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Karina

Follow Me to Africa by Penny Haw

The new novel by Penny Haw, Follow Me to Africa, has been published by Sourcebooks in the US this month. Follow Penny on social media to find out about events taking place around the novel that unearths the fascinating life of Mary Leakey:

pennyhaw.com

“A warm tale of identity and growth … as layered as the real ancient humanity inspiring its core.” — Elizabeth Wein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity

Historical fiction inspired by the story of groundbreaking paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey, FOLLOW ME TO AFRICA is a sweeping, dual-timeline story of intergenerational friendship, a meditation on the beauty of the natural world, and a celebration of the women who pave the way for those to come.

It’s 1983 and seventeen-year-old Grace Clark has just lost her mother when she begrudgingly accompanies her estranged father to an archeological dig at Olduvai Gorge on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania. Here, seventy-year-old Mary Leakey enlists Grace to sort and pack her fifty years of work and memories.

Their interaction reminds Mary how she pursued her ambitions of becoming an archeologist in the 1930s by sneaking into lectures and working on excavations. When well-known paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey commissions her to illustrate a book, she’s not at all expecting to fall in love with the older married man. Mary then follows Louis to East Africa, where she falls in love for a second time, this time with the Olduvai Gorge, where her work defines her as a great scientist and allows her to step out of Louis’s shadow.

In time, Mary and Grace learn they are more alike than they thought, which eventually leads them to the secret that connects them. They also discover a mutual deep love for animals, and when Lisa, an injured cheetah, appears at camp, Mary and Grace work together to save her. On the morning Grace is due to leave, the girl—and the cheetah—are nowhere to be found, and it becomes a race against time to rescue Grace before the African bush claims her.

From the acclaimed author of The Invincible Miss Cust and The Woman at Wheel comes an adventurous, dual timeline tale that explores the consequences of our choices, wisdom that comes with retrospection, and relationships that make us who we are, based on the extraordinary real life of Mary Leakey.

Karina

Hedley Twidle: Winner of the Philida Literary Award in 2025

Today, on the tenth anniversary of André Brink’s death, we pay tribute to his life and work and announce that the Philida Literary Award, established in his memory in 2020, goes to Hedley Twidle and is awarded to him for an oeuvre of literary excellence.

Hedley Twidle is a writer, teacher and researcher based at the University of Cape Town. His collection of essays and non-fiction, Firepool: Experiences in an Abnormal World, was published by Kwela Books in 2017. Experiments with Truth, a study of life writing and the South African transition, appeared in the African Articulation series from James Currey in 2019. A new essay collection, Show Me the Place, was published by Jonathan Ball in 2024. His work has appeared in a range of international publications, including the New Statesman, Financial Times and Harper’s magazine. Currently, he is collaborating with UCT’s Neuroscience Institute on ‘Writing Forgetting’, a project exploring the arts and literatures of dementia and memory loss. More of his writing can be found at hedleytwidle.com.

2017 Firepool: Experiences in an Abnormal World

2019 Experiments with Truth

2024 Show Me the Place

Hedley Twidle on accepting the Philida Literary Award: “I’m honoured to be the recipient of the Philida award – thanks so much for thinking of me.”

Congratulations, Hedley!

Karina

The Cleaner by Mary Watson

Happy publication day to Mary Watson! Her new novel, The Clear – ‘Domestic noir at its finest.’ I PAPER – is published in the UK today.

Esmie is supposed to be invisible. Just a cleaner with a foreign accent that no one quite has time to place. Her uniform of leggings and a duster allows her to explore the homes of the wealthy, unseen; an outsider creeping around the edges of privilege.

But as she sweeps through the exclusive Woodlands gated neighbourhood, cleaning is the last thing on her mind. Treading silently over the polished wooden floorboards and cloud-soft carpets, Esmie gathers up the mess of broken marriages, quiet deceptions and careless failures. She tucks away their fragments, keeping them safe. For now.

Because one of the residents took from her the person she loves most. She’s not here to clean; she’s here for revenge – and she’ll get it using the weapons her employers unwittingly handed her along with the keys to their homes: their own secrets …

‘The Cleaner is a masterclass in tension. Plotted like an intricate spider’s web, I was glued to the page for the entirety.’

— Jennie Godfrey, Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things

    Karina

    Philida Literary Award winners and their new books at Open Book Festival 2024

    Four Philida Literary Award winners were present at this year’s Open Book Festival in Cape Town, two of them speaking about their new books – Qarnita Loxton about What’s Wrong with June (novel) and Nathan Trantraal about Die Man Wattie Kinnes Vang (graphic novel) – one (Mohale Mashigo) chairing a highlight event of each festival – ‘Conversations with Mohale’ – and one sharing the news of her forthcoming novel, Follow Me to Africa by Penny Haw (February 2025). Mary Watson’s new novel, The Cleaner, will be published in January 2025. Congratulations to all!

    Karina

    Transworld to publish Mary Watson’s The Cleaner as lead debut

    Great news: Mary Watson’s new novel, The Cleaner, will be published in January 2025!

