TNSH Signing at the CTBF
Friday, June 8th, 2007I’m scheduled to sign copies of The New Suffolk Hymnbook at the Jacana stand during the Cape Town Book Fair, on Sunday 17 June at 1pm. Here is the poster Jacana has designed to promote the stint:
{category archive: The Margin}
A Token of Consolation
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
A friend made the dour observation recently that being on the longlist for an award is like waiting for someone to ask you to dance.
Neither she nor I was asked last night when the Sunday Times Fiction Prize longlist was winnowed from twenty-nine to a shortlist of five. The prize, at R75,000, is SA’s largest literary award.
We chaff may take consolation in this image, which I have pilfered from the Times‘ website. It’s the longlist, stacked - a frozen moment of promise.
If I was a literary bookie, meanwhile, I’d place extremely short odds on Marlene van Niekerk and Agaat to take the prize. It’s the thickest book of the bunch, close to the center. (Another friend points out that, in Agaat’s case, a translation is being judged, not an original work in English, which is quite irregular. But then again, SA’s literary politics are much like the real thing, haphazard - and what’s more, he’s on the shortlist.)
- Full Sunday Times fiction shortlist here; and non-fiction shortlist here.
Boswestblog Goes on (Brief) Sabbatical
Monday, January 15th, 2007Boswestblog will be on sabbatical for the rest of the month, while urgent literary and other matters are attended to.
In the interim, we present this special compilation of the “Boswestblog Top Ten” - as chosen by YT (no, not Air Togo, the Yukon Territory, or yellowTab) - for your perusal.
Peruse, peruse!
- The New Suffolk Hymnbook My novel, of course.
- The Laddy Jones Story Part One Short fiction involving Arsenal FC.
- Mandela’s Ego Reviewed by YT.
- Gasping Fish The B-blog logo.
- Notes from the Cape Town Book Fair Haiku by Gus Ferguson.
- Here Comes the Coda: Green Man & Silver Jews Prose paen by YT.
- Eid-ul-Fitr 1427, Rylands, Cape Town As reported by YT.
- Memories of the Ford Administration (Discontinued) Pertaining to YT’s youth.
- My Near West A photo-mosaic of sorts.
- Against Poets & Writers A rant of sorts.
Tags: Air Togo, Arsenal, Ben Oswest, Cape Town, Cape Town Book Fair, Eid, Eid ul Fitr, Gasping Fish, Gerald Ford, Green Man, Gus Ferguson, Haiku, Mandelas Ego, Poetry, Poets & Writers, Rylands, Silver Jews, South Africa, South African Literature, The Green Man Festival, The Laddy Jones Story Part One, The Margin, The New Suffolk Hymnbook, yellowTab, Yukon Territory
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Memories of the Ford Administration (Discontinued)
Friday, December 29th, 2006By the time the Ford Administration (discontinued) reached the small town in the Colorado Rockies where I grew up - not Vail, reportedly the President’s favorite resort in the state, but two hours’ drive north-northwest of it - its security detail had shrunk to two, and there were barely enough cabinet men, lackeys and hangers-on in the entourage to complete a foursome.
Recent Scenes from My Near West (iii)
Friday, December 22nd, 2006The last group in this series - see Flickr for captions.
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Tags: Ben Oswest, Colorado, Denver, DIA, E Martin Hennings, Kremmling, Photography, Rabbit Hunt, The Margin, US 40, USA, Yampa Valley
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Recent Scenes from My Near West (ii)
Friday, December 15th, 2006See Flickr for captions.
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Tags: Ben Oswest, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Kremmling, Photography, Rabbit Ears, The Margin, USA, Yampa Valley
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Recent Scenes from My Near West (i)
Friday, December 8th, 2006What is “my near west” - ? It is the transatlantic path that connects London, UK, where I usually first re-enter the “west” when travelling, and Denver, Colorado, USA, where I most often take my leave of it. Here is a series of pics from a recent sojourn there.
All images were taken with a Canon Powershot A80, and put through the open-source app. digiKam’s color balancing (some would say “colorizing”) wringer. They are displayed in sequential order: the first photo is the oldest, the last the latest. Go to Flickr for the captions; this is part one of four.
Tags: Ben Oswest, Colorado, digikam, London, New Mexico, Photographs, Santa Fe, Tent Rocks, The Margin, Tsankawi, United Kingdom, USA
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Boswestblog’s Hiatus Comes to an End
Tuesday, December 5th, 2006My last entry being just over more than two weeks ago, my apologies for the “dead air”. I had a splendid trip to the U.S., and no chance to comment on items post the Collected Works Reading and Signing. But now, Boswestblog is back - I’ll be posting as normal as soon as I can shake off the (absolutely crushing) jet lag.
Meanwhile, I’ve noticed that the interface with Flickr isn’t working at the moment. This is likely a connectivity glitch, not anything serious, and the pics should be back up for viewing soon.
