making rain for southern African women writers and readers

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Making rain for southern African women writers and readers

New & Forthcoming

69 Jerusalem Street

Lindiwe Nkutha

In her debut collection of short stories, Lindiwe Nkutha takes us through the minds of people you may overlook on an ordinary day. Nkutha’s words weave in and around the weights we drag behind us from one place to another, with a sensitivity and wit required for such vulnerabilities and intimate moments.

The Pride of Noonlay

Shanice Ndlovu

The stories in The Pride of Noonlay are crackling, lyrical, and controlled, and the worlds Ndlovu conjures are fascinating and vivid.

The Gospel According to Wanda B. Lazarus

Lynn Joffe

A furiously funny, feminist take on the myth of the Wandering Jew. Wanda B. Lazarus freewheels through the ages relating her musically-charged, irreverent tales in her quest to become the tenth muse.

Fall Awake

Jeannie McKeown

Fall Awake is a study in contrasts, exploring belonging and unbelonging; tracking the coming to terms with a fluid sexuality, and examining how relationships work or don’t work.

WILL, the Passenger Delaying Flight …

Barbara Adair

A man is travelling to Africa from Europe. And yet it is also about waiting - waiting for Africa.

Predictive Text

Crystal Warren

In a series of tender, bite-sized poems on being a writer, loneliness, faith, patriarchy, climate change, grief, and more, Crystal Warren offers up an ode to the every day.

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From Our Blog

What’s happening

Cover reveal: The Pride of Noonlay

Modjaji is venturing into a new genre - fantasy - with its forthcoming publication, The Pride of...

Coming soon: selection of short stories from 12 years of publishing

Coming soon - an anthology of selected short stories from 12 years of publishing short stories....

Modjaji welcomes the new year with two new soon-to-be-released titles

Modjaji is welcoming 2019, and our 12th year of publishing, with two new soon-to-be-released...

Meet Barbara Adair

Barbara Adair is an award-winning novelist, academic and travel writer. Based in Johannesburg, her...

Interview with Ameera Patel

As Ameera Patel's novel Outside the Lines is being launched by Catalyst Press in the USA to rave...

Meet Philippa Kabali-Kagwa

‘Writing allowed me to honour the connections between life and death’—Philippa Namutebi...

September newsletter: new website, new writers, and a whole lot more!

It's been a busy month for Modjaji Books, and we can't wait to share all our news with you. ...

July newsletter: Life (and lockdown) continues…

We are in the fourth month of lockdown, and the book trade is struggling both here in South Africa...

May newsletter: Publishing in the CoVoid

Greetings from another month of lockdown! The Modjaji Books team hopes you and your loved ones are...

New book alert: Short stories by Lindiwe Nkutha - 69 Jerusalem Street. Cover by @jessebreytenbach

Publication of this title has been supported by the NIHSS

#southafricanliterature #shortstories #lgbtq+
#soweto #jozilife #lindiwenkutha
#nihss

COVER REVEAL 🎉 "The Pride of Noonlay" by Shanice Ndlovu, coming from Modjaji later this year 💜
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Lettering done by @jessebreytenbach, cover artwork by Neo Mhlanga. The publication of this collection of fantasy short stories has been sponsored by the NIHSS

Meet Uvile Ximba!
We're proud to announce that Modjaji will be publishing Uvile's novel later this year 💜 Keep your eyes open for a title and cover reveal!

We love this photo of #IntangierWeKilledTheBlueParrot shared by @suzellamaltabella 💜

Meet Shanice Ndlovu! We're proud to announce that Modjaji is publishing Shanice's debut collection of short stories, The Pride of Noonlay, later this year 💜

Modjaji poet Jeannie Wallace McKeown with her author's copy of her debut collection, Falling Awake 💛

Barbara Adairs two novels, Will the Passenger Delaying Flight and In Tangier we Killed the Blue Parrot, in Exclusive Books 💜

Meet Sally Cranswick!
We're proud to announce that Modjaji will be publishing Sally's debut collection of short stories, Women out of Water, later this year 💜

So cute! Modjajaji book covers as earrings.
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Beyond Touch and The Thin Line by Arja Salafranca, and #FoolsGold, the Modjaji short story anthology. These are by Annette at Beads, Bling & Lovely Things

Arja Salafranca is a South African writer and poet. We're proud to have already published her poetry collection Beyond Touch and her short story collection, The Thin Line. Later this year or early next year, we'll be bringing our Arja's new collection of essays, working title Rooibos Cappucino 💜

So cool that #FoolsGold, the Modjaji short story anthology, was named a Women's Month must-read by thesouthafrican.com 💛

Meet Barbara Mhangami!
We're proud to announce that Modjaji will be publishing Barbara's debut, I did not ask to be born, early next year 💜

Reviews are pouring in for Ameera Patel's #OutsideTheLines as it makes its US debut from @catalystpress 💜

We're so excited that Book Riot included it on their list of 10 of the most unique crime reads, in the good company of books from Oyinkan Braithwaite, Stephanie Scott, and more. ⁠
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Photo from Robyn Olivia Heaney

We're proud to announce that Modjaji will be publishing Fiona Snycker's eight novel, The School gates.

This is the fourth of her books that we are publishing ❤️⁠
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This engrossing social satire skewers South African private schools and the cliques of parents who run them.⁠
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Snyckers won the 2020 NIHSS Humanities Award for Best Novel and has been nominated four times for the 'Barry Ronge' Sunday Times Fiction Prize.⁠
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The School gates will be published in early 2021 🎉 Here's Fiona signing her contract with Modjaji!

Some poetry for your Friday night 💜

Sally Partridge is an award-winning South African novelist, short story writer, and book review. We're proud to announce that Modjaji will be publishing Sally's latest YA novel, The Girl Who Chases Otters, early next year. Keep your eyes open for a cover reveal! 💜

Futhi Ntshingila's novel, Do Not Go Gentle, has been published in Portuguese in Brazil and in Mozambique, re-edited to reflect Mozambican Portuguese 💜 Swipe to see a photo of the new Portuguese cover!

Bringing a book out into the world is exhausting work! 😉 The Gospel According to Wanda B Lazarus is forthcoming from Modjaji. Here's author Lynn Joffe's cat, with some preliminary poofs...

Meet Lindiwe Nkutha! We're so proud to announce that we'll be publishing Lindiwe's debut collection of short stories, 69 Jerusalem Street, later this year 💜

Celebrating Women's Day 💜 Although, of course, #everydayiswomensday at Modjaji Books.⁠
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Here's a stack of just some of the books (all by southern African women!) that we've had the pleasure of publishing in the past 13 years 📚⁠
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Swipe to see a sneak-peak preview of some of the new writers we're so excited to be publishing in the upcoming year 😍 We'll be sharing more about them and their books over the next few months ✨