The next Pretoria News/ WritersSpeak book lunch at the end of the month should warm your hearts and send chills down your spine. We are hosting four amazing writers to talk about their books: Sifiso Mzobe (Sunday Times Fiction prize winner 2011 for this debut title Young Blood); Mandy Wiener (Killing Kebble); Mike Nicol (Black Heart); and Michael Robothom (The Wreckage).
In September 2005, one of South Africa’s most prominent mining magnates and businessmen Brett Kebble was killed on a quiet suburban street in Joburg. The top-level investigation into the case that followed was a tipping point for democratic South Africa, exposing a lawless Joburg underbelly dominated by drug lords, steroid-fuelled bouncers, an international smuggling syndicate, a shady security unit moonlighting for the police and sinister self-serving sleuths abusing state agencies.
Killing Kebble was written by Radio 702 investigative journalist Wiener and has been flying off the shelves.
In London, ex-cop Vincent Ruiz rescues a young woman from her violent boyfriend, but wakes up the next morning to find that he’s been set up and robbed. As he tracks down the thieves, he discovers the boyfriend’s tortured body and learns that powerful men are looking for the girl. What did Holly Knight steal that is so important to them?
Meanwhile in Baghdad, the bank robbery capital of the world, billions of dollars in reconstruction funds have gone missing and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Luca Terracini is trying to “follow the money”. The dangerous trail will lead him to London, where he teams up with Ruiz, and together they investigate the disappearance of an international banker and a mysterious “black hole” in the bank’s accounts.
This is Wreckage by Michael Robothom, who before writing full-time was an investigative journalist in Britain, Australia and the US.
He wrote 10 best-selling non-fiction titles using a pseudonym, involving prominent figures in the military, the arts, sport and science.
He lives in Sydney with his wife and three daughters. The Wreckage is his seventh novel in a list of thrilling crime reads.
Internationally acclaimed, and regarded by many to be one of South Africa’s top crime thriller writers, Mike Nicol concludes his revenge trilogy with the fast-paced, compelling Black Heart. Published in the UK as well, the trilogy teams Mace Bishop and Pylon Bishop, who again make their appearance in Black Heart following Payback and Killer Country, books one and two of the series.
Nicol is the author of seven novels, five of which have been published in both the UK and US, and have been translated into several languages. He lives in Cape Town.
Young Blood is a fascinating look into the emotional landscape of car hijackers – by a fantastic, vibrant new voice in South African literature, Sifiso Mzobe, who has just walked off with one of the major literature prizes in the country. He was born in Umlazi township, Durban, where he also went to school. After attending St Francis College, he studied journalism at Damelin Business Campus in Durban. He now works for a community newspaper as a journalist.
His story deals with Sipho, who is a “young blood”, a young man of 17 caught up in a world of money, booze and greed. He lives in Umlazi, has dropped out of school and helps out at his father’s mechanic shop during the day.
But odd jobs underneath the bonnets of wrecked cars do not provide the lifestyle his friend Musa has, with his BMW, designer clothes and beautiful girls always hanging on his arm. Pretty soon Sipho’s love for fast cars and fast money leads him into a life of crime that brings him close to drugs, death and prison time.
The lunch will be held at the end of the month on the last Friday, July 29, at Pachas, Club 2 Centre, 22 Dely Road, Brooklyn, starting at noon for 12.30pm.
The cost is R195 for members and R230 for non-members, and includes a three-course meal, complimentary wine provided by Leopard’s Leap and a treat from the Wings Group. Copies of Young Blood, Killing Kebble, The Wreckage and Black Heart are up for grabs, plus prizes from Leopard’s Leap, Pachas and WritersSpeak.
Booking confirmation on receipt of payment is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To book your seat, call Megan at 012 667 1071 or 083 556 1899 (office hours).
This will be a bumper lunch so book early to avoid disappointment.