Collected Works Reading and Signing
Saturday, November 18th, 2006Last evening’s reading at the Collected Works bookstore in downtown Santa Fe - complete with South African wine - went very well, with quite a good crowd turning out.
An Evening with Cave Canem in Santa Fe
Friday, November 17th, 2006Santa Fe’s Lannan Foundation - unspoken motto: “watering minds in the high desert” - brought five members of the black poetry collective Cave Canem to the Lensic Theater last evening for an extended reading. The locals (who don’t get too much in-the-flesh exposure to black American culture, one would hazard) were treated to an undrawing of the curtains in one wing of the house, very much under expansion at present, that is African-American literature.
Next Reading: Collected Works, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006The next stop on my grand international tour promoting The New Suffolk Hymnbook is the Collected Works bookstore in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Come one, come all - books will most certainly be on sale (directly imported from Africa!), and I will most certainly be happy to sign them after the reading.
Baobab Books Reading & Signing
Friday, November 3rd, 2006Henrietta Rose-Innes did me the great favor of introducing The New Suffolk Hymnbook at Julie Aitchison’s fine bookshop on Wednesday evening. She spoke quite eloquently and left me quite flustered; she’s agreed to allow me to publish her notes on Boswestblog - they’ll appear here soon.
Gus Ferguson, Henrietta Rose-Innes and Jeanne Hromnik
The turnout was good, with many friends coming along, and an encouraging number of novels sold and signed. Spotted, inter alia: Mike Cohen, Russel Brownlee, Chris Nicklin, Rodney Trudgeon, Nozuko Mbana, Gus Ferguson and Jeanne Hromnik.
Thanks to all who showed up. Here are a few more snaps (all courtesy my Lovely Assistant):
The Website that Launched Fifty Million Words
Wednesday, November 1st, 2006November, for those who didn’t know, is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, and the people who are responsible for it have set their followers - a burgeoning band - the goal of cranking out 50 000 words in 30 days.
Which brings to mind Wordworth’s classic anti-verbiage sonnet. To wit:
- “The Novel is Too Much With Us”
The novel is too much with us; late and soon,
Writing and proofing, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in the AlphaSmart that is ours;
Keep reading »
Book Launched: Anatomy of South Africa
Wednesday, November 1st, 2006Political commentator Richard Calland’s new book, Anatomy of South Africa - Who Holds the Power? was launched last night at Relish, a restauraunt-cum-bar which afforded decent wine, tepid hors d’oeuvres, a great view of the sunset over Lion’s Head, and rather cramped quarters for the 100+ crowd that turned out.
Tags: Alison Tilley, Anatomy of South Africa, Cape Town, Collette Hersenberg, Craig Tyson, David Schalkwyk, Gaye Davis, Jean Meeran, Jeremy Boraine, Jeremy Seekings, Judge Siraj Desai, Lala Camerer, Lance Greyling, Mike Wills, Nicoli Nattrass, Nodi Murphy, Non Fiction, Patricia de Lille, Relish, Rheina Epstein, Richard Calland, Shaun Johnson, South Africa, South African Literature, Steve Connolly, Struik, Thabani Maseku, The Margin, Tony Weaver, Zebra, Zunaid Meeran
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Book Launched: Birds in Words
Monday, October 23rd, 2006A pretty book, launched at a pretty venue. Birds Cafe on Bree St. is one of Cape Town’s most popular lunch spots, the apogee of rustic chic in the city. The usual milk crate seats and door-and-sawhorses tables were cleared away for poets on Saturday morning, but the birdsong - supplied by a turntable spinning behind a curtain - twittered right along throughout.
Tags: Annari van der Merwe, Birds, Birds Cafe, Birds in Words, Birdwatching, Brian Warner, Gus Ferguson, Helen Moffett, Henrietta Rose Innes, Ingrid de Kok, Mike Nicol, Peter E Clarke, Poetry, PR Anderson, South African Literature, The Margin, Tony Morphet, Twitchers, Umuzi, Willem Jordaan, William Dicey
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Top Ten Novels 1980-2005, or - My Opinion Solicited
Saturday, October 21st, 2006Holtmann asked, and I’ve sweated bullets to deliver up the goods. In the end, two lists weren’t possible, so the U.S. and the Commonwealth have been united. It’s been horrible, agonizing: one discovers that to list one’s favorite novels of the past quarter century is to condemn oneself twice, as both conventional and poorly-read.
