I’m really pleased to see reviews of the poetry collections, as there aren’t many publications that carry reviews of Poetry. So thanks for that Litnet. I look forward to seeing reviews of Oleander and Burnt Offering in due course.
Talking of which Joan Metelerkamp read from Burnt Offering at Wordsworths in Knysna last evening. Joan let me know today that the event was well attended, and Gillian Carter introduced Joan. I will see if I can get a copy of her talk and post it. I’m longing to hear Joan read from Burnt Offering. She did read at the Cape Town Book Fair last year, but only one poem.
Dit is vir Die Book Lounge en Modjadji Books ‘n groot plesier om jou uit te nooi na die Kaapstadse bekendstelling van Hester se Brood deur Hester van der Walt.
Hester van der Walt sal ‘n gesprek voer met Peter Veldsman, restauranteur van die befaamde Emily’s by die Kloktoring in die Kaapse Waterfront, bekende skrywer, en internasionaal bekroonde chef.
Kom geniet saam met ons ʼn stukkie van Hester se heerlike brood en ʼn glasie Leopard’s Leap wyn, geborg deur Leopard’s Leap.
Hester van der Walt sal gesels oor die boek en daaruit voorlees.
Wow! What a launch we had in MacGregor on Wednesday night for Hester se Brood by Hester van der Walt. The owners of the Karoux restaurant, a fairly new MacGregor hot spot, know how to organise a fabulous party. Andre and Kurt are charming, efficient and warmly hospitable hosts. The evening was summery, the Karoo courtyard and fairy lights the perfect setting. Karoux had organised delicious local wines from the MacGregor Wine Farm. Their Colombard is the house white at Karoux and their Shiraz and Pinotage are prizewinners.
Hester specially made bread for the occasion, what a treat. She made foccaccia with delicious toppings and a huge celebratory challah with a chocolatey raisin filling that was so delicious I thought I’d died and gone to heaven after one bite. Positively orgasmic. I think I will have to learn how to make challah. Hester uses only Eureka stone ground flour for her breads.
As people came in they greeted Hester and Lies Hoogendoorn, her partner (whose art work is an integral part of the book, including the cover painting) enthusiastically. The guests bought copies of the books like ‘hot cakes’. Hester sat down to sign and before the more formal part of the proceedings were begun, we had almost sold out of books. I was also thrilled that Natascha Mostert, who did the book design and layout, came to the launch. Hester and Lies were thrilled to meet her and to thank her for her input and sensitive book design work.
The more formal proceedings started with me saying a few words about Modjaji Books and what I am trying to do with this small press. When I first met Hester and Lies to talk about the book, I got my Modjaji feeling, it is an electric lighting up inside of me feeling. While I read the manuscript, the feeling intensified. And during the launch I was afraid I might burst into ecstatic flames. Hester is a gifted writer and a wonderful person, calm, centred, loving, focused and many other things besides. Hester and Lies saw the printed book for the first time at about 3 in the afternoon. The launch was only a few hours later, the most thrilling for me was to see the way the took the book and looked and it and held and paged through it. I could see they loved it. Every now and then they would look a little choked up, a little misty-eyed.
Hester spoke, her is what she said:
It was not difficult to choose bread for tonight. It had to be foccacia. I have a clear memory of my first bite into the crust of its close relative, the ciabatta. I knew immediately that this was real bread - the crust rough and honest like our landscape and the inside crumb tasty and filled with large uneven holes. The ideal bread for breaking with your fingers and for soaking up sauce and for cleaning your plate.
I guess that was the beginning of my search: I wanted to make a perfect ciabatta! I paged through recipe books and I experimented, I waited with bated breath to take the bread from the oven. But then the first cut through the crust was a disappointment - this was not the real thing. Until one day, during a difficult time in my life, a time of burnout in my work, when I had no energy, I stumbled on a special book on artisan bread by Maggie Glezer. That was the start of my life with bread.
