My latest story for FunDza is available in English and Xhosa!

FunDza makes my heart happy! In the Shadow of My Dreams is available now.

Bambatha is desperate for Nomfundo’s help. The crops in his village are dying and he is convinced that only a scientist with her expertise can help him figure out why. What neither of them counts on is how hard some of the villagers will fight to hold on to the ways of their ancestors. The tug of war between progress and traditions could tear Nomfundo and Bambatha apart – forever.

This story is also available in isiXhosa: Kwiimfihlo zamaphupha am

My best, almost-best and worst of 2013

Favourite books of 2013

All the feels, all the TEABS, all the books I enjoyed reading most this year

Stone against the mirror by Hugh Lewis

I have been telling everyone I know to go read this book. This is a rich and unsentimental account of a group of youngish white kids, trying to do what they could to put a dent in the Apartheid regime. It does not pretend that their contribution, though well meaning and not without success, was particularly significant in the greater scheme of things. Nor does it overblow their place in history or have any delusions about what they achieved. Instead, Lewis takes an earnest and honest look at his actions and those of his friends’. He tells the story of the personal and political betrayal by his closest friend, a man he considered practically a brother. As he charts the events that led to an 8 year imprisonment all those years ago, he is in the present time travelling to London to meet his old friend after not speaking for some 40 year. This is some deep shit. But it’s wonderful. Go read this book.

also:

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Vortex by Julie Cross
Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Way Back Home by Niq Mhlongo
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Sharp Edges by SA Partridge
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers


Merit awards for 2013

I liked these books very, very much but they weren’t quite my favorites...

The Mall by SL Grey

I did not really expect to be scarred by this. I have not been frightened by a book since Goosebumps in the second grade. But. The Mall is scary in ways that you do not imagine it will scare you. It is a thinking man’s horror because so much of what is scary about it is only frightening when you really, really think it through. It’s clever and wicked and mischievous but it’s pretty difficult to talk about it in any detail without giving away too much. I’d hate to spoil the fun so I’ll say this: if you’re into a book with a bite, push on through a very slow start and prepare to see your local mall (and actually the whole way we live these days) in a whole new, much creepier light.

South Africa’s Suspended Revolution by Adam Habib

South Africa’s Suspended Revolution is an unaffected but serious work that examines the challenges of our times while charting a way forward. Habib explores a range of topics including institutional design and human agency, affirmative action and conservative macroeconomic policies and the balance of power between corporates and unions. The result is a book that goes to the core of our social context, not shying away from controversial ideas, but instead dealing with them evenly and accessibly. In the midst of strike season, Habib’s fresh perspective on the crisis of service delivery and widespread deficiencies in political accountability are particularly timely. As an introduction to contemporary South Africa, South Africa’s Suspended Revolution is a compelling snapshot of our complex socio-political and economic landscape.

also:

Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield by Jeremy Scahill
The Imposter by Damon Galgut
Go Tell the Sun by Wame Molefhe
Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr


It’s not you, it’s me

Try though I did, there were also some books this year that just didn’t quite hit the spot. There’s always some debate about whether reviewers should write negative reviews. I’m of the opinion that reviews should be fair, balanced but honest. If it was bad, I have to say so. What I do not have to do it tear apart a book or it’s author. So, in the spirit of transparency, sorry books: it’s not you, it’s me.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
Passion for Freedom by Mamphela Ramphele
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Less than Zero by Brett Easton Ellis
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
Pretty Bad Things by CJ Skuse
The Smell of Apples by Mark Behr
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Selected YA reviews for 2013

I’ve been pretty lax about blogging over the last few months. In part, because I left my day job at Puku and started a new career. In part, because I have spent a lot more time reviewing books and writing stories than I did even when I was at Puku. In any case, that has not meant that I haven’t been reading. So now, as I recover from the Christmas turkey, let’s talk about some of what I read this year:

