An Exceptional and Unforgettable Book and Lunch

Luncheon – Thursday 3 March 2016

Guest Speaker - Steven Robins

12 noon for 12h30

Catharina’s at Steenberg

Launching

‘This is a most exceptional and unforgettable book’ – Antjie Krog

Steven Robins is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Stellenbosch. He has written on a wide range of topics, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the politics of land and identity, and social movements and popular politics in South Africa. Apart from his academic writings, Steven also is a regular newspaper op-ed contributor on issues of public concern.

As a young boy growing up in Port Elizabeth in the 1960s and 1970s, Steven Robins was haunted by an old photograph of three unknown women on a table in the dining room. Steven became obsessed with finding out what happened to the women but had little to go on.  

Letters of Stone tracks Steven’s journey of discovery about the lives and fates of the Robinski family, in southern Africa, Berlin, Riga and Auschwitz. It also explores the worldwide rise of eugenics and racial science before the war, which justified the murder of Jews by the Nazis and caused South Africa and other countries to close their doors to Jewish refugees

Lunch is at Catharina’s at Steenberg which serves up contemporary comfort food, presented beautifully by Executive Chef Garth Almazan.  He will be creating 2 courses especially for this lunch which will be accompanied by the elegant Klein Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc and the flavourful and full bodied Klein Steenberg Cabernet Sauvignon.

Price per person is R325 per person inclusive.

To book please email sandybailey@telkomsa.net or telephone 021 685 8016 seating is limited so first come first served.

   

 Letters of Stone

Published by Penguin Random House South Africa       







           

Ferial Haffajee Introduces her First Book

                                                                                                                 

Luncheon – Wednesday 27 January 2016

Guest Speaker- Ferial Haffajee

12 noon for 12h30

at

Kelvin Grove

Ferial Haffajee is one of South Africa’s thought leaders and social commentators, who effectively uses her media platform to raise and discuss issues pertinent to the state of the nation. She is the editor-in-chief of City Press newspaper.

Ferial sits on the boards of the World Editors Forum and the International Press Institute. She is the lead judge of the CNN Multichoice African Journalist of the Year Awards and has won several local and international awards, related to media freedom and independence as well as for her reporting. Ferial lives in Johannesburg and What if there were no whites in South Africa?  is her first book.

In What if there were no whites in South Africa? Ferial Haffajee examines South Africa’s history 

and present in the light of a provocative question that yields some thought-provoking discussion and analysis.

From round-table discussions with influential South Africans to research, personal thoughts and powerful anecdotes, Ferial takes the reader through the rocky terrain of race rage in our country and grapples with what it means to be South African in 2015.

It is the story of her experiences, it is the consultation with experts in their field, I think it is a must read for all South Africans.

Haffajee says in her preface “I prefer to think of this as a love song to a Mzansi I love dearly and 

as an attempt to see the possible.”  I have long been an admirer of her courage and her objectivity.  You decide.

A delicious two-course meal followed by coffee will cost R225.  An open bar will be available. 

Telephone or email Sandy to book or for more information  -  021 685 8016 or sandybailey@telkomsa.net 

Author Lunch at Kelvin Grove - 3 December

    Meet Tony Park - Author

Launching An Empty Coast

Sonja Kurtz - a former soldier, supposedly retired mercenary

 - is in Vietnam carrying out a personal revenge mission

 when her daughter sends a call for help

Thursday 3 December 12 Noon for 12h30

Palmyra Room – Kelvin Grove

Guest speaker, International Author, Tony Park is on a brief visit to launch his latest novel, An Empty Coast which is set in Namibia. He says, “this beautiful country not only has bounteous wildlife, but also a rich mix of vibrant cultures and a fascinating history. It’s also shaping up as a beacon for the rest of the continent.”

He has worked as a newspaper reporter, a government press secretary, a PR consultant and a freelance writer and is also a Major in the Australian Army Reserve; he served in Afghanistan in 2002. Tony and his wife divide their time between Sydney and southern Africa where they own a home on the border of the Kruger National Park. He has written 12 Adventure books and also a number of autobiographies.

When asked where he gets his inspiration from he says “From all sorts of sources: conversations I’ve had with interesting people I’ve met in Africa, and also from unusual stories I’ve seen reported in the African media.”

