Lewis Nkosi's insights into South African literature, culture and society first appeared in the 1950s, when the 'new' urban African in Sophiatown and on 'Drum' magazine mockingly opposed then Prime Minister H.F. Verwoerd's Bantu retribalisation policies. Before his death in 2010, Nkosi focused on the literary-cultural challenges of post-Mandela times. Having lived for 40 years in exile, he returned to South Africa, intermittently, after the unbannings of 1990. His critical eye, however, never for long left the home scene. Hence, the title of this selection of his articles, essays and reviews,...

In conversations-serious, humorous, ironic, ribald-internationally acclaimed poet-scientist Douglas Livingstone and leading literary critic Michael Chapman struck up a warm and, at times, iconoclastic friendship. Over lunch they exchanged opinions, insights, and anecdotes, not only on poetry, science, and society, but also on personal aspects of modern life: love and loss, sexual and spiritual intimations, and city living; generally, on the value of our 'uncommon humanity.' Their conversations are recollected in this book, which will take readers through the black-and-white times of political...