Logo Goethe-Institut

South Africa

Book of the Month 2024

Here you will find the 12 reviews of the Book of the Month 2024. Written by South Africans for South Africans. Interesting authors like Sol Plaatje, K. Sello Duiker, Wendy Maartens, Bessie Head, Elizabeth Nyamayaro, David Dison and more.
Take a look!

a pile of books on the right in front of a wall of books, to the left a steaming coffee cup © Goethe Institut

  • Dear Mr. Entrepreneuship - Book of the Month December

    It’s simply not good enough to have a great business idea, because that idea needs to work financially. Do you have the ability to make business decisions quickly based on facts, not the heart?

    On the left is the cover of Dear Mr. Entrepreneurship and on the right a picture of Puselesto Motsemedi © Goethe-Institut Johannesburg © Goethe-Institut Johannesburg

  • Mhudi - Book of the Month November

    Mhudi is a historical novel set in the 1800s that tells the story of an African woman living during a war between the Barolong people, Matebele people and the Boers. Mhudi’s tribe, the Barolong, is attacked one evening by the Matebele. Amid the screams, bloodshed, and destruction—Mhudi escapes.

    Mhudi von Sol Plaatje © Sol Plaatjie © Sol Plaatjie

  • Torchbearers - Book of the Month October

    The women of 1956 marched to the Union building in unison because the pass laws that were oppressive. These women, from all backgrounds and races were torchbearers to a poet, social and legal advocates. These women, who are as colorful as their backgrounds and professions, share something common: the need to be somebody.

    Book of the Month October: Torchbearers By Wendy Maartens © Wendy Maartens © Wendy Maartens

  • Maru - Book of the Month September

    Maru is a story about a Masarwa woman, Margaret Cadmore, who was adopted and raised by a white woman during a time when the Masarwa people of Botswana were heavily discriminated against. Head writes “Masawra is the equivalent of ‘nigger’, a term of contempt which means, obliquely, a low filthy nation.”

    Book of the Month October 2024 - Torchbearers by Wendy Maartens © Wendy Maartens © Wendy Maartens

  • I Am a Girl from Africa - Book of the Month August

    As a young girl, during a drought in Zimbabwe, Elizabeth collapsed under a tree as a result of hunger and starvation. She was weak and in and out of consciousness. Moments later, a woman that Elizabeth did not recognise, gave her a meal. 

    Book of the Month August 2024: I am a girl from Africa © Author: K. Sello Duiker | Pubulisers: Kwela Books © Author: K. Sello Duiker | Pubulisers: Kwela Books

  • The Quiet Violence of Dreams - Book of the Month July

    Tshepo, a young student at Rhodes, has a difficult time keeping up with his own strange mind. He is absorbed in making sense of a traumatic past in a violent country and so when he finds himself at the Valkenberg mental facility it is perhaps not entirely due to “cannabis-induced psychosis”.

    Book Cover: The Quiet Violence of Dreams © Author: K. Sello Duiker | Pubulisers: Kwela Books © Author: K. Sello Duiker | Pubulisers: Kwela Books

  • Here Again Now - Book of the Month June

    Carried by impeccable lyrical writing, the 2022 novel examines themes of queerness, grief, friendship, and family. Set in the United Kingdom with hints of Nigerian life, this enthralling book reads like capricious weather.

    Book of the Month: June - Here Again Now by Okechukwu Nzelu © Goethe-Institut © Goethe-Institut

  • Transcendent Kingdom - Book of the Month May

    A book about racism, the tensions between emotional religion and rational science and mental health.

    On the left a picture of Katharina Kindsmüller, on the right the cover of "Transcendent Kingdom" © Marcus Sporkmann | Penguin Random House South Africa © Marcus Sporkmann | Penguin Random House South Africa

  • Land Matters - Book of the Month April

    “The book brings the reader up to speed with land's lengthy and complicated process. Assessed interventionist measures on their efficacies that mainly amounted to nought.”

    On the left is the book cover of "Land Matters" and on the right is a portrait photo of Tlou Meso, the reviewer. Both pictures in front of the dark Goethe blue. Penguin Random House South Africa | Tlou Meso Penguin Random House South Africa | Tlou Meso

  • Thirteen Cents - Book of the Month March

    "Books like Thirteen Cents are essential for social change.
    They provide impetus for growth, change and the development of a caring and supportive society."

    On the left a picture of Moon Makgoro, on the right the cover of "Thirteen Cents" by K. Sello Duiker © New Africa Books | Goethe-Institut South Africa © New Africa Books | Goethe-Institut South Africa

  • The Good Nigerian - Book of the Month February

    “It is all at the same time filled familiarity, warmth and danger, fear and opportunity– the myriad of contradictions that is Johannesburg, and South Africa itself.”

    In the upper left corner the cover of "The Good Nigerinan" by David Dison and in the lower right corner is a picture of Tonderai Chiyindiko © Goethe Institut Johannesburg © Goethe Institut Johannesburg

  • The Second Verse - Book of the Month January

    “This book is worth reading, [...] to get to know how people become what they become, and it is not always their own fault.”

    Cover von The Second Verse - a face in profile colored orange Penguin Random House South Africa Penguin Random House South Africa

Further offers

  • Afro Freedom Bookclub

    The AFRO-Freedom Book Club is a public book club that focuses on African writers to inspire dialogue and civic engagement in the community. We strongly believe in the voice of Africans and the importance of telling our own stories. Everyone is invited to join our circle!

    © Veronique Tadjo © Veronique Tadjo

  • Silent Book Club

    Silent Book club is about meeting other like-minded readers, chatting about what other people are reading and then reading together in companionable silence.

    © Goethe-Institut © Goethe-Institut

This might interest you

  • Membership, terms and conditions

    Lending

  • Borrow eBooks, eAudios and ePapers online!

    Onleihe

Follow us