Stories Gogo Told Me

There is a storyteller in almost every village in Africa. Telling stories is not her offi cial job. By day she may be a Gogo, a teacher, a farmer or a seamstress. But at night, round the fi re, she will sit surrounded by young children, old friends, neighbours and travellers. She will tell of how it was in the olden days, when the earth was young, when man was a hunter-gatherer, and when the animals roamed wild throughout the continent. The author spent several months hiking around the villages, towns, farms and deserts of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa, asking people who can’t read or write to tell her their favourite stories. The result is this children’s treasury of legends and fables, of witchdoctors and kingdoms of strange creatures and talking animals, which celebrates Africa and its ancient storytelling culture.

Sometimes gentrification brings with it unexpected, sinister results, or your neighbours harbour secrets. Social media has a darker side or maybe it’s your kitchen appliances that are plotting against you. Who knows? The South African HorrorFest Bloody Parchment anthology, Beachfront Starter Home, Good Bones and Other Stories, offers you a selection of tales that will take you from the comfort of your home to deeper, disturbing destinations drawn from its 2013 competition finalists. Step inside, draw up a chair near the fire, and discover the dark visions of these authors.

Our Story Magic is a collection of enchanting and compelling tales written by Gcina Mhlophe, South Africa’s most popular performance storyteller. The illustrations are by artists from Mhlophe’s home province of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Read and share these eleven stories with the love that went into creating them.

A sweeping panorama of the author’s life from the outbreak of WWII to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The narrative begins in Ukraine and ends in Paris where he coordinated the work of fty undercover interviewers engaged in unorthodox research with Soviet visitors in Western Europe, a chapter of Cold War history never revealed in such remarkable detail. The story includes the author’s narrow escape from Communism, an account of his extended family’s ordeal in the Soviet Gulag, life in post-war Bavaria, thirty years in Chicago and culminates with twelve years in France where he worked for the International Energy Agency and Radio Liberty.

Acting on HIV offers a sustained and relatively systematic inquiry into drama as an approach to discussion of HIV/AIDS and related attitudes and behaviors. A distinctive feature of the research that is presented in Acting on HIV is the emphasis on the potential for and value of using drama to promote vital social change in addition to individual behaviour change. It has a strong theoretical foundation and seeks to interrogate the ethical, theoretical and practical complexities of using drama to address issues HIV & AIDS. The research that is communicated through the book is original and timely and will make a significant, trans-disciplinary contribution to scholarly conversations about the role/s and significance of drama in addressing issues of HIV & AIDS. Acting on HIV will have appeal to scholars working within drama and performance studies and those involved in interdisciplinary work or working in the fields of social work, education, sociology, psychology, cultural and media studies, gender studies, criminology, and critical human and social sciences generally including studies of HIV, sexuality and public health among others. Furthermore, the book targets community practitioners, teachers and researchers interested in drama for social change; arts based research methods and drama in education.

How long does it take for scars to heal? How long does it take for a scarred memory to fester and rise to the surface? For Marubini, the question is whether scars ever heal when you forget they are there to begin with. Marubini is a young woman who has an enviable life in Cape Town, working at a wine farm and spending idyllic days with her friends ... until her past starts spilling into her present. Something dark has been lurking in the shadows of Marubini’s life from as far back as she can remember. It’s only a matter of time before it reaches out and grabs at her. The Yearning is a memorable exploration of the ripple effects of the past, of personal strength and courage, and of the shadowy intersections of traditional and modern worlds.

The practice and theory of science communication can take many forms. One of them, which this volume represents, explores what forms of knowledge might be constructed when creative writing encounters science. Working outwards from a theoretical framework that sees the sciences as discourses constructed by human endeavour through forms of language and practices of authority, this collection offers writing that emerged from a scientific encounter. It explores the relationship between creativity and scientific experiment, between the languages deployed by scientists in their experiments and analyses and the languages forged by creatives in their ongoing efforts to understand the human condition. Fic Sci 01 brought eleven creative writers together with a biomechanical engineer. The presented science invited creative enquiry into different aspects of flow, that physical property that is so central to research in fluid mechanics. This anthology collects the results of that encounter.

"In this beautifully written work, searing and unflinchingly honest, Bonnie makes a remarkable transition from actress to author with ease and flair. This shockingly naked account recounts how her depression almost robbed her of her shine and how she continues to fight this darkness. After Bonnie unsuccessfully tried to pursue her acting career in Hollywood, she was diagnosed with clinical depression. At last her darkness had a name, and there was a way to overcome it. With the failed Hollywood adventure as her lowest point, Bonnie begins the painful climb back to a life of health and mental stability. This memoir will have you cheering, crying, and falling in love all at the same time"--Provided by publisher.