Hester se Brood tells the story of that search. I share the what and the why and the how of making real handmade bread in your own kitchen. I tell the story of the oven, the wood and the firemaker, the market, and of this village and its people who provided the womb for the story to grow.
Hester read from the first page of her book
‘n Mens kry brood — en Brood. Dis wat ek besef het toe ek vir die eerste keer in ‘n ciabatta gebyt het; daardie lugtige Italiaanse brood genaamd pantoffel: plat en eerlik met ‘n kors soos ‘n gehaarde landskap. Binne vol groot rysgate, ideaal om met jou vingers te skeur vir die opdoop van daardie laaste souserigheid uit jou boord.
Net daar het my soektog begin, ‘n Geblaai deur resepteboeke het my van die een boekwinkel na die ander geneem. Halfskelm maak ek myself staan by ‘n tafel vol boeke, ‘n resepteboek oopgeslaan en notaboekie op my handsak gebalanseer. So skryf ek af. By die huis gaan probeer ek die resep uit. Wag in spanning vir die brood om uit die oond te kom. H’m, lyk nie sleg nie. Maar die eerste sny deur die kors weet ek al: dis nie wat ek soek nie. dit lyk soos die tuisgebakte brood van my kinderdae, die soort wat net lekker is omdat dit nog halfwarm uit die oond is.
Colleen Crawford Cousins my friend and collaborater also spoke about the book. Hester and Lies are old friends of hers, and right from the start she too saw Hester’s book. She advised me on cover design and book design. She saw that the book is about making bread, but it is also and perhaps more importantly about making a handmade life and Hester chose to write it in Afrikaans as an act of reclamation of her mother tongue. I wished Hester had read for much longer when she read us two tantalising paragraphs.
Niel Jonker, who helped Hester and Lies to build their wood fired oven came specially to the launch with his family. He also spoke about his involvement with the oven, becoming a baker of bread and of his friendship with Hester and Lies.
Oh and a charming little detail: Colleen and I stayed at the MacGregor Wine Farm Cottages - the entrance to which says “Ina Naude en man”. There has to be a story there.
Last week about 20 publishers/ book trade people spent 3 days at Roodevallei, north of Pretoria, getting into gear for the London Book Fair. Jane Henshall, the South Africa Market Focus Co-ordinator, organised one of the best training experiences I have ever had. The venue was fabulous, comfortable rooms, with free wifi access, the food was divine, in fact too delicious and it was quite hard to eat in a restrained fashion. I don’t think we could have had a better facilitator than Sheila Lambie, of Oxford Brookes University Publishing Studies, a wonderful woman with years of experience in the UK book trade. Sheila worked us very hard, into the night on the Thursday night, but every minute was worth it. (The only thing that wasn’t absolutely spot on was the weather, it was like Cape Town in winter, only worse.)
Amy Webster, of the London Book Fair was there too, to give us hands on advice about the logistics and practicalities of what we need to do to get ourselves to the Fair. I learnt so much from Sheila, Amy and the other participants, that I felt very full and a little overwhelmed after the workshop. But now that I am back at my desk and have started to tackle some of the tasks, and to think strategically about the LBF, I’m feeling really excited.
I’m planning to select the publishers I want to meet very carefully to pitch rights sales to them. I’m going to pore over the professional seminar programme and choose a few key sessions to attend. Cory Doctorow is a presenter, I certainly won’t miss his session if I can help it. I plan to meet Alexander Leborg of Minuskel forlag who has bought the Norwegian rights to Whiplash by Tracey Farren.
The London Book Fair, a focused trade fair, seems to me to be quite different - tougher, more demanding, but also a giant step into making Modjaji Books sustainable, than our Cape Town Book Fair, a selling fair. The LBF needs careful planning, and I need to set my agenda, my strategic goals and stick to them as far as possible, allowing a little room for serendipity. Before the Roodevallei experience the LBF seemed very far away, now it seems all too soon.
