Join me and my fellow writers in our across-Canada group book launches!

The Afrikaner will be in Montreal on May 2 at Paragraphe bookstore as part of the Blue Metropolis Festival, then in Ottawa on May 5 at the new event space of the Vimy Brewing Company, and finally in Toronto on May 16 at the Columbus Event Centre. See posters here and also the Events page: https://blogs.ubc.ca/afrikaner/events/events/

Share wildly and let’s meet on the road!

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Thank you all for attending our group book launch at Massy Books in Vancouver.
It was a delightful evening, the bookstore was packed, as this kind of places should be
I was deeply moved to see so many friends, colleagues, students and acquaintances gathered all together for the book launch. I am really grateful to this country and to the beautiful people who came from all over the world to live here, enjoying what each of us can contribute to make this place what it is.all the time.

This was also the occasion for many of us to discover “Massy Books,” a book-lover secret corner (100% First-Nation owned) and a refuge for the soul in the East End. Thanks to Patricia Massy for hosting us!

I attach some pics, including the one of Dr Cecil Hershler reading from my bok “The Afrikaner” with his beautiful South African accented voice, and of me with authors Michael Springate and Ian Thomas Shaw.

I wish you all a pleasant reading time!

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“Art must be cathartic, original and memorable,” Alan Twigg writes in his engaging review of The Afrikaner. I heartily thank Alan for his words of appreciation and the thought-provoking reflections on the writer’s freedom to cross cultural, ethnic and racial boundaries. I hope his concluding remarks will bring good luck to the book now that it is out there, in the big world of letters and readers: “North Americans have gleaned a deeper awareness of South Africa through Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country, Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee. We’ve also seen Invictus or A Dry White Season or Richard Attenborough’s Cry Freedom about Stephen Biko, the man that Nelson Mandela described as “the spark that lit a veld fire across South Africa. The Afrikaner deserves its place in that pantheon.”

Read the whole review here: https://bcbooklook.com/2019/03/31/somewhere-inside-the-rainbow/#more-38597

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The time has come for my “The Afrikaner” (Guernica Editions, Toronto) to be officially launched.

The event will be held in downtown Vancouver at Massy Books (229 E. Georgia Street, Vancouver) on April 6, at 7.00 pm and will be part of a group launch with other three Guernica authors, whose books I find particularly in tune with mine, since they all deal with issues of cultural/ethnic conflict, mediation and reconciliation  (see attached flier).

Please, mark the date in your calendar and, hopefully, I will see you there!

Also, feel free to share this invitation with friends, colleagues and anyone who might be interested.

Here is:

• the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXmKFWMLgKM

• the book’s website: https://blogs.ubc.ca/afrikaner/  

• the Facebook Page with the invitation to the event:  https://www.facebook.com/events/2385165691511896/

For those interested, there will also be a book signing on March 29 at 6.00 pm at the opening night of the Vancouver South African Film Festival (Simon Fraser University’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 West Hastings Street), with part of the proceedings going to the charity Education Without Borders, https://www.educationwithoutborders.ca.

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Our son Leonardo (16) made this book trailer to promote “The Afrikaner” online. This is just a preview.

What do you think of it? Any feedback/suggestions will be appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqEHzV9FYI8

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Dear readers,  

I am proposing here a kind of literary game. Once you have finished the book, please feel free to provide your feedback and, most importantly, your ideas about an alternative ending or a possible sequel to The Afrikaner.

My idea is that a literary work is never set in stone (or paper, for that matter). Out there, in the Quantum Space Of (literary) Creativity (QUSPOC, pronounce: kewspoc), there exist infinite possible versions – and thus endings and sequels – of any given story.

Thus, you are welcome to give The Afrikaner an afterlife or a second life through a different ending, or through a whole new sequel.

Everyone can participate in this collective game of words and imagination!

Just post your ideas and suggestions here (or send me an email: aridag at me doc com) and I will add them to its dedicated page!

Best,
Arianna

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Her life is no different from that of many other white-born children of this continent: She invaded Africa, grew in her womb, was raised by her and learned to love her as if she were her real mother, no matter how dysfunctional the womb might turn to be (The Afrikaner).

The Afrikaner: an overview

Zoe is a trained fossil hunter who escapes the segregation and violence of Johannesburg for the big sky of the Kalahari Desert. In the hostile desert she searches for the earliest remains of humans in Africa, but she also learns about the ancient knowledge of the local Bushmen. Her brother, Andre, runs the old family winery near Cape Town where she learns about her own Afrikaans family history and its secrets. The realistic discussions about the social and political divisions in South Africa among the White, the Coloured and the Black communities have many parallels with the social conflicts in the US and Canada. What does multiculturalism mean in these different countries? Will Zoe locate evidence of early human ancestors? Will she find answers to her own troubled life?

#theafrikaner

Read the synopsis of the book here.

Order now from Guernica Editions, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bokus or find a store through Bookmanager.

Buying the book

Book Design: David Moratto

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