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

In a word, it was... Thoughtful

Started this book with high expectations and found that for the first half of the book, I was thoroughly enthralled and could really relate to Hannah’s situation. I think the misogyny and objectification I put up with at 13, at 19, at 21 is very much of the flavor that she’s dealing with. But as the reasons started to get a little darker, I also started to feel some skepticism creeping in. Would these reasons really be enough to kill yourself? Some of these things didn’t even happen to you, Hannah. They happened to other people and, yes, they affected you deeply, but it seems a little self-obsessed to turn someone else’s pain inwards when you don’t even know the person or particularly care about them. We’d all be offing ourselves after the evening news if we did that, wouldn’t we? I appreciated the story, I really liked the main character and it is totally worth reading but the format of Hannah says something on the tapes, Clay responds to what Hannah just said got old and I am still not entirely sure why Hannah killed herself.

The Girl in the Wall by Daphne Benedis-Grab

In a word, it was... Action-packed

When I first read this book, I quickly dismissed it as fun but insubstantial. It’s only now, months later that I realize how much of the story stayed with me and seems to have resonated on some level. It’s a tale of two girls, stuck in a house where the shit has seriously hit the fan. Peeps be dying, peeps be lying and bitches be taking none of that. So yeah, girls rule in this one. There’s intrigue, mystery (though, to be fair, it wasn’t that hard to work out if you really thought about it) and even a little romance. It’s a great weekend/beach read, I really enjoyed it and think it’s an awesome substitute for the Friday night action movie you can’t bring yourself to turn on.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith

In a word, it was... Lite

I’m not gonna be a hater about this book. I enjoyed it, not immensely but certainly enough to keep reading. It was sweet, very cute but a little heavy on the insta-love. If you’re into a good romcom of The Holiday/Love Actually variety, this will do it for you. Bonus: dark, mysterious, broody guy with posh British accent swoon

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

In a word, it was... Curious

I was looking forward to this one for some time. I mean, add Greek mythology to high school drama and I’m there like the Harry Potter book 8, you know. It was quite slow to start but once it got going, it did take me on a ride and I did find myself rooting for the semi-good gods to beat out the no-good gods in a fight for their immortal lives. That being said, it didn’t blow me away and I probably won’t be reading any more books in this series, Perhaps it was because I had just finished reading the Anna Dressed in Blood books (which I really loved) and the mannerisms and voices of all the characters I’d grown to love in Anna seemed to just be cut and pasted into Antigoddess. This may be ungenerous but honestly, while the plots could not be more different, Blake could have used an editor’s wise hand to remove the tones and echoes of the Anna books in Antigoddess. Still would recommend it if you’re into mythology and YA though.

Forgive me, Matthew Quick

The book: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

And it's about?

Today is Leonard Peacock's birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather's P-38 pistol.

But first he must say good-bye to the four people who matter most to him: his Humphrey Bogart-obsessed next-door neighbour, Walt; his classmate Baback, a violin virtuoso; Lauren, the Christian homeschooler he has a crush on; and Herr Silverman, who teaches the high school's class on the Holocaust. Speaking to each in turn, Leonard slowly reveals his secrets as the hours tick by and the moment of truth approaches.

In this riveting book, acclaimed author Matthew Quick unflinchingly examines the impossible choices that must be made—and the light in us all that never goes out.

In a word, it was... Frustrating

I should have known better. I read Silver Linings Playbook and was deeply underwhelmed: so underwhelmed, in fact, that I could not even bring myself to tweet about it, let along blog about it. But I thought, hey, this new one looks good. People seem to like it. Why not?

Here's why not:

The thing I love about great novels, and indeed great novelists, is that they are fearless. They go to dark places and force us to follow into something unknown and sometimes unknowable. And we go. We could go back but onwards we push because the novel challenges us, forces us to think and allows us to feel. At the end, we are not guaranteed a happy ending or even one that makes sense but, end it must. This book has an ending and I guess it was sort of happy and even sort of made sense but I was left with a feeling that nothing really happened. My reward for attempting to wade through the half-hearted darkness was not worth the effort to read the damn book. Because this book does not have the courage to give us anything but dark-lite: it says 'it's bad but don't worry, you don't have to read about it or its implications in any detail at all. It's as bad as I suggest. I think?'. And that was not good enough for me.

