(Pieter-Dirk Uys with “Panorama” in
tree-format and on Kindle. Pic by Stefan Hurter)
There will be a launch of two significant
new South African novels at three venues in KZN in October. when Pieter-Dirk
Uys launches his new novel, Panorama,
and Brent Meersman launches Five Lives at
Noon. Both writers will be in KZN to speak about their work.
Brent Meersman, Cape Town based theatre
critic, restaurant reviewer and travel writer, has just released his third
novel, Five Lives at Noon. His first
novel, Primary Coloured, was
published in 2007, and his second, Reports
before Daybreak in 2011.
Five
Lives at Noon follows a generation of young South
Africans turning 30 during the turbulent years from the release of Nelson
Mandela in 1990 to the day of the first democratic election in 1994. Their
lives will be set on an inevitable, but unexpected, collision course. The novel
ventures into the very heart of the civil war and to KwaZulu-Natal, the
crucible in which the new South Africa was forged. As South Africa marks 20
years since the advent of democracy, these five lives uncover the price paid
for that political settlement.
Playwright, actor, satirist and author,
Pieter-Dirk Uys will launch his new novel, Panorama.
For twenty-four hours in 1987, Sibi Makhale
is allowed to visit her dying father in the maximum security prison of Robben
Island. The daughter of banned parents, Sibi comes face to face with two
suspicious and frightened white Afrikaans schoolteachers resident on the
island. It will prove to be a life-changing experience for all of them. Over
two decades later, Sibi returns to the island – now a World Heritage Site –
with her two born-free sons. It is an attempt at closure for her, an adventure
for her boys, and for the reader, a remarkable journey back from the dark past.
Panorama celebrates the people who, through their shared passion for a
beloved country, managed to communicate and even laugh with each other in spite
of fear, guilt and prejudice. This story about South Africa’s yesterday and
today is inspired by Pieter-Dirk Uys’s internationally acclaimed play of the
same name.
Both novels are published by newly-launched
publishing house, Missing Ink. Working only with well-established writers and
published authors, Missing Ink is an authors' co-operative publisher in which
the author receives 100% of the profits from the sale of their work. At Missing
Ink, authors discuss and edit one another's manuscripts and employ experienced
freelance professionals to edit, subedit, proof read, and design both print and
eBook editions. Publishers of both fiction and non-fiction, Missing Ink is
about a community of writers, responsive to both the commercial and creative
needs of authors.
Join Pieter-Dirk Uys and Brent Meersman as
they talk about their work:
October 8 at 10h30 for a morning session in
Book Boutique, 26 Rockview Rd, Amanzimtoti (RSVP/ for info on email: thebookboutique@gmail.com or 031 903
6692)
October 8 at 17h30 for 18h00 at Bookworld,
Cascades Centre, Pietermaritzburg. (RSVP/ for info: bookworld@lantic.net or 033 347 1361)
October 9 at 17h30 for 18h00 at Ike’s Books
/ The Collective, 48A Florida Rd, (above Marco's) Durban. (RSVP / for info:
Ike’s Books on 031 303 9214 or ikesbooks@iafrica.com
/ Cedric Sissing on 082 873 2702)