    The synopsis states: “Treading silently over the polished wooden floorboards and cloud-soft carpets, Esmie gathers up the mess of broken marriages, quiet deceptions and careless failures. She tucks away their fragments, keeping them safe. For now. Because one of the residents took from her the person she loves most. She’s not here to clean; she’s here for revenge. And she’ll get it using the weapons her employers unwittingly handed her along with the keys to their homes: their own secrets.”

    Watson said: “I was captured by the idea of a cleaner who moves quietly between a few houses, seeing the things people hide from each other – but with a twist.”

    Read the entire announcement here: The Bookseller

    Karina

    What’s Wrong with June? – Qarnita Loxton’s new novel is out!

    June’s husband, Achmat, is always working or gaming or Netflixing. Her mother-in-law Ma Asa is usually out with all the other aunties. And her twenty-three-year-old daughter, Salamah, is a daddy’s girl who wants to trade her long dark hair for a pink pixie cut (anything so that she doesn’t look like her mother). June’s main source of fun? Scrolling the Insta feed of her friend Carla. June has worked hard for her family and the comfortable life they have, but she is starting to feel like the dull accountant trope she never thought she’d be. She is safe and comfortable and bored.

    What’s Wrong with June? will be launched at The Book Lounge on 17 July:

    RSVP: The Book Lounge

    Karina

    Penny Haw: Winner of the Philida Literary Award in 2024

    Today, on the ninth anniversary of André Brink’s death, we pay tribute to his life and work and announce that the Philida Literary Award, established in his memory in 2020, goes to Penny Haw and is awarded to her for an oeuvre of literary excellence.

    Penny Haw

    Penny Haw worked as a journalist and columnist for more than three decades, writing for many leading South African newspapers and magazines before yielding to a lifelong yearning to create fiction. Her stories feature remarkable women, illustrate her love for nature, and explore the interconnectedness of all living things. Her first title, Nicko: The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm, was a children’s book and was published in 2017. Her first novel for adults, The Wilderness Between Us, was published by Köehler Books in the US in 2021. A year later, she published The Invincible Miss Cust, her debut historical fiction, which she followed with another historical novel, The Woman at the Wheel, in 2023 (both published in the US by Sourcebooks). She lives near Cape Town with her husband and three dogs, all of whom are well-walked.

    Penny Haw on accepting the Philida Literary Award: “I am in tears! Thank you. This is such an honour and I’m finding it difficult to express myself. Gobsmacked. Grateful. Overwhelmed. It means so, so much to me and I feel so privileged to accept it. Oh wow! André taught me Afrikaans in my first year of university at Rhodes (1982). It was a life-changing year for me. One of the bright spots was being taught by him. I wish I had had the chance to tell him that. Somehow this award closes a circle for me. Thank you.”

    2017 Nicko: The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm

    2021 The Wilderness Between Us

    2022 The Invincible Miss Cust

    2023 The Woman at the Wheel

    Congratulations, Penny!

    Karina

    Nathan Trantraal: Winner of the Philida Literary Award in 2023

    Today, on the eighth anniversary of André Brink’s death, we pay tribute to his life and work and announce that the Philida Literary Award, established in his memory in 2020, goes to Nathan Trantraal and is awarded to him for an oeuvre of literary excellence.

    Nathan Trantraal is the author of three poetry collections – Chokers en Survivors (2013), which won the 2014 AKTV Woordfees Prize and the 2015 Ingrid Jonker Prize; Alles Het Niet Kom Wôd (2017), which won a SALA award in 2019; and Oolog (2020) – as well as a volume of essays, Wit Issie ’n Colour Nie (2018). He translated Jason Reynolds’s Long Way Down into Kaaps (Lang Pad Onnetoe). He writes for television and theatre and has a biweekly column for Rapport called Sypaadjies.

    Nathan also illustrated four graphic novels (Stormkaap, Coloureds, Crossroads and All Rise) and has worked as a cartoonist for the Cape Times (The Richenbaums), the Cape Argus (Urban Tribe) and Rapport (Ruthie). His comic art has been exhibited in Hamburg, Amsterdam and Cape Town. He currently works as an illustrator for Vrye Weekblad.

    With his partner Ronelda S Kamfer, he worked on a series called “Portraits” for Vrye Weekblad about the ordinary lives of South Africans during the coronavirus pandemic. He is an editor reviewer and freelance book cover designer. His poetry has been translated into English, French and Modern Greek.

    Nathan is currently teaching at Rhodes University’s MACW at the School of Languages and Literature, where his focus is Kaaps and the graphic novel.

    Nathan Trantraal on accepting the Philida Literary Award: “I am grateful and honoured. My thanks to all the judges.”

    2013 Chokers en Survivors

    2017 Alles Het Niet Kom Wôd

    2018 Wit Issie ’n Colour Nie

    2020 Oolog

    The 2023 Philida Literary Award judges were Sally Partridge, Karina M. Szczurek, Lester Walbrugh and Christy Weyer.