Ivan Vladislavic takes part in 'Cracking Walls' in Johannesburg
November 2, 2009
The Goethe Institut in Johannesburg will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (on 9 November 1989) by hosting an intriguing conference 'Cracking Walls', 5-9 November 2009, about the power of the arts to bring about socio-political change. Events include an exhibition of Jurgen Schadeberg's photos about the building of the wall in '61 and there will be panel discussions with participants like Antjie Krog, Sindiwe Magona, Malcolm Purkey, Zapiro, Mandla Langa and Ivan Vladislavic, author of the award-winning book on Johannesburg PORTRAIT WITH KEYS.
PORTRAIT WITH KEYS is published in South Africa by Umuzi, in the UK by Portobello, and in the US by Norton. Editions Zoe's French edition is just about to appear in France. Ivan is also published in Germany, Norway and Sweden. A new edition of Ivan Vladislavic's collected short stories, FLASHBACK HOTEL will be published by Umuzi in March 2010 and Ivan will be attending the London Book Fair, which will have South Africa as its country of Market Focus.
PORTRAIT WITH KEYS won the Sunday Times Alan Paton Prize and the University of Johannesburg Prize 2007, and was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2008 and the Warwick Prize 2009.
Praise for PORTRAIT WITH KEYS:
'Surely one of the most ingenious love letters - full of violence, fear, humour and cunning - ever addressed to a city. If Italo Calvino had grown up in Joburg and experienced both apartheid and its aftermath this is the kind of book he would have been proud to have written.' -- Geoff Dyer
'A beautiful book, affecting and ingenious, opening new intellectual vistas onto art and architecture, poetry and urbanism'. -- Bookforum
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