http://www.timeslive.co.za Amabookabooka travels into the heart of the lockdown to bring you interviews with SA's finest authors. Quick and quirky interviews with authors via zoom -21 authors in 21 days. A novel podcast about books and the people who write them. Books en Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:05:21 +0200 Thu, 21 May 2020 14:35:18 +0200 30 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss iono.fm 2.5.2.0 TimesLIVE Podcasts no Jonathan Ancer Daily feeds@iono.fm (Feed Manager) https://cdn.iono.fm/files/p372/logo_5098_20250910_202635_1400.jpeg http://www.timeslive.co.za Amabookabooka travels into the heart of the lockdown to bring you interviews with SA's finest authors. TimesLIVE Podcasts episodic TimesLIVE Podcasts podcasts@arena.africa true ZA https://iono.fm/e/863946 https://iono.fm/e/863946
The book has everything: vivid imagery, beautiful descriptions, fascinating characters, gripping dialogue, understated humour, an intriguing plot, a sharp knife hanging over it and a dassie-chasing Doberman named Benjy. (Michiel reveals why every one of his novels features a dog…) ]]> Books Thu, 21 May 2020 14:27:00 +0200 0 0 EP26: One Whale of a Good Yarn 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 20:50 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/861069 https://iono.fm/e/861069
The Upside of Down is written by the king of the business airwaves Bruce Whitfield, who has the incredibly rare gift of making complex financial issues easy to understand. Through absorbing anecdotes, cautionary tales, some multiple choice quizzes or six, Bruce tells us that South Africa has extraordinary problems - but with extraordinary problems come extraordinary opportunities.

In this episode of Amabookabooka, Bruce reveals the four words that Nando’s chief Robbie Brozin told him that perfectly sum up the state of the world right now. ]]> Books Fri, 15 May 2020 12:27:00 +0200 0 0 EP25: Bruce Almighty 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 31:45 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/856037 https://iono.fm/e/856037
Heinrich’s latest book, The Helpless Lady, is a world away from Sarie. It’s a children’s book set in the Lockdown. Day 17 starts off just like any other boring Lockdown day but turns into a day of mystery and adventure when 9-year-old Erika sees a desperate message for help in her neighbour's window. Erika’s grumpy dad is busy so she takes matters into her own hands to rescue her elderly neighbour - all while keeping her social distance. It’s a fast, heart-warming story told with humour and there are a few twists at the end to keep you on your toes. ]]> Books Wed, 06 May 2020 11:54:00 +0200 0 0 EP24: A Lockdown Mystery 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 14:10 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/852335 https://iono.fm/e/852335
This is not Child’s Play is a story of hope and, eventually, freedom!

After 33 days of lockdown, we could all use a bit of hope ... and some Stage 4 freedom. ]]> Books Tue, 28 Apr 2020 14:10:00 +0200 0 0 EP23: Seven weeks in captivity 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 29:15 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/849622 https://iono.fm/e/849622
Asylum is like an uncooked onion: raw with layers upon layers and will make you cry. It is a thought-provoking and superbly written book that will do to you what a fictional South African government did to the novel’s protagonist Barry James – hold you captive. ]]> Books Wed, 22 Apr 2020 11:22:00 +0200 0 0 EP22: Low Down on Health Horror 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 20:00 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/846765 https://iono.fm/e/846765
In the middle of 2018 Matt was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. On the day of his first chemo session in October he started to write a book about his entrepreneurial journey. Two months later he sent the manuscript to his publisher. Matt died on 23 April last year shortly before his book So You Want to Build a Startup was published.

He was just 44. We chat to Matt’s dad, Andrew Buckland, and good friend Vince Maher about Matt's extraordinary life. ]]> Books Thu, 16 Apr 2020 19:29:00 +0200 0 0 EP21: Celebrating the Joy of Matt 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 26:51 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/845801 https://iono.fm/e/845801
Lauren also writes comics and screen plays, directed the documentary Glitterboys & Ganglands, and wrote the New York Times bestselling graphic novel Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom. Academics study her work, fans name their pets and children after her characters and she has won prestigious literary honours. She has received endorsements from Stephen King, shout outs from George RR Martin and big-ups from Neil Gaiman.

Lauren is the Trevor Noah of the literary horror-sci-fi-spec-fic-cyberpunk-fantasy- psych-thriller-dystopian world. And now Afterland, her spanking new novel about a global pandemic has come out slap-bang in the middle of a global pandemic. ]]> Books Wed, 15 Apr 2020 12:53:00 +0200 0 0 EP20: Lauren Beukes imagines a brand new world 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 20:35 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/845306 https://iono.fm/e/845306
Her most recent novel, the two week-old Two Months is a psychological thriller. Primary school teacher Erica and her husband Kenneth have a great life: Erica loves her job, loves her husband but one morning she wakes up and has forgotten the last two months of her life.

