Short, frantic and not that insightful: a review of Misadventures of a COPE volunteer by Michiel le Roux

Considering the leadership battles that continue to wrack the Congress of the People (COPE), it is sometimes hard to believe it was not too long ago that COPE was a newly formed party tipped by hopefuls to become a formidable black-led opposition to the African National Congress (ANC). After all, with the US having elected its first black president, why couldn’t SA undergo a similar radical and unlikely shake-up? Read more here

Coming soon from Graffiti Kolkata: Sky Dreaming by Gary Cummiskey

Sky Dreaming, a new chapbook of poetry by Gary Cummiskey, to be published by Graffiti Kolkata in January 2011.

Alan Finlay at poetry discussion panel at BookEx, Saturday November 27 2010

This Saturday, 27 November, 4pm at BookEx: Alan Finlay, author of pushing from the riverbank, (newly published by Dye Hard Press) will be on a poetry discussion panel with Helen Moffett (Strange Fruit, Modjaji Books) and Phillippa Yaa De Villiers (The Everyday Wife, Modjaji Books). The discussion will be chaired by Gary Cummiskey.

The venue is the Sandton Convention Centre, Sandton, Johannesburg.

For more information on BookEX, visit www.bookex.co.za

September 11 series - drawing 8

New Dye Hard Press publication: pushing from the riverbank by alan finlay

Dye Hard Press is proud to announce the publication of pushing from the riverbank by alan finlay.

ISBN: 978-0-620-48421-3

A new collection of 20 poems by one of South Africa's most innovative poets. 46 pages, perfect bound.

One of the poems from the collection is:

Shadows

i am explaining to my son
you see, crocodiles eat people
“but why?” because they’re meat eaters

because they’re hungry, i don’t know
i begin to build the food chain in my mind.
so that’s why, i finish off

us people watch everywhere we go
and we’re always alert for snakes
and crocodiles (and i could add other things)

i’m telling my three-year-old child
that the world is not so safe
but he knows already: he’s fighting

dragons with his sword, shooting
down dinosaurs, closing the door so
strangers don’t come in. he’s picked up

on the shadows -- they’re real enough
for him. He sits on the edge of the bed,
waiting, watching me get dressed.


Previous titles by alan finlay include Burning Aloes (Dye Hard Press, 1994) No Free Sleeping (with Vonani Bila and Donald Parenzee) (Botsotso, 1998) and The Red Laughter of Guns in Green Summer Rain (with Philip Zhuwao), published by Dye Hard Press in 2002. In 2003 he co-edited with Arja Salafranca glass jars among trees, an alternative anthology of poetry and prose, published by Jacana.

He founded and edited the literary publications Bleksem (1994) donga, with Paul Wessels (2000) and was editor of New Coin poetry journal from 2003 to 2007.

pushing from the riverbank will be available at bookstores countrywide at an estimated retail price of R90. You can also order directly from Dye Hard Press for R65 (including postage).

September 11 series - drawing 7

Suite Of The Auto-Self With Dread I - Henry Avignon

Henry Avignon is a Rochester, New York-based conceptual photographer (photosculptor) and poet whose primary artistic interest lies in identifying and cultivating art which evokes the myriad signatures of energy everywhere in nature.

September 11 series - drawing 6

Arja Salafranca's The fire in which we burn available as a free ebook

Arja Salafranca's collection of poems, The fire in which we burn, published by Dye Hard Press in 2000 and now out of print, is available as a free ebook.

Salafranca's first poetry collection, A life stripped of illusions, received the 1994 Sanlam Award for poetry, while a short story, ‘Couple on the Beach’ was a winner of the same award in 1999 for short fiction. She co-edited an anthology of prose and poetry, glass jars among trees, which was published by Jacana Media in 2003. Her debut collection of short stories, The Thin Line, was published by Modjaji Books, in 2010. She has also won the DALRO award for poetry in 2010.

You can download The fire in which we burn as a PDF here

September 11 series - drawing 5

September 11 series - drawing 4

Poster for The Lovers

Trailer for The Lovers

The Lovers - a short surrealist film from BlackMilk Productions

Soon after completing Regression in September this year, Ronnie and myself (DR-BENWAY) finalised the script of our latest movie, The Lovers. We began filming on September 19 to finish final edits on October 4. Three locations in Cape Town were selected: an apartment in Gardens, an industrial area in Salt River and the sea front in Mouille Point. Even though the film took about a month to complete from final concept to screen, due to it being worked on over weekends and after hours, The Lovers was completed in about 56 hours....Read more here

(The film contains a poem of mine also called The Lovers)

September 11 series - drawing 3

September 11 series - drawing 2