‘One of our best and most consistent thriller writers’

The Canberra Times

An Empty Coast tells the story of Emma, a student archeologist, on a dig at the edge of Namibia’s Etosha National Park.  She has discovered a body dating back to the country’s liberation war of the 1980s.  The remains of the airman, identified as Hudson Brand, are a key piece of a puzzle that will reveal the location of a modern day buried treasure - a find people will kill for. Sonja returns to the country of her birth to find Emma, who since her call has gone missing.  Former CIA agent Hudson Brand is very much alive and is also drawn back to Namibia to finally solve a decades-old mystery whose clues are entombed in an empty corner of the desert.

A good lunch and an open bar in the delightful Palmyra Room will cost R240 per person.

We will have lots of lucky draws as this will be our last luncheon until January.

Please telephone Sandy on 021 685 8016 to book or email sandybailey@telkomsa.net  for more information.

Cape Town Launch - The Cape Aflame

Cape Town Launch ~ The Cape Aflame

Wednesday 25th November 12 Noon for 12h30

Buitenverwachting Restaurant

To be introduced by Braam Malherbe.

In April 2015, a small group of photographers sharing a passion for the Cape coalesced around the notion of volunteering its skills to produce a permanent record of the Muizenberg Fire of March 2015. Its intent was to raise funds for organisations that worked to contain and suppress the fire before dealing with its inevitably costly consequences.  The word was out and a talented team got together http://capeaflame.org/projectteam/  this included extreme adventurer and eco-warrior Braam Malherbe.

Braam is an International motivational speaker, MC, extreme adventurer, conservationist, youth developer, TV presenter and author of the best-seller, The Great Run.

As a conservationist and Honorary Ranger for SANParks, Braam is involved in counter-poaching operations and finding sustainable solutions to save the rhino from extinction.  He has an unbridled passion for the natural world and is well known in wildlife conservation - a topic extremely close to his heart and he inspires people to act and be part of the change required to ensure a sustainable future for all species on the planet.

Braam’s adventures are extraordinary and always purpose driven. He is a riveting international motivational speaker, applying lessons learnt from his experiences to talk about themes relating to goals, courage, leadership, teamwork, purpose and making the impossible possible.

The Book 

During the furnace heat of early March, the Muizenberg Fire ripped our iconic Cape Peninsula in two, uniting Capetonians as never before. Sweeping from coast to coast, the largest single wildfire in Table Mountain National Park’s history razed 5120 hectares of fynbos, four homes and a luxury resort.

Residents feared its vindictive ferocity. Ecologists welcomed its life-giving, rejuvenating power. Both sought to protect their interests.  The book sets wildfire in the context of history and our fynbos biome’s needs.

The Lunch

A great menu created by the talented Edgar Osojnik of Buitenverwachting Restaurant, elegant wines from the winemakers at Buitenverwachting Wine Estate and good company will all add to the enjoyment of a fabulous afternoon.

The menu is available on request.  The price per person is R270 fully inclusive.

For information or to book either telephone 021 685 8016 or email sandybailey@telkomsa.net 

            All profits are to be donated to;  

        

The Cape of Good Hope SPCA 

Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS);

SANParks Honorary Rangers (SHR) 

Cape Peninsula Fire Protection Association (CPFPA).

           

The team involved in publishing this informative and magnificent book have all donated their time.

A great story - A beautiful book

                                                                            

                                           

A Heritage Cookbook by Mietha Klaaste

as told by Niël Stemmet,

Thursday 12 November at 12 noon for 12h30

Buitenverwachting Restaurant

Guest speaker Niël Stemmet is a food writer, photo journalist, consultant and interior designer. He is also a great storyteller with a passion for heritage food – a topic he writes on for many magazines.  He has a unique writing style with a large following both young and old.

He will be talking about his book bitter + sweet which has been nominated as one of the top 6 cookbooks in SA for 2015 - Sunday Times and is so much more that a cook book...          

"Traditional country food meets a soul-stirring story of a rural woman, a domestic worker and nanny, who tells her life story to Stemmet in 29 chapters, reminiscences that start with her childhood on a farm near Robertson and finish as her charge, the adolescent son of her employers, leaves the Cape to head to a new life in the Transvaal.

