The Interpreters 2025

Across three decades of democracy, South Africa has seen an outpouring of longform, narrative journalism and creative nonfiction - genres in which some of the country's finest writers have tried to make sense of a complex and changing society. This brand new, one-of-a-kind anthology collects some of the best literary nonfiction published since the end of apartheid, carefully selected and introduced by editors Sean Christie and Hedley Twidle. From the underworld of zama zama goldminers to the tragicomic closure of a Cape Town zoo, from stick fighting to punk rock, game lodges to fruit farms, cricket pitches to mermaids, The Interpreters: South Africa's New Nonfiction assembles a range of true stories that are as compelling as any fiction. Literary nonfiction in South Africa has often been found at the margins of our media - in zines, journals, now defunct magazines and personal blogs. It is a kind of writing that has, in general, not made much financial sense - more a medium for those obsessed with pursuing a single story over months or years. In The Interpreters, the editors have combed through 30 years of post-apartheid writing to produce a collection that combines preeminent names with lesser known but no less immersive and powerful works of creative journalism - disparate views and voices that, when read together, have created a new topography of South Africa's recent past. Featuring J. M. Coetzee ¿ Kimon de Greef ¿ William Dicey ¿ Alexandra Dodd ¿ Madeleine Fullard ¿ Mark Gevisser ¿ Anna Hartford ¿ Anton Harber ¿ Michiel Heyns ¿ Daniël Hugo ¿ Anton Kannemeyer ¿ Bongani Kona ¿ Rustum Kozain ¿ Antjie Krog ¿ Alastair Laird ¿ Adrian Leftwich ¿ Lidudumalingani ¿ Bongani Madondo ¿ Rian Malan ¿ Zanele Mji ¿ Mogorosi Motshumi ¿ Nosisi Mpolweni ¿ Julie Nxadi ¿ Njabulo S Ndebele ¿ Lindokuhle Nkosi ¿ Sean O'Toole ¿ Kopano Ratele ¿ Warren Raysdorf ¿ Srila Roy ¿ Lin Sampson ¿ Kwanele Sosibo ¿ Jonny Steinberg ¿ Niren Tolsi ¿ Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon ¿ Roger Young ¿ Percy Zvomuya