Without further ado, then…
Tags: A Confederacy of Dunces, A Fine Balance, Ackroyd, Amis, Atwood, Bainbridge, Ballard, Banks, Barnes, Barth, Barthelme, Beloved, Burgess, Byatt, Carey, Carver, Coe, Coetzee, Connell, Crace, DeLillo, Didion, Doctorow, Eugenides, Fiction, Ford, Fraser, Gaddis, Gray, Heller, Hopeful Monsters, Irving, Ishiguro, Jin, Killing Mr. Watson, Kincaid, Kundera, Kureishi, Lessing, Mailer, Matthiessen, McCarthy, McEwan, McInerny, McMurtry, Midnights Children, Mistry, Morrison, Mosley, Murdoch, Novels, Oates, Okri, Ondaatjie, Proulx, Pynchon, Roth, Rush, Rushdi, Sabbaths Theater, Seth, Sinclair, Smiley, Smith, Styron, Swift, The Child in Time, The Margin, The Master of Petersburg, The Passion, The Remains of the Day, The Sea The Sea, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Theroux, Toole, Underworld, Updike, Walker, Welsh, Winterson, Wolff
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The New Suffolk Hymnbook Reading & Signing at Baobab Books
Thursday, October 19th, 2006I’ll be giving a reading at Boabab Books in Long Street, Cape Town, on Wed. Nov 1st. Come along - here are the details:
Birds in Words - at Birds
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006Delivered to the inbox a few days ago - should be great fun:
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Umuzi and Clarke’s Bookshop
invite you to celebrate the publication of
Birds in Words
The Twitchers’ Guide to South African Poetry
Coetzee’s Disgrace Singled Out for Honor
Monday, October 9th, 2006Following a New York Times poll that named Toni Morrison’s Beloved
- The Best Commonwealth Novel from 1980 to 2005 (UK Observer).
I personally disagree with both choices - though each book would likely make respective top tens - but, for some reason, my opinion wasn’t solicited.
Against Poets & Writers
Saturday, October 7th, 2006Received in the post this week from one Paula Collins, whose return address is a PO Box in Mount Morris, Illinois (a town west of Chicago on Highway 64 - see map), the following form letter:
Poets and Writers Subscription Letter
Now, there is much that might be said about this letter, starting with its promising salutation (”Dear Writer” - quite heartening to be accepted into the guild upfront), then moving on to its opening gambit, which makes you suspect Ms. Collins spent long years as a guidance counsellor at Mount Morris High before embarking on her current career.
Keep reading »
Books Launched: Night Crossing & Rabble Rouser
Friday, September 29th, 2006Book launch gadflies were offered a tough choice between two luminaries for their evening fluttering tonight: at the Centre for the Book, reknowned Afrikaans poet Petra Müller, who read at the release of her first collection of verse in English, Night Crossing (Tafelberg); and at the V&A Waterfront, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, subject of John Allen’s new biography, the clunkily-titled A Rabble Rouser for Peace (Random House). (Allen was also, incidentally, in attendance.)
If your gadfly timing was good, however, you could have flitted from one event to the other for the best parts of each.
Keep reading »
Tags: A Rabble Rouser for Peace, Alex Boraine, Amanda Botha, Annari van der Merwe, Biography, Cape Town, Centre for the Book, desmond tutu, Dumisa Ntsebeza, Elsa Joubert, Exclusive Books, FW de Klerk, George Ellis, Gus Ferguson, Jeanne Hromnik, Joan Hambridge, John Allen, Justin Fox, Lavinia Crawford Browne, Leopards Leap, Nelleke Jager, Nelson Mandela, Night Crossing, Nobel Square, Peter Storey, Petra Müller, Poetry, Random House, Rowan Smith, South Africa, South African Literature, Stephen Johnson, Tafelberg, The Margin, V&A Waterfront, Van Loveren, Walter Sisulu, Willem Steenkamp
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Owen Sheers Discusses The Dust Diaries at the V&A Waterfront
Friday, September 15th, 2006I missed Owen Sheers’ reading at the Green Man Festival - he was in the “literature tent” on the festival’s Saturday afternoon, while I was out driving through towns with names like Bwlch - but was afforded the opportunity to catch up yesterday evening, when he appeared somewhat miraculously at the Cape Town V&A Waterfront’s Wordsworth Books, to talk about his book, The Dust Diaries.
- Purchase a copy of The Dust Diaries: South Africa | UK | USA
Tags: Abergavenny, Arthur Shearly Cripps, Brecon Beacons, Buckingham Palace, Cape Town, Diary of a Novel, Dorris Lessing, Dutch, Edmund Morris, Great Zimbabwe, Green Man, Keith Douglas, Literature, Owen Sheers, Poetry, Prose, Rhodesia, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Steinbeck, The Dust Diaries, The Green Man Festival, The Margin, The Tonight Show, V&A Waterfront, Wales, Wordsworth, Zimbabwe
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Black Writers to Mark Golden Jubilee in Paris
Wednesday, September 13th, 2006Of interest to many in Africa will be the events surrounding the 50th Anniversary of the 1st International Conference of Black Writers and Artists, to take place at the Sorbonne in Paris later this month.