Mietha Klaaste was also a keen and talented cook who regarded preparing meals a privilege rather than a chore. So it seems only right that between the events that coloured her humble life, she also shares her recipes, wonderful, honest fare where the simplicity of farm ingredients is never overshadowed by surplus ingredients or fancy garnishing.

A third element is Stemmet’s inclusion of carefully selected poems and excerpts that emphasise the content, physical and spiritual, of the preceding chapter. They come from diverse sources ranging from the Bible to Lewis Carroll, from Adam Small to Ingrid Jonker, from Antjie Krog to timeless nursery rhymes."

From a review by Myrna Robins that appeared in the Saturday Weekend Argus on 19 September 2015 – the full review can be seen http://www.myrnarobins.com/books/book-reviews

Edgar Osojnik has been creating superb menus for this luncheon club so be assured that it will be a mouth watering lunch which will be accompanied by Buitenverwachting’s outstanding wines.  The price is R270 per person fully inclusive.

Please telephone Sandy on 021 685 8016 or per email sandybailey@telkomsa.net for more information or to book.

 bitter + sweet is published by Human & Rousseau 2015

Eyes Wide Open - Lunch at Buitenverwachting

RW Johnson’s recently launched book

 ‘South Africa can either choose to have an ANC government or

it can have a modern industrial economy. It cannot have both.’

Thursday 8 October at 12noon for 12h30

Buitenverwachting Restaurant

Guest speaker RW Johnson is an Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford and was the only South African Rhodes Scholar to return to live in South Africa after the fall of apartheid. He has published twelve books, scores of academic articles and innumerable articles for the international press. His former students include three members of the current British Cabinet, an editor of The Economist and a large number of leading academics and journalists. He lives in Cape Town.

In 1977 his best-selling How Long Will South Africa Survive? provided a controversial and highly original analysis of the survival prospects of apartheid.  He retained the title for his new work, partly for nostalgic reason.

Now after more than twenty years of ANC rule, he believes the situation has become so critical that the question must be posed again.  ‘The big question about ANC rule’ he writes, ‘is whether African nationalism would be able to cope with the challenges of running a modern industrial economy.  Twenty years of ANC rule have shown conclusively that the party is hopelessly ill equipped for this task…

A fascinating book; a fascinating man. 

Lunch at Buitenverwachting Restaurant is always scrumptious.  Chef/Patron Edgar Osojnik will be creating a menu to delight and the Buitenverwachting wines to accompany are elegant and superb. 

The price per person is R270 fully inclusive.

Telephone  021 685 8016 for more information or to request a seat or email sandybailey@telkomsa.net .

How Long Will South Africa Survive - The Looming Crisis by RW Johnson is published by Jonathan Ball Publishers.

Justin Cartwright at Buitenverwachting

From Whitbread Novel Award Winning and Booker Prize shortlisted

Author Justin Cartwright comes an intimate exploration of one man’s

relationship with South Africa and its turbulent history

               Tuesday 15 September at 12 noon for 12:30

              Buitenverwachting Restaurant

Guest Speaker award winning author Justin Cartwright is on a lightning visit to South Africa to attend the Open Book Festival in Cape Town.

A descendant of Piet Retief, he was born in South Africa and lives in London;  in his brilliant new book Up Against the Night he manages to include Notting Hill, the New Forest, Cape Town and California as well as Boer Leaders and Scientologists.

Justin Cartwright possesses that rarest of novelist’s skills – the ability to create fiction which is intensely serious but which also vividly encompasses the absurdity and comedy of life. Up Against the Night is a subtle, brilliant novel about South Africa – its beautiful, superbly evoked landscape, its violent past and its uncertain present.

It's a great menu which will be complemented by Buitenverwachting’s elegant wines. 

The price per person is R270 fully inclusive.

For more information or to book please telephone Sandy on 021 685 8016 or book by emailing sandybailey@telkomsa.net 

International Praise :

‘Justin Cartwright is one of our best novelists’  - Daily Telegraph

‘Few living British novelists write English fiction quite as well as Cartwright’ - Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

‘Sharp observation, waspish wit, and evocative expertise’ - Sunday Times on Lionheart