July Local non-fiction

For more than three decades, South African artist William Kentridge has created a vast body of work comprising drawings and multimedia installations that have been exhibited worldwide. Here he immerses us in the artistic, intellectual and production processes of his creations, providing philosophical, autobiographical, technical and practical commentary and giving intimate insight into the studios where he has created throughout his life. A Natural History of the Studio is not only a must-read for admirers of Kentridge's work, but also a vibrant personal and philosophical exploration of the creative process and a critical look at the world and the human condition.

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Fifty years after the Soweto uprising, little is known about its most iconic leader, the elusive Tsietsi Mashinini, who instigated the schools’ protest that changed South Africa forever, only to flee the country, shun the ANC, share a house with Miriam Makeba, marry Miss Liberia – and be mysteriously murdered. Now, in time for the anniversary, respected author Sam Mathe – with the support of the Mashinini family – tells Tsietsi’s full story for the first time.

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At its heart, HELD is the story of a girl raised by her grandparents in a house where grief and jazz shared the air, where books and politics coexisted with the daily rhythms of survival, and where abundance was measured not in wealth but in ritual, memory, and care. It is also the story of her mother, Nokhephu -- first believed to have died in a tragic accident. The truth would turn her childhood upside down: the sister she thought she had was in fact her mother and hadn’t died.

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I could not put down Ntate Sam Montsi’s ‘Defying Barriers’! It is a book of wisdom. – Prof Bonang Mohale - Chancellor of the University of the Free State Sam Montsi’s memoir is a compelling story of a life lived with courage and intent. Born in 1945 in Soweto South Africa, the first son of Basotho migrants, family relocation to Lesotho at the end of 1956 places Sam on a trajectory of realising his potential in a country about to become independent. As a young economics and business graduate,  Sam thrives in this non-racialised environment. Nevertheless, he is not Mosotho ‘enough’  and needs the facilitation of local, politically connected friends to gain employment in the civil service. After a few years leading the Central Planning and Development Office,  followed by his position as Managing Director of the Lesotho National Development  Corporation he was well prepared for entrepreneurial exploits. Forced out of Lesotho by a  threat from the military regime, Sam returns to South Africa, the country of his birth, only  to find he is now not South African ‘enough’. Re-entering South Africa in the late 1980s  with his family as the first black General Manager of South African Breweries in the  Western Cape, they experience the underbelly of South African apartheid. His ‘outsider’  status in both countries strengthens his resolve. Defying Barriers is the story of how he did this. As a visionary and a pioneer, his journey from SAB to the successful family business Montsi Investments is nothing short of inspiring.

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