of football.
SPIRITUALITY
DANCING WITH SERMONS
- Bishop Trevor Mwamba
ISBN: (Soft Cover) 9780951447020
PRICE: R145.00
Vernon Sproxton describes Ah! Books as those that induce a fundamental change in the reader’s perception of things.
Dancing Sermons is such a book. It will make you look upon familiar things as though seeing, feeling and understanding them for the first time. The message running through Dancing Sermons like a golden thread is that we human beings, in spite of our flaws are all special, unique, and loved deeply and intensely by God. This love is without strings. There is an elegant word which expresses this: grace.
MPUMALANGA, OUR BEATIFUL PROVINCE - Sabelo Mahlalela
ISBN: 978 0620 482226
PRICE: R399.00
PRICE: R399.00This is a high quality coffee table book with quotations complementing each page of breathtakingly beautiful photographs depicting landmark sites and scenes from Mpumalanga Province. It is bound in hard cover with a detachable sleeve.
AUDIO
MEMORY IS THE WEAPON - Don Mattera
ISBN: 978-0-9814398-7-7
PRICE: R165.00
Don Mattera’s Memory is the Weapon, read by the author and introduced by actor Sello Maake ka Ncube, weaves together both his personal experiences and political developments.
In telling his personal story, Mattera recaptures the crucial events of the 1950s in Sophiatown, one of the most important decades in the history of black political struggle in South Africa.
THE EMPOWERED NATIVE - Letepe Maisela
ISBN: 9780981439877
PRICE: R156.00
Lerumo Sekhukhuni is a graduate of the Soweto Class of 1976. Exiled from his country as a teenage student activist, he endures continuous harassment and threats to his life by the apartheid South African police. He flee’s his country and goes into exile in neighboring Botswana and later, Zambia.
He is eventually offered a scholarship to study Mechanical Engineering in Russia. On completion he is deployed by The Movement to work in their London office, where he holds a vigil waiting for the liberation of his country. Two years after the release of Nelson Mandela, Lerumo finally makes it home hoping to enjoy the freedom that his country had won from the apartheid regime.
Fate however had other plans for him.
Lerumo’s exploits, personal, political and amorous while in exile depicts an extraordinary life which the author colorfully portrays.
FICTION
BLESS ME FATHER - Mario d’ Offizi
ISBN: (Paperback) 9780980255645
PRICE: R180.00 excl vat.
‘…a searing look at growing up on the other side of the tracks, around the bend and up the wall. d’Offizi’s story left me reeling on more than one occasion. This is an author who writes from the heart, not the head. And even though it is a heart that is covered with layers of scar tissue, it is not a hard heart. Rather, it is a heart full of kindness and compassion.’ - Ben Trovato
‘If you read no other African writer this decade, read this one - you’ll laugh with him, cry with him, mourn with him, rejoice with him and ultimately triumph with him.’ - Leadership Magazine
‘…I would advise that you get this book for the boys and the men in your family. I think it’s a phenomenal, affirming story of manhood. I highly recommend it.’ Karabo Kgoleng - SAFM Literature
‘Mario d’Offizi’s story is a colourful account of a life, threaded with the lives and experiences of many compositely drawn characters, all reflected with great generosity. This book is a truly compelling read that reveals disturbing personal events, while showing that the human spirit is irrepressible.’ Zenzile Khoisan
AFTER JUST NOW
- Gillian Schutte
ISBN: 9780620511582
PRICE: R180.00 excl vat.
Gillian Schutte’s After just now is signified by a multitude of juxtapositioons and layered realities. Kali, Shakti and Ganesh cavort alongside Xhosa warriors, Afrikaner folk and wild beasts which populate Lila’s psyche. The narrator not only projects for us a kaleidoscope of intermingled world cultures, but also travels a spectrum of time zones: historical ( back to the 18th century, to the intersection of Lila’s Afrikaner roots and the Xhosa lineage of her husband, Lunga); personal (recounting in diary format the harrowing events of her destabilised life); psychic (portraying slippage between ‘reality’ and out- of -body dream scenes); and spiritual, with orgiastic descriptions of mystic experiences, both Christian and Hindu.
This short novel uncannily intermingles past and current socio-political events, a cathartic account of personal history, the ecstasy of self discovery, personal growth and salvation. A journey not measurable in linear space or chronological time, but only open to experience after just now.
THE EMPOWERED NATIVE
- Letepe Maisela
ISBN: 9780620335614
PRICE: R145.00
The Empowered Native tells the story of Lerumo Sekhukhuni. After enduring continuous harassment and having his life threatened by the apartheid police, Sekhukhuni goes into exile in neighbouring Botswana, then ends up in a Zambian refugee camp.
Eventually, he is offered a scholarship to study Mechanical Engineering in Russia. On completing his degree Sekhukhuni is deployed to the London office of “the movement”. There he keeps vigil as he waits for the liberation of South Africa.
Two years after Nelson Mandela’s release from jail, Lerumo finally makes it home. He hopes to be able to enjoy the freedom that his country has won. Fate however has other plans for him.
THE SILENT SCREAM
ISBN: 9780620412452
PRICE: R145.00
This is a story about a South African Stripper / Prostitute. She is an innocent who falls prey to the dark underworld of flesh peddling in 1985 to support her two children. She covers the local circuit and frequently travels to perform in neighboring countries.
She works her way through changes and effects on the home front and surrounding countries when the ANC government takes over to rule South Africa. She experiences family life, disappointment, heartbreak and illness.She gets trapped into drug addiction, slavery and severe depression to once again find hope in 1998.
