tende Aalst Jan & Katrien, Aalst
tende Deinze Peter, Deinze
tende Knokke Knokke
tende Moorslede Wim & Veerle, Moorslede
tende Poperinge Griet & Raf, Poperinge
tende Ramsel Marc, Ida & Conny, Ramsel-Herselt Independent | Sunday Times Books LIVE - Part 2
Asymptote’s Winter 2018 issue celebrates the journal’s seventh year and 100th language!
by admindev on Jan 31st, 2018 Tweet
Asymptote’s Winter 2018 issue celebrates the journal’s 7th year and 100th language! This edition includes a Microfiction Special Feature full of glittering allegory, along with uncompromising fiction confronting today’s grim realities.
Winner of the 2015 London Book Fair’s International Literary Translation Initiative Award, Asymptote is the premier site for world literature in translation. We take our name from the dotted line on a graph that a mathematical function may tend toward, but never reach. Similarly, a translated text may never fully replicate the effect of the original; it is its own creative act.
Our mission is simple: to unlock the literary treasures of the world. (Watch a video introduction of Asymptote here.) To date, our magazine has featured work from 105 countries and 84 languages, all never-before-published poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, and interviews by writers and translators such as J. M. Coetzee, Patrick Modiano, Herta Müller, Can Xue, Junot Díaz, Ismail Kadare, David Mitchell, Anne Carson, Haruki Murakami, Lydia Davis, Ann Goldstein, and Deborah Smith.
In our five years, we have expanded our offerings to include a daily-updated blog, a fortnightly newsletter, a monthly podcast, and educational guides accompanying each quarterly issue; we’ve also organized more than thirty events on five continents. In 2015, Asymptote became a founding member of The Guardian’s Books Network with “Translation Tuesdays”, a weekly showcase of new literary translations that can be read by the newspaper’s 5 million followers. This means that Asymptote is the only translation-centered journal that can boast of a genuinely international readership – reaching beyond niche communities of literary translators and world literature enthusiasts.
Always interested in facilitating encounters between languages, Asymptote presents work in translation alongside the original texts, as well as audio recordings of those original texts whenever possible. Each issue is illustrated by a guest artist and includes Writers on Writers essays introducing overlooked voices that deserve to be better-known in the English speaking world, as well as a wildcard Special Feature that spotlights literature from certain regions or cutting-edge genres such as Multilingual Writing and Experimental Translation. To catalyze the transmission of literature even further, Asymptote also commissions translations of texts into languages other than English, thereby engaging other linguistic communities and disrupting the English-centered flow of information. All the work we publish is then disseminated for free via eight social media platforms in three languages, through a dedicated social media team as well as our ever-expanding network of editors-at-large in six continents.
George Bernard Shaw famously said, “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange those ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” It is in this spirit of sharing ideas that Asymptote invites readers to explore work from across the globe.
Incorporated neither in America nor in Europe, unaffiliated with any university or government body, Asymptote does not qualify for many grants that other like institutions receive. If you enjoy our magazine, help us continue our mission by becoming a sustaining member at just $10 a month. In return for pledging at least a year’s support, you’ll receive an Asymptote Moleskine notebook!
Die ware Taalstryd speel hom af in die linies van die Afrikaanse underground-beweging: Koos Kombuis oor die wonder van Ons Klyntji
“Is jy ’n Taalstryder?”
Hierdie vraag word met gereelde tussenposes aan my gestel.
’n Ander moeilike vraag is: “Hoekom neem jy nooit deel aan die ‘Afrikaans is Groot’-konserte nie?”
Dis nie vrae waarop ek ’n maklike antwoord het nie.
Afrikaans is een van elf amptelike tale in Suid-Afrika.
Ons is eintlik nie moerse groot nie.
Ons durf nie onsself aanmatig deur die koning van die mishoop te probeer wees nie. So sal ons nie oorleef nie. Dit sal vyandigheid ontlok by mede-Suid-Afrikaners. Dit ontlok reeds vyandigheid.
So maak mens nie vriende nie. En so oorleef mens nie in ’n harde en kompeterende omgewing nie.
Gedurende die tagtigerjare het ek en my vriende – ons was toe nog jonk en voortvarend – tientalle sogenaamde ‘little magazines’ die wêreld ingestuur. Van hierdie tydskriffies, meesal gefotostateer en vasgekram, het name gehad soos Donga, Die Tagtiger, Koerant, Work in Progress, Kabelkarnimfe, Taaldoos en Graffier. Die inhoud van hierdie tydskrifte was meesal baie alternatief en uitdagend. Omdat hulle anti-N.P. was, is party van hierdie publikasies verbied.
Die laaste ‘little magazine’ is in 1996 gestig. Ek het ’n beperkte oplaag laat druk met ’n borgskap van vyftig rand, bygedra deur my pel One-Love.