She begins to piece together what has happened with terrible consequences. You will probably laugh and maybe even cry as the story unfolds but you will certainly gasp when it ends… ]]> Books Tue, 14 Apr 2020 15:52:00 +0200 0 0 EP19: Shining, Shimmering, Schimmel 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 17:57 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/844813 https://iono.fm/e/844813
Chris Whitfield, who wrote On Your Bike with his brother Tim, is an accomplished mountain biker with four Cape Epic Finisher’s T-shirts hanging in his cupboard. He wrote Paper Tiger with Alide Dasnois, the erstwhile editor of the Cape Times who was fired by Survé the morning after Nelson Mandela died. Chris, who was the most senior editorial person in Independent when it was taken over by Survé, had a front-row seat to the unfolding drama. ]]> Books Mon, 13 Apr 2020 16:07:00 +0200 0 0 EP18: Iqbal Survé and mountain bikes 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 14:41 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/844468 https://iono.fm/e/844468
He cycled 1500km across the country to witness Angola in peacetime; to enjoy the beauty of the bush and to meet the people who live there. One of the people he met was Roberto, a Cuban, who had been fighting in Angola against the apartheid army - the meeting with Roberto was the most profound moment of Paul’s life.

In Back to Angola, Paul's memoir published in 2014, he writes about a journey that took him back into the past as well as into the present. ]]> Books Sun, 12 Apr 2020 14:10:00 +0200 0 0 EP17: Confronting the ghosts of war 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 20:35 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/844319 https://iono.fm/e/844319
In 2017 Penny wrote Nicko – The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm. The book for tweens is a series of hilarious, heart-warming and sometimes heart-wrenching adventures and misadventures and his friends get up to. ]]> Books Sat, 11 Apr 2020 16:26:00 +0200 0 0 EP16: Penny’s mightier with her words 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 22:40 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/844055 https://iono.fm/e/844055
Tragedy after tragedy followed for Lindiwe - an abortion, the death of her boyfriend, the death of her sister, sending the troubled Lindiwe into a fog of cocaine and booze until she smashed into rock bottom. In 2014, Lindiwe entered rehab and became sober. In 2017 she penned her remarkable memoir Being Chris Hani’s Daughter, baring her soul and revealing the details of her descent into addiction and the hard road to recovery and redemption.

People often wonder what South Africa would be like if Chris Hani hadn’t been killed - it’s an impossible question and while we can speculate, we don’t know. What we do know, though, is that Chris Hani would have been extremely proud of his courageous daughter. ]]> Books Fri, 10 Apr 2020 13:04:00 +0200 0 0 EP15: Lindiwe Hani reflects on her revolutionary father 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 21:18 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/843716 https://iono.fm/e/843716
Caryn is the author of the hard-hitting book The Enforcers: Inside Cape Town's Deadly Nightclub Battles. The book exposes the war playing out in the grubby underbelly of the Mother City to dominate the security trade. The book is so good because Caryn did something that is becoming increasingly rare: boots-on-the-ground journalism! ]]> Books Thu, 09 Apr 2020 15:45:00 +0200 0 0 EP14: Scratching the underbelly 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 13:09 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/843130 https://iono.fm/e/843130
Melinda is a best-selling author, a prized publisher and an unstoppable force. A few days ago she published Lockdown, the Corona Chronicles. Written by 17 authors, in 7 days and published in 10 … it’s surely the fastest book from concept to publication. Each chapter is a story of life in lockdown and they range from whimsical to wry to profound to inspiring to heart-breaking to hysterical. Melinda explains how she pulled off this publishing coup. ]]> Books Wed, 08 Apr 2020 15:26:00 +0200 0 0 EP13: The 7-day deadline 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 20:00 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/842606 https://iono.fm/e/842606
The ANC Spy Bible is thoughtful, detailed and nuanced and provides a bird’s eye view of the mysterious world of secrets. As a young activist Moe endured beatings, torture, solitary confinement and nine months in detention - the Lockdown, he says, is like being on holiday... ]]> Books Tue, 07 Apr 2020 17:18:00 +0200 0 0 Ep12: Shaik's Spear (of the nation) 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 21:57 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/841911 https://iono.fm/e/841911
His mother, Shirley Meersman aka Shirley Morris, aka Sirrom aka Churley aka Sherli, leaps out of the book’s pages. She is an absentminded artist who is contemptuous of South Africans who think Picasso is a type of cheese.

Childhood Made Up is a poignant and powerful memoir skillfully told with raw and gritty honesty, but Brent also has a light touch and there are times were you will laugh out loud. It’s a tale of pain and sorrow but it’s also a tale of recovery and redemption. ]]> Books Mon, 06 Apr 2020 16:14:00 +0200 0 0 EP11: A poignant memoir 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 23:36 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/841506 https://iono.fm/e/841506
She has two novels, a poetry anthology and a collection of short stories under her belt. Her first novel, Mirror Cracked, tells the story of Azraa Hassim, a successful woman whose perfect life is shattered when she discovers her husband is having an affair. The book explores themes of betrayal, sexuality, homosexuality, drugs and mental health in the Muslim community. ]]> Books Mon, 06 Apr 2020 07:46:00 +0200 0 0 EP10: Yes, she Khan! 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 21:08 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/841286 https://iono.fm/e/841286
The Shadow Chasers are warriors who have protected their villages for hundreds of years. They are fighting against an army of shadows; monsters in a spirit realm who are trying to break into the real world - and destroy it!

