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EMOTIONAL PAIN

OUT OF THE WRECKAGE

100 PAPERS

BLUE WINGS

Children’s books, it seems to me, have a lot in common with Shakespearian theatre. The same basic elements are required, though they may be tweaked indefinitely: there must be a first act in which scenes are set and players introduced (kids, like Elizabethan theatre-goers, are not big on all this postmodern multi-identity reality-shifting decontextualisation stuff). Then there must be conflict, complications, obstacles, strife and tears. In other words, something must happen, ideally making life difficult for the protagonist. Thirdly, all this must somehow be played out, put to good dramatic use – we must be riveted, shaken, touched, our emotions held in the balance and ourselves in suspense for as long as possible. This is followed by a sort of in between bit, useful for costume changes before the last act as well as re-establishing order and re-iterating the important bits of the story. Finally, and most importantly, there is the resolution, which is the conclusion with everything resolved. It is on this important matter of resolution that contemporary children and Shakespeare’s audiences can be seen to agree most wholeheartedly, for both demand that at end the whole thing must make sense on some indeterminate but fundamental level. In parentspeak, there must be closure, which really means that no matter how magical the author’s interventions, they must have lasting impact in the real world, and whatever the loopholes, justice and mercy must ultimately be served.

In these terms Blue Wings should not disappoint its readers, for it has everything required except a bit with a dog, being more of a gentle ‘tragedy’ than a comedy, which is refreshing because far too many things for children intend to amuse rather than engage. The characters are few – a blue bird (our sympathetic hero) and a deviant giraffe. Trouble arises when the untrustworthy giraffe breaks a promise, though this is done out of weakness rather than malice. Nevertheless, it leaves the bird stranded, and his misery, contrasted with the giraffe’s carefree wanderlust, provides most of the emotional interaction of the story. Resentment towards the giraffe builds as hopes for the bird’s survival wane, but matters are complicated by the arrival of an amiable gazelle and a magical, life-saving fountain. Ultimately, order is restored, the bird is saved and the giraffe punished, and all the characters learn a valuable lesson about the true nature of freedom.

The narrative merges natural history and blank verse in a way which should appeal to children, but might require some explanations. Horwitz draws on creation mythology and other archetypal narratives, easily merging them with science, so there is, for instance, a great flood (with all the drama but none of the heavenly wrath of The Great Flood) started not by a displeased deity but by a meteor. The imagery is organic, natural in both a scenic and harsh way, and there is no magic other than takes place in nature. Both salvation and destruction are reigned over by the earth itself. A bit of hope and imagination is all the characters have to use or counter their circumstances, and all the reader needs to become immersed in their small drama set in a huge, often austere landscape.

A tale which lends itself to multiple interpretations without compromising its central theme, it uses animal characters to make several observations about human nature. In this sense, although it is essentially a fable about finding freedom, it is also about the fallibility of even the most well-intentioned individuals, and handles concepts like power, trust and responsibility in very down-to-earth terms.

Anna Varney’s illustrations are very vibrant and painterly, and have all the colour and splotchy intensity of children’s art, though they are at times a little on the hurried, sketchy side and lack finish. The lively images do not over-interpret the text, but rather encourage imagination, capturing only the crucial elements and essences of the story. The illustrations convey the vitality of the characters, and create a forceful sense of the story’s setting. Varney’s rich, golden deserts and scorching suns are particularly striking, and make up for the animals’ unfortunate tendency to metamorphose alarmingly from page to page.

BLUESOLOGY & BOFELOSOPHY

The poems, stories and essays of Mphutlane wa Bofelo work
within a framework of thinking that is an amalgam of
philosophies: that of Black Consciousness, humanistic Islam
and socialism. His voice is both lyrical and satirical, expressing
anger and tenderness even as his barbs are sharp and his kisses
tender. His beats are complex polyrhythms that roll on in
incantatory style or achieve a mystical brevity. This multi-genre
collection appropriately represents both his spiritually creative
and socially active life.

FALLING FROM SLEEP by Mark Espin, ISBN: 0-620-37286-9. Espin is a non-dogmatic, activist poet whose exersizes in the philosophical evocation of life in Cape Town are emotional and intellectual;

BELLA, the collected poems of Isabella Motadinyane, ISBN: 978-0-620-38326-4. Motadinyane died in 2003, and was one of the founder members of the Botsotso Jesters poetry performance group; her surreal and multi-lingual work offers a sharp female perspective on South Africa;

A PRIVATE PART, poems and drawings by Lionel Murcott, ISBN: 0-620-37284-2, an interplay between word and image, with Lionel being equally proficient with both; a teacher at the National School for the Arts in Johannesburg, he is well placed to push multimedia collaboration to the limit.

POETIC LICENCE by Mike Alfred, ISBN: 978-620-39520-6. Alfred is the septuagenarian poet of Troyville, Johannesburg whose wry exposures of the human and the natural are sophisticated and humorous yet down to earth and cutting;

Fiction:

TOTEM AND CANDIDATE/SING, BABYLON, two novellas by Marcelle du Toit, ISBN: 978-620-37285-5. Offers contrasting southern African scenarios: one set in HIllbrow, being a tale of Rastas, Jewish neurosis, jazz fiends, hallucination and the contradictions African patriarchy creates for independent black women; the second set in a 'mythical' African state in the post-liberation period when the corruptiveness of power shows its dirty hand and forces different elements to reconsider their allegiances.

Drama:

BLIND VOICES, a collection of four radio plays by Kobus Moolman, ISBN: 978-0-620-37287-9. The main play, SOLDIER BOY, is about the effect of the Total Onslaught wars fought by White South Africa, and was broadcast by the BBC in 2003. A CD recording of that production is attached to the book.

All titles available direct from Botsotso Publishing.

previously published titles:

Annual Literary Journal/Magazine

BOTSOTSO

Issue 1 - 13

Poetry

ISIS X

Poets:

elsbeth e, Sumeera Dawood, Lisemelo Tlale, Elizabeth Trew, Anet Kemp

Myesha Jenkins, Arja Salafranca, Makhosazana Xaba, Riana Wiechers

Bongekile Mbanjwa, Anna Anuradhá Varney, Baitse Mokiti

Photographers:

Neo Ntsoma, Suzy Bernstein

Riana Wiechers, Anna Anuradhá Varney

SOULFIRE EXPERIENCE

Siphiwe ka Ngwenya

SAVING WATER

Allan Kolski Horwitz

5
Clinton du Plessis, Kobus Moolman, Gillian Schutte, Mphutlane wa Bofelo, Lionel Murcot

GOVA
Ike Mboneni Muila

WE JIVE LIKE THIS
The Botsotso Jesters: Siphiwe ka Ngwenya, Isabella Motadinyane, Allan Kolski Horwitz, Ike Mboneni Muila, Anna Varney

NO FREE SLEEPING
Donald Parenzee, Vonani wa ka Bila, Alan Finlay

DIRTY WASHING
The Botsotso Jesters

Short Fiction

UNITY IN FLIGHT
Maropodi Mapalakanye, Peter Rule, Zachariah Rapola, Michael Vines, Phaswane Mpe, Allan Kolski Horwitz

UN/COMMON GROUND
Allan Kolski Horwitz

POST-TRAUMATIC
Edited - Chris van Wyk

Art

MANUSCRIPT EXHIBITION 2000
Anna Varney

MANUSCRIPT EXHIBITION 2002
Anna Varney