I still can’t quite believe how lucky Modjaji Books and I am to have this once in a lifetime opportunity to be sponsored to go to the London Book Fair, and to be given a stand too, when South Africa is the Market Focus country and when South Africa is on people’s minds because of the 2010 soccer world cup.
Some of the people who were at the training included Debra Primo of UKZN Press, Tim Richman of Two Dogs, Jane Henshall, Amy Webster and Karen Brodie (British Council).
Hester se Brood, by Hester van der Walt will be launched at the Karoux restaurant in the charming village of McGregor on Wednesday evening, December 9th. Guests will meet Hester van der Walt, the author, and Lies Hoogendoorn, her partner and the cover artist and illustrator. You will be treated to delicious local wines, breads and other delicioushnesses.
Please RSVP to Colleen at cdhiggs AT gmail.com or 0727743546 by the 4th December.
Here is the blurb of the book:
Hester se Brood is gesetel in ’n dorpie in die Klein Karoo, waar Hester van der Walt brood in ’n houtbakoond vir die plaaslike mark bak. Soos twee groot geeste van weleer, C. Louis Leipoldt en Martin Versveld, het sy ’n diepgewortelde, intuïtiewe aanvoeling vir die konneksie tussen siel en kos; veral kos wat met sorg, volgens tradisionele beginsels en metodes, voorberei word. Saam met gulhartige porsies sielskos, verskaf hierdie eerlike (en heerlike) plat-op-die-aarde boek ook resepte wat jou gaan wys hoe om klasieke Europese brode, soos ciabatta, focaccia, kitke en baguettes te bak, asook plaaslike gustelinge, soos outydse soetsuurdeegbrood.
’n Fyn sin vir humor, en ’n groot waardering vir die magiese spel tussen vuur en hout, graan en sout, water en gis en tyd – die basiese elemente wat nodig is om goeie brood te bak – maak hierdie boek net so onweerstaanbaar soos die reuk van brood, kraakvars uit die oond.
The publication of Hester se Brood was made possible by a grant from the Hiemstra Trust.
Modjaji Books is proud to announce the publication of Hester se Brood by Hester van der Walt.
This gorgeous book will be out in the first week of December, if you pay now you will get an 18% discount on your signed copy - that is you will pay R155. The book will sell in stores for R190. The book is a wonderful exploration of a handmade life and the preoccupations of the author, Hester van der Walt, in particular her journeying into bread making and moving to and making her new home in McGregor. The book is beautifully designed by Natasha Mostert, cover lettering by Hannah Morris, and Hester’s partner, Lies Hoogendoorn’s delightful drawings enhance the text and give a visual sense of life in McGregor. Lies also did the painting which was used for the cover design.
More about the Book:
Hester se Brood is gesetel in ’n dorpie in die Klein Karoo, waar Hester van der Walt brood in ’n houtbakoond vir die plaaslike mark bak. Soos twee groot geeste van weleer, C. Louis Leipoldt en Martin Versveld, het sy ’n diepgewortelde, intuïtiewe aanvoeling vir die konneksie tussen siel en kos; veral kos wat met sorg, volgens tradisionele beginsels en metodes, voorberei word. Saam met gulhartige porsies sielskos, verskaf hierdie eerlike (en heerlike) plat-op-die-aarde boek ook resepte wat jou gaan wys hoe om klasieke Europese brode, soos ciabatta, focaccia, kitke en baguettes te bak, asook plaaslike gustelinge, soos outydse soetsuurdeegbrood.
’n Fyn sin vir humor, en ’n groot waardering vir die magiese spel tussen vuur en hout, graan en sout, water en gis en tyd – die basiese elemente wat nodig is om goeie brood te bak – maak hierdie boek net so onweerstaanbaar soos die reuk van brood, kraakvars uit die oond.
The publication of the book was made possible by a grant from the Hiemstra Trust.
