The Near North

The Near North is a vivid account of life in Johannesburg in times of crisis. From the stony ridges of Langermann Kop in Kensington to the tree-lined avenues of Houghton, we follow the writer through the city's streets, meeting its ghosts and journeying through time and (often circumscribed) space, finding meaning in the everyday and incidental.At once an echo of Ivan Vladislavić’s award-winning Portrait with Keys and an original work of intense acuity and quiet power, The Near North is both intimate and expansive, ranging from small domestic dramas to great public spectacles. Wryly playful at times, fiercely serious at others, it is certain to move and delight all who accompany the writer through its pages.

IVAN VLADISLAVIĆ has published novels, stories and essays. Based in Johannesburg, he is a Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Witwatersrand. His work has won many of South Africa’s literary awards and was shortlisted for the Ondaatje and Warwick Prizes. In 2015, he won Yale University's prestigious Windham Campbell Prize. His books include the novels The Folly, The Restless Supermarket, The Exploded View, Double Negative and The Distance, as well as the story collections Flashback Hotel and 101 Detectives. In 2006, he published Portrait with Keys, a sequence of documentary texts on Johannesburg. Visit www.ivanvladislavic.com.