WOMAN ZONE STORIES

Not technically a library, but Nal’ibali has similar goals – to encourage, specifically children, to read, and give themaccess to books, and stories. As supporters of Kid Zone Sybil Belebesi’s little library in Gugulethu, we went to meet two key women in the Nali’bali Trust team, Carol Titus Western Cape Provincial Coordinator and Executive Director Lerato Trok,  to find out about their personal r...

For a woman to kill her lover is shocking, for that woman to receive the death sentence, even more so. Back in 1955, Ruth Ellis killed her lover – and became the last woman in Britain to be executed for her crime. It’s a terrible, layered and uncannilytimeous story touching on domestic violence and the death sentence, which London based author Louisa Treger tells in her latest novel A Fatal Love (...

What IS the EVERYWOMAN Project – what has it done and where is it going? To find out, we held a creative think-tank at The Women's Library at Artscape , inviting quilting specialist and teach Felicityann Khan and founder of the Mogalakwena Craft Art Development Foundation and Gallery, Dr Elbe Coetsee for their experience, input and inspiration.

She was born at the 'crossroads of South Africa's past and present' into a white privilege created by the apartheid system of the then ruling party. Her grandfather, Fanie Botha, was one of its longest serving ministers. But, over the years, Lidia Rauch has challenged the beliefs on which she was brought up and has committed herself to anti-racism work. Apartheid's Granddaughter tr...

One thing all we all have in common is that we are all born. But, there are different Ways of Being Born ( Jacana ) . It's these that, in her book of the same name, subtitled Tracing the Footprints of Birth in Africa , Dr Mmatshilo Motsei investigates. Comparing indigenous knowledge with biomedical practice. Researched in South Africa, it is a universal issue.

To know yourself, it's said, you have to know where you've come from. For Ethiopian-born Dornica Merhazion that meant writing, and sharing, her activist parents story in a book called Born at the End of the World. We caught up with her at a busy Open Book Festival to hear the beginnings and the background.

For Krystle Zara Appiah, author, editor, screenwriter, the light shone on a writing path from an early age. She works for The Novelry now, but her journey of discovery in the world of words has seen her cross continents and cultures - with books that tell the story. We spoke to her on her recent visit to Cape Town's Open Book Festival .

Born in Lagos, schooled in the US and based in Sweden, Lola Akinmade is something of a phenomenon - a Vital Voice, award winning photographer, travel writer, teacher, speaker, author of, most recently, Bitter Honey - we were pleased to speak to her just prior to the Open Book Festival in Cape Town to find out where it all began.

Foodie or not, as a 'saffer' there's no way you wont find something to suit your taste in this book - from braais to pies, chips to chakalaka. From home-grown Durban girl Chef Nokx Majozi who serves it all with an overlay of nostalgia, spiced with personal passion. Delicious.

One of the four women who led The Women's March of 1956 to protest the pass laws, little has been known about Lilian Ngoyi. But in this book, media scholar Martha Evans has brought the stylish but fiery orator and activist to life, setting her firmly in apartheid South Africa of the time. Published by Penguin , its release coincides with the 70th anniversary of The March.

Every year the NPO 1000 Women Trust celebrates at Artscape's Women's Humanity Festival with a special event - this year, it was themed Healing Through Art and amongst others, it featured embroiderer Nell Louise Pollock and her powerful healing red-on-white artworks that helped her not only overcome, but gave her the opportunity to share the stories of others - in stitches.

It's impossible not to be moved by Because I Love You , writer and feminist researcher Joy Watson's book (Jonathan Ball) containing the, fictionalised, three stories of three women badly damaged by love. Her own story, part of which she includes here, has give Joy the insight to listen, to learn, to write and reflect. She shared the journey at the Woman Zone Book Club.

Of All Things We Need Hope (Modjaji Books) is indeed a story about hope, but also about forgiveness and restorative justice. And appropriately, in this Mandela Month, about kindness - as well as, unexpectedly, about knitting! Author and writing coach Sally Cranswick explains her thinking behind this story in which a woman visits her son's killer - in prison.