Please feel free to pass this special offer on to friends and colleagues. The offer is only available until the 27th November 2009. Please email me to place an order and let me know how many copies you are ordering and your postal address.
Modjaji Books Banking details: Modjaji Books CC FNB * Adderley Street Branch * 201409 Cheque Account * Account Number 62148917646 Use your Surname as a reference when you make the payment online
Yesterday, I got an email from Jane Henshall at the British Council, letting me know that Malika Ndlovu, author ofInvisble Earthquake has been chosen by the SA Focus Steering Committee to participate in the London Book Fair next year. This follows closely on the heels of hearing that Modjaji Books received one of the 10 places for smaller, independent publishers. All of this is enormously thrilling, and underlies my sense that it was right to start Modjaji Books; there is a place for a small press focusing on the writing of Southern African women.
Robert Berold (who edited the collection) will introduce Joan Metelerkamp and Burnt Offering. Wine and snacks will be served
RSVP: Crystal Warren at C.Warren@ru.ac.za or tel: 046 622 7042
About the book Burnt Offering is Joan Metelerkamp’s seventh collection of poems. The title comes from a poem in a cycle that embodies the labours of the medieval alchemists – heating and burning, transformation of passionate intensity, the search for an enduring element. In the process malignant doubt is burnt off, and what takes its place is trust in the everyday:
take this day, here, take it all its clarity, all its gold –
Like all of Metelerkamp’s work, these generous poems draw on and weave together, with this poet’s distinctive energy and passion, the details of family and rural life, dreams, landscapes and journeys:
the chainsaw in the valley;
the chainsong of canaries, cisticolas, sombre bulbul, sunbirds, despite the cloud cover;
the script of named fynbos; the clear horizon, the still sea;
the discomfort of day’s plans, narratives, narratives.
About the author Joan Metelerkamp is the author of seven books of poems: Towing the Line (1992), Stone No More (1995), Into the day breaking (2000), Floating Islands (2001), Requiem (2003), Carrying the Fire (2005), and Burnt Offering (2009). She lives with her family in the Southern Cape.
NIPPA or the Network of Independent Publishers Pan-Africa is looking for likely prospects to sponsor and/or advertise in our Small and Indie Publishers’ 2010 Catalogue. This Pan-African publication network aims at sharing knowledge about publishing and distribution in African countries.
Modjaji Books on behalf of NIPPA has undertaken to compile and produce a catalogue of small literary and trade publishers in Africa. It is our aim to have the catalogue ready in time to represent small publishers at the London Book Fair in 2010. As most people in the book world in South Africa know, the London Book Fair has selected South Africa as its 2010 market focus country. South Africa’s publishing industry will be front and centre; showcasing publishers, books and authors over the Fair’s three days.
We propose to publish the catalogue in a directory format, in black and white on glossy paper. The size of the catalogue will be A6: 105 x 148 mm
The costs of advertising in the catalogue are:
For Inside Back Cover and Inside Front Cover: R2000 For Back Cover: R5000
For a Full page advertisement inside: R2000 For a Half page: R1200 For a Quarter page: R600 To Sponsor a Page (narrow banner ad across the bottom of a page): R300
All advertisements will be in black and white, except inside and back covers.
All of the above prices include VAT
If you would like to advertise in the catalogue, please contact me at cdhiggs AT gmail.com or if you have suggestions of likely candidates for sponsorship or advertising, please let me know.
Three Modjaji poets, Helen Moffett, Sindiwe Magona and Megan Hall have all had carrotty reviews in the past couple of weeks on Litnet. The Strange Fruit review was posted by Sophy last week over here on BOOK SA. But if you want to see what Karlien van der Schyff has to say about Magona’s Please, Take Photographsclick here or what Grace Kim’s thoughts on Hall’s Fourth Child are, click here.
Modjaji Books is proud to announce the publication of Hester se Brood by Hester van der Walt.
