The Story Explorer

Debut novelist Kamanee Govender joins host Christi Sa to talk about Stern Gods, her clear-eyed literary coming-of-age story set in an Indian South African neighbourhood during the 1986 State of Emergency. This episode is essential listening for all South African citizens and especially school principals, youth organisation leaders, book clubs, and NGOs working with young people in South Africa who...

On reading lenses, epistolary fiction, and finding your elderly heroine. This episode is for book lovers, book club readers, and anyone who has ever felt frustrated saying 'I loved it' or 'I hated it' and wished they had better words. It gives you new tools, new vocabulary, and a new way of paying attention the next time you pick up a book. It is for readers who sense that the real pleasure and me...

In this episode of The Story Explorer, I’m reading you a letter I wrote to a friend. My friend often works remotely in different parts of Africa, and last year she recommended that I read The Old Drift by the Zambian-born writer Namwali Serpell. This novel won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2020. This is a true epic: more than five hundred pages long. And after finishing it, I wanted nothing more t...

In this episode, I take you with me into my reading experience of Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I share the insights that slowly unfolded as I read, and especially what shifted for me when I returned to a poem by the Russian poet N. A. Nekrasov. While discussing the book at book club, I still felt like I wasn’t really getting it. I couldn’t quite grasp what was going on beneath the...

Words matter. In this episode, I share two insights I gained while reading Jessica McCabe's book 'How to ADHD'. This is a self-help book, and it's the first time I'm talking about a book from this category on the podcast. I include it in my story-exploring journey because self-help books are reflections of people's journeys; they are stories from individuals, and we can learn from them. Reading th...

In this episode, I have a conversation with Professor Siphiwo Mahala about literature. With my podcast I aim to explore literary spaces in a broad sense. That means not only speaking to writers or readers, but also to the people who shape how literature is recognised and valued. Professor Siphiwo Mahala is the Chair of the Sunday Times Literary Awards and an associate Professor in the Department o...

This episode takes you, the listener, into a question based book discussion about the book So Long See You Tomorrow, by American author William Maxwell. The book is now available in a Vintage Classic, published by Penguin Random House UK. Originally published in 1980, it won the American Book Award and in 1995, William Maxwell received the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the short story. I was...

An interview with Gavin Evans author of Son of a Preacher Man. In this episode, I talk with award winning London-based South African writer Gavin Evans, author of Son of Preacher Man. While preparing for my book club discussion on James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain, I noticed the book Son of a Preacher Man lying in one of the piles on my book table. Both books tell the story of a preacher'...

Listen and be captivated by her exquisite brief stories. In this episode you can join me on a journey to discover Lydia Davis, winner of the 2013 Man Booker International Prize- now known as the International Booker Prize. She is renowned for her exceptionally brief stories. Some are just one sentence long, but don’t let their brevity fool you. Each story can make you pause, contemplate and bring...

Realisations evoked by Ashraf Kagee's 'Song of the Slave Girl'. In this episode from The Story Explorer podcast, I take you on a personal journey from growing up in the Netherlands to discovering new perspectives here in South Africa. Before we start this exploration, a quick spoiler alert, I’ll be sharing key elements from the novel that inspired this episode. Still, I believe I do this in a way...

About Red Sorghum by Nobel prize winner Mo Yan. In this episode you'll hear about my preparations for a book club discussion on Red Sorghum by Chinese author Mo Yan at Saint-Germain, 44Stanley in Johannesburg. Mo Yan is the only citizen to date awarded the Nobel prize in Literature, which he received in 2012. After announcing the book to our group, a loyal member, an award winning teacher, Natalie...

in conversation with award winning journalist Mr. Hamilton Wende. In this episode, I have a captivating conversation with award-winning journalist, war correspondent, television producer, and children’s book author Mr. Hamilton Wende. With this podcast, I aim to continue having one-on-one conversations about books. When I approached Mr. Wende, he immediately said yes and suggested we discuss the B...

What can go wrong, and how it might go right. In this episode, I share how I prepare for the bookclub evening at Saint-Germain; a popular gathering spot in 44 Stanley, Johannesburg. The evening will centre around Heaven, a novel written in 2009 by Japanese author Mieko Kawakami. Kawakami won the Murasaki Shikibu prize for this book in Japan, and the English translation by Sam Bet and David Boyd wa...

About how and why to read beach reads. In this episode, I share my reading experience and interpretation method with two books I read during the South African long summer break. The two books I read and discuss here are 'The lack of Light' by Georgian writer Nino Haratischwili and 'There are Rivers in the Sky' by Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak. I explain to you why 'The lack of Light' resonate...

How to read Jane Eyre in Africa. In this episode I talk about my experience when I discussed my favourite book, Jane Eyre, with a group of teenagers in Hillbrow at the Windybrow Arts Centre in Johannesburg. I share with you what I discover about this book during this journey. Jane Eyre not only is a white classic which in itself makes it a complicated choice, yet it also, as I learn along the way,...

Why making stories matters. In this episode I share with you four stories I wrote myself. I used to be 'only' a reader, yet I started to notice the question in my body: 'Where is my creative output?'. Inspired by Brenee Brown and the theory she shares in her book 'Rising Strong', about the importance of stories and the possibility to create connection between people via story making, I started to...

In this episode, I have a conversation with South African writer Barbara Adair about the book Crooked Seeds from Karen Jennings. This book is published by Karavan Press in 2024. I share with you how I know Barbara and how we decided we were going to have a conversation about this book. Karen Jennings was long listed for the Booker Prize in 2021 for her book An Island. Barbara shares with us the st...

A challenging read that proved to be fun! In this episode, I share with you what I discussed with a few people who joined the book club evening @Saint Germain, 44 Stanley, Johannesburg on the 9th of May, 2024. We read If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, published in 1979 by Italo Calvino. I thought it would be a challenging read, but I actually found myself having so much fun with the book. I am a...

We are told "it takes two to be a slave". I will share with you what the book club evening was like in a little cafe in Johannesburg, early 2024. On this specific evening I discussed the book Homegoing, written by Yaa Gyasi in 2016. This book is her debut. She won National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize for Best First book with Homegoing. She was only 26 when she won this prize. I prepar...

Hello listener, welcome to my podcast series: The Story explorer. I am a reader who has the need to talk with others about what I’ve read. I have started and joined many book clubs. I now run one in a little café in Johannesburg. You are all welcome to join. But because time is sparse for many of us and Johannesburg is not within travelling distance for many readers I am taking up the challenge to...