It being June, Youth Month in South Africa, we decided it would be interesting to hear from the upcoming generation of writers. So we approached English Alive , the annual anthology that features work by high school learners, and invited four of them to come and share. But a bonus was discovering that lead editor of the publication, Kirsten Deane , is a poet and disability activist who joined us t...

While libraries are closing down all across the UK, in some boroughs of the capital, London, they're not only still very much open for business, but flourishing. In Wandsworth for instance they have no fewer than 11 libraries - including one it Putney that, opened in 1899, has a unique history, as well as a rather newer manager, Katy Homden who has quite a story of her own.

Amongst the line-up of international literati who came to the Franschhoek Literary Festival this year was Indian born, American writer Alka Joshi . Such is her success, her Jaipur Trilogy and latest novel, Six Days in Bombay have been translated into over 30 languages. She is also one of the Forbes list of '50 over 50' of women making a global impact. Listen here to her writing journey, an...

Showcasing, as always, writers from across the country and elsewhere in the world, this year the Franschhoek Literary Festival also held the promise of Africa with a delegate from Ethiopia. Listen here to curator Edom Belete, as she talks about the inaugural Addis Literary Festival .

South African civil-engineer turned author, Shameez Patel makes Rom-Com writing seem effortless. Published inthe USA (by Forever, an imprint of Hachette) her pigeon pair, Playing Flirty and Next Level Love are fun, fresh, witty and irresistible. But IRL (In Real Life... just so you know) getting it done is way more difficult story. She spoke to Nancy Richards at the Woman Zone Book Club and shared...

On the back of The Light Remains ( Modjaji ) by Samantha Keller, it says ‘against the backdrop of complicated, beautiful South Africa in the 1960s, an epic family saga unfolds’. And it does. But here the author talks to Nancy Richards about the even more complicated, but long and fascinating, process of writing a story based on one’s own family. That and so much more.

Being differently abled has not stopped Sheryl James pursuing her dreams, but not without their challenges. Becoming a Paralympic was her goal and along the way 'Momager' Sandy started journaling. With Sheryl’smemories and notes, ‘Unbridling’ was born, their story of family, strength, determination and faith. On their way to an athletics meet in Stellenbosch they came to see us at Woman Zo...

Following the release of her second novel, Fabrics of Love ( Kwela ), live wire author Lebo Mazibuko came to the Women's Library to talk us through some of the themes she works with - womanhood, township life, love, the generational clashes, modern vs tradition - and her own approach to writing. Interviewer Hazel Makuzeni picks up the threads...

Melinda Ferguson is prolific, in her life and in her work. She's a publisher, a motoring journalist, coach, consultant and, amongst other things, has authored four memoirs. But the 5th, Swift: a memoir (Ride or Die Press) is perhaps the most poignant of all, dealing with love and grief - the sudden passing of her soul mate and the first flight of a small bird. We spoke to her from her cabin in...

For such a slim little book, Nadia Davids haunting new novel, Cape Fever ( Scribner ) carries a lot of weight. The weight of two worlds, the weight of the Cape, the weight carried by women - the weight of war, and of words - written and spoken. On a visit to The Women's Library she shared some of its history, and its secrets.

We recently had a visitor at The Women's Library, all the way from Scotland. She's well-established children's book author, Nadine Aisha Jassat who we first met years ago through the Glasgow Women's Library . But we were thrilled to welcome her again, to see the latest in her trilogy of children's books, The House at the Edge of the World , to receive the gifts she brought - an...

In the old days women would sometimes quilt, sitting round a table to work on a piece together. As part of our EVERYWOMAN Project, we plan to do just that, to create a very special Commemorative Quilt, and we'll be inviting YOU to join us. But first, we'd like you to Meet the Quilter who inspired it, FELICITY KHAN...