It’s a deliciously delightful horror series for tweens - and even adults who enjoy escaping into a magical adventure. ]]> Books Sat, 04 Apr 2020 18:04:00 +0200 0 0 EP9: Deliciously delightful horror 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 17:02 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/840864 https://iono.fm/e/840864
Judy has been waging a war against the scourge of burnout and with South Africa being one of the world’s most stressed countries she has had her work cut out for her.

Now the world is turned upside down and in a few short months our lives have changed forever. Stress levels have been taken to the next level. In today’s episode of Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles, Judy explains how not to burn out in the age of lockdown. ]]> Books Fri, 03 Apr 2020 15:20:00 +0200 0 0 EP8: All Burnt Out And Nowhere To Go? 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 15:46 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/840260 https://iono.fm/e/840260
He’s written 11 books. His first, Bitches Brew, turned 15 this year and has been reprinted eight times (one fan even tattooed the cover on his arm. Fred's latest novel is The Longest March, which tells the tale of 7000 Zulu miners who walked for 10 days from Johannesburg to Ladysmith on 7th October 1899 - Fred took this historical event and added a love triangle. He then showed that he’s not 'all talk and no walk' and followed in the footsteps of the miners, making the 350km journey by foot.

He talks to us about the similarities between writing and walking, how he is keeping sane during the lockdown and the one person he would hate to be isolated with (spoiler alert: this person's name starts with an 'S' and ends with a 'teveHofmeyr'). ]]> Books Thu, 02 Apr 2020 13:53:00 +0200 0 0 EP7: I Write, Said Fred 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 18:54 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/839742 https://iono.fm/e/839742
Hedi spent the last 15 years researching the condition, which has resulted in her just-published novel The Trouble with my Aunt. The book tells the story of 32-year-old Leah Fine who is at the centre of a complicated family saga, incorporating an intriguing medical conundrum.

It’s a gripping and heart-warming story of love, romance and the bond of family. It’s also told with dollops of humour. As author Gus Silber writes, “The Trouble with my Aunt grabs you by the heart and never lets go.” ]]> Books Wed, 01 Apr 2020 15:32:00 +0200 0 0 EP6: It grabs you by the heart 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 15:32 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/839192 https://iono.fm/e/839192
Sara-Jayne Makwala-King is the author of Killing Karoline, which documents her journey from Karoline to Sara-Jayne back to Karoline and then finally - and triumphantly - to Sara-Jayne once again. It’s a powerful and poignant story about an affair between a black man and a white woman in apartheid South Africa, a primal wound, identity, adoption, belonging, sort of belonging, not really belonging, rejection, loss, hair trauma, the pencil test, race and racism.

The book, like Sarah-Jane herself, is smart, thoughtful and authentic. Sarah-Jane gives Amabookabooka a sneak preview of the new book she’s working on … it’s riveting and we are desperate for her to finish it so we can read it. ]]> Books Tue, 31 Mar 2020 14:00:00 +0200 0 0 EP5: Memoir Queen is King 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 24:14 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/838365 https://iono.fm/e/838365
Imraan’s latest novel, A spy in Time, features a post-apocalyptic future, time travel, secret agencies all rolled into an intriguing, entertaining and thought-provoking tale in which the course of human history hangs in the balance. If Enver Eleven, the central figure in A Spy in Time, was around in the time of Covid-19 he could have saved the world a whole lot of trouble. ]]> Books Mon, 30 Mar 2020 12:04:00 +0200 0 0 EP4: I spy A Spy in Time 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 18:59 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/838036 https://iono.fm/e/838036
Meyer has written 13 novels which have been translated into 27 languages and published in more than 40 countries. His books are entertaining and thrilling - and will keep you on the edge of your seat. Or, as Wilbur Smith says, “Meyer grabs you by the throat and never lets go.”

Meyer's 2017 book Fever imagines the world devastated by an infectious disease that spreads rapidly and catastrophically, before preventive measures or an effective treatment can be developed. Sound familiar? Spoiler alert: This episode contains cheese. ]]> Books Sun, 29 Mar 2020 12:41:00 +0200 0 0 EP3: Deon Meyer's novel Fever 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 15:42 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/837841 https://iono.fm/e/837841 interview ‘Sup surfing diva, beauty therapist and the world’s only
environmental romance author, Melissa Volker, who weaves romance,
suspense and eco-fiction into nail-biting plots and unputdownable
novels.

Spoiler alert: 10 hours into the lockdown she hadn't yet run
out of toilet paper! ]]> Books Sat, 28 Mar 2020 10:02:00 +0200 0 0 EP2: Meet the Volker 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 12:27 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles https://iono.fm/e/837676 https://iono.fm/e/837676 Books Fri, 27 Mar 2020 12:05:00 +0200 0 0 EP1: Don't get on the bus, Gus! #staythefhome 0 0 Jonathan Ancer full 15:05 Amabookabooka: The Quarantine Chronicles