I think Matthew Quick has another hit on his hands. And, lucky for him, it already reads just like a Hollywood screenplay. But I didn't want all of the lights. I just wanted something real and something fearless. This wasn't it. So never, ever again. I will not be fooled again, Jodi Picoult-style, Mathew Quick (please don't get me started on My Sister's Keeper, the blurb made it sound like hard-hitting not emotionally-manipulative). No silver linings here.

My new story is up at FunDza!

I have been deathly quiet on the blog, in part because I've started a new job not in publishing and in part because I was prepping for Frankfurt Book Fair where I spoke about my job at Puku and (what else) children's books.

The other thing I did recently was write a story for FunDza Literary Trust, an organisation that I really admire and love. It was so much fun getting to write for them and it has been amazing to see so many of the FunDza fans get genuinely caught up in the story. I'm saving all those lovely comments for a rainy day...

Anyway, if you want to read my story, you can find it here. It's called 'What the Water Gave Us' - a reference to my story but also to a Florence and the Machine song because why not?

What the Water Gave Us

Author: Bontle Senne
Genre: Human Drama
Publisher: FunDza Literacy Trust

Lindi is a normal teenage girl, except for one thing: she can see ghosts. She’s been secretly hunting down evil spirits and saving people for as long as she can remember. But now someone knows her secret. Lindi has to find out who is threatening to expose her – before it’s too late.

Happy reading kids!

16 Aug: Twitter debate on African kid lit

I've always been a big fan of the work of Golden Baobab so I'm really please that they have scheduled a Twitter conference of sorts to discuss the issues of African children's literature. Realistically, there's no real other forum to take up the conversation and someone has to ask why a great opportunity like Golden Baobab only received 180 submissions this year. Where are all the writers at? And why didn't they submit they stories?

In the context of my own life, moving out of my career in African children's literature because of a systematic lack of investment and support in the sector, I definitely have a vested interest in this discussion. And I really really wish that just one of the people I see on Twitter asking for books in Zulu or Sesotho or Xhosa for their kids could use this as a platform to explain why they care enough to ask but seemingly don't care enough to buy these books or support the organisations that do. I'm not even being facetious. Seriously. I want to know.

On July 26 2013, there was a press release from Golden Baobab announcing the end of its call for submissions for the 2013 Golden Baobab Prize. Golden Baobab has undoubtedly established itself in the literary sphere as the voice of African children’s literature. As the Executive Director, Deborah Ahenkorah says, “African children deserve to grow up surrounded by stories that reflect their cultures and experiences.” This statement has been the driving force in the Golden Baobab key objective of pushing African stories to the forefront of the literary world.

Considering the number of stories received this year, 180 stories from 13 African countries, is it untoward to ask, “Does Africa not care for the intellectual growth of its future citizens?” A continent with 54 countries and 1 billion people (as at 2009) and only 180 stories from 13 countries! Stories are the repositories of culture. In my opinion, I think we can do better than this. It is true that all the 1 billion people cannot write stories for children and are doing other worthy things but I still think we can expect more.

True, our continent has been beleaguered with circumstances (low literacy rate, coups, etc )hat have stunted our growth and development but how long are we going to pull up this card anytime the issue of not doing enough is raised? The Golden Baobab Prize was established to inspire the creation of enthralling African children’s stories by gifted African writers. Currently In its 5th year, the Prize has received a little over a thousand submitted stories. A little over a thousand stories in 5 years, in the world’s second largest continent with its over 1 billion people scattered all over the world. This is not good enough.

I am not in anyway discounting the invaluable contribution to African Children’s Literature other organizations have made. The Junior African Writers Series (JAWS) by Heinnemann and the Pacesetters books by Macmillan may be mentioned as the stimulant of African writing for children. The bustling publishing industry of South Africa and Nigeria is something to be proud of. However, Africa is more than just these 2 countries ; there is so much we can do.

It is about time we had a serious conversation about the African children’s literature industry and space that Golden Baobab occupies with other well-meaning organizations on our continent. The children’s book publishing in India is estimated to be worth $1.15 billion growing at the rate of 25% per annum.

According to IBIS World’s Market Research on the Children’s Book Publishing Industry over a period of 5 years (2007 to 2012), the industry (in the US) accounted for:

487 businesses
$3 billion in revenue
9, 307 people employed and
An annual growth of 0.7%
These are positive statistics that should set investors on a scrambling spree yet you and I know that is not the case. This is a billion dollar industry waiting to be taken over by writers, illustrators, publishers, marketers and anyone you can think of within this space. South Africa may be considered as the hub of African children’s literature. To paraphrase the title of NoViolet Bulawayo’s famous book, “We need new countries.” We need new countries to be known for African children’s literature so that Africa can have a fair representation in the sphere of children’s literature. We need new names, new authors, new illustrators, new readers.

So why aren’t our African writers writing for children?

Read more about tomorrow's virtual meetup or just follow @GoldenBaobab or Facebook.com/GoldenBaobab tomorrow at 16:00 GMT.

Reviews of Tempest, Vortex and Anna Dress in Blood

Tempest by Juile Cross

Verdict: (I feel like I need to add a new category here) Likeable

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

So, all in all pretty awks for Jackson, right? He's stuck in 2007 while his gf is dying in 2009 and he can't get back to her. So what's the logical thing do to when you're stuck in 2007 with not a lot to do? Find your future gf and make her fall in love with you all over again, for the first time. It's a solid plan until the Enemies of Time that tried to kill her the first time, in the future, follow Jackson to 2007 to do it all over again. Luckily, Jackson is also spending 2007 learning more about his abilities, his family and the future so he's not going down without a fight.

I enjoyed Tempest. I mean, it wasn't life changing but it was fun and I enjoyed it. The sequel was a lot better and totally made Tempest worth reading. Which brings me to:


Vortex by Julie Cross

Verdict: Incredible

LOVED IT. As this is a sequel, I'll refrain for adding any spoilers not already in the blurb of the book. What you need to know is this: Jackson managed to quit Holly 2007/2009 - it's hard to keep up. Even after getting her away from the Enemies of Time, Holly managed to get herself into even more trouble by basically just being alive. I kind of feel bad for Holly but I feel worse for Jackson because even though he's got this whole time travel thing sort of figured out now and he's in the CIA, the same peeps that tried to kill him and/ Holly last time are back and they are really working at it now.

More time travel, more love-vibes, more CIA conspiracy - what's not to love?


Anna Dressed in Blood by Anna Kendrick

Verdict: Incredible

I meant to read this book ages ago but it kind of kept getting away from me. I'm really glad I did get to it though because it was great. Cas Lowood hunts ghosts and saves people. Like his father before him, he's travelling through North America with a knife and a burning desire for vengeance. He may still be a teenager but Cas has got this ghost hunter thing down - no friends, no distractions and in no time, he'll have killed enough practise ghosts to take on the real prize: the ghost that killed his dad. It's all very Supernatural-esque which, as a HUGE fan of seasons 2-5, I really loved. Cas IS Dean Winchestor. Broody, good-looking, charming and ready to kick some otherworldly ass.

He arrives in Thunder Bay to kill a powerful ghost named Anna who is, as the title suggests, dressed in her own blood. But what he does instead is make friends, get some people killed, solve a mystery and do a little personal growth on the side. It was a good mix of funny, sort-of-scary and sad. Really enjoyed it and looking forward to diving into the sequel soon.