Oscar Hemer: New books and book launch

Ørecomm co-director Oscar Hemer is one of the contributors to the anthology Africa Inside Out – Stories, Tales and Testimonies (UKZN Press), which was launched last week at the Time of the Writer Festival in Durban. The book, edited by South African writer and critic Michael Chapman, is the result of a call sent out to participants of previous Time of the Writer festivals. The call asked for “stories, tales and testimonies” about Africa. According to the editor, the 18 stories in the volume contain “dislocations and affirmations” about Africa, which generate a kind of “restless energy”. He did not want to create the sense of a “Mbeki-esque African Renaissance, but to rather turn to the living challenges of ‘Africa Inside Out’.” The book includes contributions by the following authors: Doreen Baingana, Lauren Beukes, Elana Bregin, Marie Darrieussecq, Max du Preez, Ronnie Govender, Oscar Hemer, Deon Meyer, Kirsten Miller, Kagiso Lesego Molope, Kobus Moolman, Andile Mngxitama, Sally-Ann Murray, Patrice Nganang, Kole Omotoso, Zachariah Rapola, Albie Sachs, Angelina Sithebe and Chika Unigwe.

Oscar’s own book Fiction and Truth in Transition: Writing the present past in South Africa and Argentina (Lit Verlag), based on his dissertation last year, has also just come off the presses. It will be launched at a seminar at K3 (Medea), Malmö University, on 11 April 2012 at 10-12. The book will be available for sale at a 50 % discount, that is 25 € or 225 SEK.