Die naam van hierdie tydskrif was Ons Klyntji. Dit was veronderstel om ’n voortsetting te wees van die tydskrif met dieselfde naam wat in die laaste jare van die neëntiende eeu ’n subversiewe rol gespeel het in die bewuswording en tot-standkoming van Afrikaans as volwaardige taal.
Ons Klyntji is vandag die enigste sogenaamde ‘little magazine’ wat nog bestaan. As mens in aanmerking neem dat die eerste uitgawe inderdaad honderd-een-en-twintig jaar gelede verskyn het, het Ons Klyntji die rare onderskeiding dat dit nie slegs die langslewende tydskrif uit die ‘little magazine’-era is nie, maar dat dit amptelik die oudste bestaande Afrikaanse publikasie is. Dis ouer as Die Huisgenoot!
Vir my voel die ontstaan en voortbestaan van ’n tydskrif soos Ons Klyntji werklik soos ’n wonderwerk. Die manier hoe dit gebeur het, en die sinchronisiteit van alles, byna te merkwaardig om waar te wees. Vir ’n volledige geskiedenis van hoe hierdie tydskrif herleef en oorleef het in moderne tye, gaan lees gerus Mila de Villiers se deeglike stuk navorsing getiteld Van ‘Leesstof vir die Afrikaanse Volk’ tot ‘Iets Cools in Afrikaans’.
As ek ’n Taalstryder is, is ek nie een van die groot taalbulle wat raas en blaas vir die toekoms van Afrikaans nie. Ek is die ou wat die klein vlammetjies hier onder aanblaas.
Wie weet; dalk sien die volgende geslag hierdie pogings raak, en bou daarop?
Daar is alreeds vandag twee weergawes van die tydskrif, een wat fisies gedruk is en ’n online-weergawe. Die fisiese tydskrif, met die titel Ons Klyntji, is onder redaksie van Toast Coetzer, Erns Grundling en Alice Inggs, en dit word gedruk met ’n klein borgskap van Oppikoppi. Bydraes – enigiets van gedigte tot kort stories en tekeninge – kan gestuur word aan toast@weg.co.za.
Die aanlyn-weergawe, getiteld Klyntji, is onder die redaksie van Francois Lion-Cachet. (As sy van bekend klink, hy is inderdaad ’n direkte afstammeling van ene J. Lion-Cachet , wie ’n leeue-aandeel gehad het in die Taalbewegings van die laat neëntiende eeu!)
Hierdie tydskrif kan gratis gelees word by http://klyntji.com/ .
Hoewel daar ’n losse samewerking tussen die redaksie van die fisiese en aanlyn-weergawes is, en die inhoud soms oorvleuel, word die aanlyn-weergawe meer gereeld opgedateer.
Ek het die 23-jarige Francois uitgevra oor sy motivering vir die stig van Klyntji, en hy het as volg geantwoord:
Vir my was die hoofrede met die stig van Klyntji om ’n publikasie te skep wat ek wou lees. Internasionaal vind ek aanklank by, onder meer, Dazed, iD en Vice, almal afsonderlik aan die verslaggewende voorpunt van progressiewe wêreld jeugkultuur. Afrikaanse publikasies haak dikwels vas by die “bevordering” of selfs “oorlewing” van die taal, waar dit vir my belangrik was om ’n post-Afrikaanse aanslag na te volg, minder gepla met die “Taal”, en meer gefokus op wat die kultuuragenda is en behoort te wees. Klyntji is nie hoogheilig nie, maar wel edgy en vars.
Dit is my vermoede en hoop dat geskiedskrywers wat eendag terugkyk na die literatuur van die vroeë een-en-twintigste eeu, sal besef dat die ware Taalstryd homself afgespeel het, nie in die rookgevulde sale van die Taalbulle of op die verhoë van ‘Afrikaans is Groot’-konserte nie, maar in die klein en minder opvallende linies van die Afrikaanse underground-beweging. - @KoosKombuis
The six best independent bookstores in South Africa
by Mila on May 10th, 2017 Tweet
Carina Claassens recently compiled a list of the best independent bookstores in the country. Her article, written for The Culture Trip, features six indie gems from dorpies as remote as Nieu-Bethesda, to the big bad city of Johannesburg.
Have you been to any of the following?
Dustcovers, Nieu Bethesda
This quaint bookstore is somewhat unexpected in the small Karoo town and visitors easily spend hours inside. From collectables and coffee table books to classics and new releases, most books are second-hand but are in immaculate condition, and sell for a fraction of the original price.
This independent bookstore in Cape Town opened in 2007 and hosts an array of book-related events, and stocks an eclectic range of titles. It’s also the perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon, sipping on freshly brewed coffee while reading in the lounge area. Ideal also for those with children, as every Saturday morning at 11AM it hosts entertaining readings for youngsters.
