Elleke Boehmer

Katherine Mansfield Society Newsletter: Southern Imagining review

Erica — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 19:33:18 +0000

This month sees the publication of issue 53 of the Katherine Mansfield Society Newsletter , which includes a review of Southern Imagining by Redmer Yska. Yska calls the book a ‘thrillingly ambitious cultural history’.

The full-length review is unfortunately accessible only to members of the Katherine Mansfield Society.

Newsletter

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Ice Shock longlisted for the 2026 Sunday Times Fiction Prize

Erica — Mon, 25 May 2026 18:54:34 +0000

We’re delighted that Ice Shock has been longlisted for the 2026 Sunday Times Fiction Prize! The novel is one of twenty in the longlist in a year that marks the 25th anniversary of the award.

The shortlist will be announced in September, and the winners awarded in November 2026.

The post Ice Shock longlisted for the 2026 Sunday Times Fiction Prize appeared first on Elleke Boehmer.

‘Reorienting the World’: Peter Frankopan on Southern Imagining

Erica — Mon, 18 May 2026 19:23:16 +0000

Peter Frankopan has featured Southern Imagining in his Substack, Global Threads with Peter Frankopan.

In a piece entitled, ‘Reorienting the World: From the Southern Hemisphere to the Invisible Geography of Disease’, Frankopan calls the book ‘a wonder and a revelation’, and ‘a layered, nuanced and important account of how the South has been imagined’.

Read the full piece

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Elleke, Southern Imagining, and Ice Shock in Times Higher Education

Erica — Mon, 18 May 2026 19:16:58 +0000

Times Higher Education has featured an in-depth profile on Elleke by Matthew Reisz. In it, he explores the thematic resonances of both Southern Imagining (a ‘hugely ambitious’ and ‘very striking attempt’ to flip the world map) and Ice Shock, which he describes as as ‘a page-turner, a “will they, won’t they” love story – set in the context of climate change’.

Boehmer calls Southern Imagining ‘the book I have been wanting to write for 40 years’. It is ‘a study of perception’ that captures ‘something that I have seen and want to share’.

Read the full review

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The Conversation review of Ice Shock: ‘a novel about passionate love in a time of climate crisis’

Erica — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 13:41:47 +0000

Rodwell Makombe has published a review of Ice Shock for The Conversation. In it, he describes the novel as ‘a breathtaking story’ and ‘an attempt to rethink and rewrite how we inhabit the planet’.

Read the full review

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Southern Imagining review in The Daily Maverick

Erica — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 13:25:09 +0000

Ed Stoddard has written a new review of Southern Imagining in The Daily Maverick, entitled ‘The southern hemisphere has found its literary and cultural historian’. He notes:

Elleke Boehmer has cooked up an aromatic southern stew of artistic life and perspective in her enchanting new book Southern Imagining[.]
…

Boehmer explores an astonishing range of writers, artists, travellers and scientists, bringing forth the diversity, complexity and scatteredness of the far south.

Read the full review

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There is no objective view of Earth: Tilting our world perspective

Erica — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 19:00:50 +0000

The Institute of Art and Ideas recently published an article by Elleke that uses the famous 1972 “blue marble” photograph of earth as its point of departure to discuss the main themes of Southern Imagining. It begins:

The famous image of Earth from space looks neutral—but it was quietly turned to put the north on top. Professor Elleke Boehmer argues that this small adjustment captures a much larger habit of mind, and that there is no objective perspective by which to view the world. By reading literature from the far southern hemisphere, we can flip our planetary perspective, loosen the grip of northern dominance, and learn to see the world as a more connected, fragile whole.

Read the full article

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Video: Southern Imagining at the Edge of the Skirt of the World (Conversation with Lola Frost in Kalk Bay, 2026)

Erica — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 18:53:07 +0000

Elleke was in conversation with Lola Frost at the Artvark Gallery in Kalk Bay on 12 March 2026. They explored the overlaps between Southern Imagining and Ice Shock and Frost’s At the Edge of the Skirt of the World.

Watch the conversation here:

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Video: Dilip Menon and Elleke Boehmer in conversation at Love Books

Erica — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 19:27:04 +0000

Elleke was in conversation with Dilip Menon about Southern Imagining for the book’s launch at Love Books in Johannesburg on 10 March 2026.

Watch the conversation here

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Elleke on The History of Literature podcast

Erica — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 19:18:31 +0000

Elleke was recently featured on The History of Literature podcast, where she discussed Southern Imagining with host Jacke Wilson.

Apple Podcasts

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