South African Fiction

Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job – missing persons. Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell’s undertow.

She should be at her "perfect" sister's bedside, awaiting the arrival of the newest member of her family. But the thought of spending hours at the hospital with her suffocating relatives has Sophia hailing the first taxi she sees. Only to realize too late that the man at the wheel of her getaway car is the most unpleasant one she's ever had the misfortune to meet.

The Best Years of Your Life is a short story from Halle Hill’s Good Women, which delves into the lives of twelve Black women across the Appalachian South. Darkly funny and deeply human, Good Women observes how place, blood ties, generational trauma, obsession, and boundaries―or lack thereof―influence how we navigate our small worlds, and how those worlds so often collide in ways we don’t expect.

A sister struggles with guilt as she helps her brother plan to run away with a man he’s seeing in secret. When the police pull them over one night, everything changes. Bitch Baby is a short story from Halle Hill’s Good Women, which delves into the lives of twelve Black women across the Appalachian South.

In her dynamic debut, Halle Hill’s Good Women delves into the lives of twelve Black women across the Appalachian South. A woman boards a Greyhound bus barreling toward Florida to meet her sugar daddy’s mother; a state fair employee considers revenge on a local preacher; a sister struggles with guilt as she helps her brother plan to run away with a man he's seeing in secret; a young woman who works for a scam for-profit college navigates the lies she sells for a living.

Amara’s bullies are mean and harsh. BUT this year, she decides to try out for the school Olympics. She tries out for not one, not three but ALL the items. Will the little girl with a flower ribbon in her big, curly hair who gets teased so often; the sick, scared girl at the hospital who couldn’t reach high places, be able to successfully compete? Or will she just make a huge fool of herself? A story about a small girl with big hair and dreams as high as the stars.

The world is in lockdown, and Jack has been stuck at home for what feels like an eternity. When he discovers a mysterious tunnel under his bed, an amazing adventure unfolds for Jack and his little sister, Lily. Together, they discover a magical forest, stop a powerful crystal from falling into the wrong hands, travel to the ends of the galaxy and fight a gang of mutant hyenas. Along the way, they are joined by Winston, the tortoise, and Dougie, a mole whose superb tunnelling skills might just save the day.

Rattapallax, described as the "visceral multimedia hit of poetry" by TimeOut magazine, features readings from leading contemporary poets and writers. Rattapallax 12 features poetry on post-Apartheid South Africa, including works from poets such notable poets as Raul Zurita, Tomas Harris, Harolodo de Campos, and Dael Orlandersmith