Fables Bookshop, Grahamstown
Fables Bookshop in Grahamstown was founded in 1990 and deals mainly in out-of-print, academic and specialist, Africana titles. Fables also sells fascinating hand-painted maps of the Cape Colony and Eastern Cape, as well as almost impossible-to-find genealogy CDs.
Click here to read about numbers four, five, and six.
Submit your manuscript for publication by Modjaji Books
by Mila on Apr 19th, 2017 Tweet
Modjaji Books is a singular publishing house which only publishes work by women and people who identify as women, and only those who live in southern Africa, or who are originally from southern Africa, or whose work reflects a major relevance to southern Africa.
This independent feminist press is currently seeking manuscripts for publication.
If you are a southern African woman, or identify as a woman, and have recently written a novel, collection of short stories or poems, or a work of creative non-fiction, you are eligible to submit your manuscript for possible publication by Modjaji Books.
Submissions for entries close on April 30.
2016 Man Booker Prize shortlist announced – JM Coetzee doesn’t make the cut
by Jennifer on Sep 13th, 2016 Tweet
Alert! The shortlist for the 2016 Man Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced.
JM Coetzee, who was the only African author longlisted (although he is now an Australian citizen), has not made the final cut.
Coetzee was longlisted for his new book The Schooldays of Jesus, which is not due out until 26 September.
The 2016 Man Booker Prize shortlist of six novels
Paul Beatty (US), The Sellout (Oneworld)
Deborah Levy (UK), Hot Milk (Hamish Hamilton)
Graeme Macrae Burnet (UK), His Bloody Project (Contraband)
Ottessa Moshfegh (US), Eileen (Jonathan Cape)
David Szalay (Canada-UK), All That Man Is (Jonathan Cape)
Madeleine Thien (Canada), Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Granta Books)
The only previously shortlisted author on the shortlist is Deborah Levy, for Swimming Home in 2012, while the onlydebut novelist featured is Ottessa Moshfegh.
Independent publishing houses Granta, Saraband and Oneworld – who published last year’s winner Marlon James – feature alongside industry giant Penguin Random House.
Chair of judges Amanda Foreman comments: “The Man Booker Prize subjects novels to a level of scrutiny that few books can survive. In rereading our incredibly diverse and challenging longlist, it was both agonising and exhilarating to be confronted by the sheer power of the writing.
“As a group we were excited by the willingness of so many authors to take risks with language and form. The final six reflect the centrality of the novel in modern culture – in its ability to champion the unconventional, to explore the unfamiliar, and to tackle difficult subjects.”
Foreman is joined on the 2016 panel of judges by Jon Day, Abdulrazak Gurnah, David Harsent and Olivia Williams. The shortlist was chosen from 155 submissions, published in the UK between 1 October 2015 and 30 September 2016.
The 2016 winner will be announced on Tuesday, 25 October in London’s Guildhall, at a black-tie dinner.
The shortlisted authors each receive £2,500 (about R47,500) and a specially bound edition of their book. The winner will receive a further £50,000 (about R951,000) and can expect international recognition.
2016 Man Booker Prize longlist revealed
How the new Man Booker Prize rules are affecting Africa – and the UK
Marlon James Wins the 2015 Man Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings
Oneworld is in the running again this year with Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, following Marlon James’ win with A Brief History of Seven Killings in 2015, which has gone on to sell over 360,000 copies in the UK and Commonwealth, as well as 120,000 in the US.
Granta makes the list with Do Not Say We Have Nothing after its success with Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, which won in 2014. Eleanor Catton is adapting The Luminaries for the BBC, which will commence filming in New Zealand in 2017.
Fellow independent publisher Saraband appears on the shortlist for the first time with His Bloody Project, a significant achievement for the tiny Glasgow-based house run by two people.
For the first time ever, RNIB has ensured that braille versions of the shortlisted books are available in time for the announcement. The Booker Prize Foundation has a longstanding partnership with RNIB to provide Man Booker Prize books to the tens of thousands of blind and partially sighted members of the RNIB Library.
Serious Sweet by AL Kennedy
Oh BLeKSEM, I Missed (Most of) the Launch of Donga
by Ben - Editor on Aug 8th, 2012
Your Correspondent missed most of the event, he regrets to report, having failed to take into account the snow factor before traveling from the city’s northern wilds (Rivonia) to the urban paste-bijoux precinct of Melville.
Arriving very late indeed, and puffing cold breath, I caught a whiff of a reading by Arja Salafranca, sipped half a glass of Glen Carlou chardonnay (which sponsored a tasting part-way through the programme), listened to a few arias courtesy a songbird in attendance – I should have jumped in for a Baby it’s Cold Outside duet – and marveled at Leonard the Mime, who played backdrop to all the performances: