A colourful patchwork of Midlanders – academics and artists, bakers, bibliophiles, yogis and farmers – gathered at La Popote Café in Hilton on Friday12 August 2022 to launch award-winning author Bridget Krone’s latest book published by Catalyst Press. Over 100 people listened to Kim Ward in conversation with Bridget about The Cedarville Shop and The…
Category: Celebrations
Young Writers
Young Authors Book Initiative (YABI), created by dynamo duo Lungile and Makhubalo Ikaneng, encourages reading and teaches basic writing skills. “By putting the writing process in young people’s hands, we hope to demystify the written word and make it accessible to them. We want to show the learners that books are not difficult products written…
Spectacular Pollution Solutions
Crisp packets litter the landscape of many Midlands villages, tetrapak is often burnt and plastic bottles bob in wetlands. Gutters are clogged with take-away tubs. There is one ton of plastic for every person on Earth, much of it packaging materials that have been used just once, but that will last for hundreds of years….
Stories for Days
“The Midlands Literary Festival has come of age,” remarked Elana Bregin, a writer who has participated in all eight past events. This year, on the first weekend in September, many hundreds of people arrived at Fern Hill Hotel to enjoy an astonishing array of authors speaking about their work. There literally was something for everyone….
Midlands Literary Festival
On the first weekend of September this year, literary locals are in for a treat. The 9th annual Midlands Literary Festival will be held at Fern Hill Hotel this year. Darryl Earl David founder of BookBedonnerd in Richmond, Karoo and many other Literary Festivals, initiated the Midlands Literary Festival in 2010. “I have always maintained…
Runway Ready Rubbish
Cardboard boxes, chip packets, feed bags, bottle tops, yoghurt tubs, exuberant colour and laughter spilled from taxis and burst out of squashed cars last weekend. Every year the creativity and committed effort of eco-conscious learners who participate in the Trashion Show astonishes, but the 2018 event held in Howick on Saturday 9 June 2018 was…
Siyawathanda Amaxhaphozi
There is a wetland at Shea O’Connor Combined School. Many years ago, the staff thought that this was just a damp and annoying problem, but once they learned that it was a wetland – an important ecosystem for filtering water – they began to celebrate this great teaching resource and, on 2 February, marked World…
Higgledy Piggledy Poetry
The battered ground between a petrol station and the railway tracks seems an unlikely spot for creativity to flourish. Factor in the fabulous coffee and the special brand of Steam Punk Magic that Michael Goddard has created in Lion’s River, and it starts to make sense. Michael has changed our perception of rural KZN midlands…
Spirit of the Midlands
Ultimate Frisbee – The Beautiful Game Twice a week a motley crew of Midlanders gather to play Ultimate Frisbee on the fields at Lions River Club in Dargle. As the sun sets, artists, architects, photographers, farmers, shoemakers, students and IT-types aged between 16 and 56 dash across the 100m field, deftly flicking Frisbees. Sure, things…
Slow, Green, African Christmas
Seasonal celebrations south of the equator, have a distinct flavour. We embrace the sun soaked occasions – the cry of the hadeda, bright agapanthus blue and summer storms that celebrate the uniqueness of our continent. We gather friends and family around colourful tables with the smell of hot earth or freshly cut grass wafting through the…
Midlands Mosaic 