The Shouting in the Dark Archives – Elleke Boehmer

The Shouting in the Dark wins the Olive Schreiner Award for Prose!

Erica — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 13:33:14 +0000

We are delighted that Elleke’s 2015 novel, The Shouting in the Dark, has been awarded the English Academy of Southern Africa’s Olive Schreiner Award for Prose.

Elleke will be presented with the award on 7 September 2019 in Johannesburg.

The post The Shouting in the Dark wins the Olive Schreiner Award for Prose! appeared first on Elleke Boehmer.

Australian edition of The Shouting in the Dark to be published in February 2019 by UWA Publishing

Erica — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 14:43:31 +0000

We are very excited to announce that the Australian edition of The Shouting in the Dark will be published by UWA Publishing in February 2019 as The Shouting in the Dark & other southern writing.

Besides the beautiful new cover, readers can expect some exciting additions in this edition of the novel:

The Shouting in the Dark is Ella’s story of surviving childhood and mapping new belonging. This Australian edition includes a new preface by the author, an interview that sets the book in relation to other stories of migration in the south, and selected writing by Elleke Boehmer about living in, navigating, and gravitating back to the southern hemisphere.

The Shouting in the Dark featured on SA radio

Erica — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 15:33:28 +0000

The Shouting in the Dark was recently featured on Eusebius McKaiser’s Literature Corner on South African’s 702 radio, where it was reviewed by Andrea van Wyk.

Listen here:

The post The Shouting in the Dark featured on SA radio appeared first on Elleke Boehmer.

Moving Worlds review of The Shouting in the Dark

Erica — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 08:43:42 +0000

A new review for The Shouting in the Dark is in the latest issue of Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writings (16.2). Writer Melissa de Villiers calls it a “fine coming-of-age novel, which vividly explores ideas of memory, identity, and what it means to belong”, noting that:

Boehmer paints a haunting picture of a deeply troubled family unravelling, but as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that this is a double investigation – into the moral chaos of apartheid South Africa as well as self. It is a mark of the writer’s skill that this is achieved organically, with nuance, through the telling of ElIa’s awakening; it never feels heavy-handed or contrived.

and

Boehmer’s nuanced dramatization of these issues, using her substantial talents for storytelling, brings them in absorbing ways to life.

Biblio review of The Shouting in the Dark

Erica — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 13:21:08 +0000

Tabish Khair has written as evocative review of The Shouting in the Dark in the September–November 2016 issue of Biblio: A Review of Books:

A haunting evocation of a childhood, this novel is also a confirmation of an identity that cannot be reduced to words. […] [A]s was the case with Kurtz and Marlow in Conrad’s great novella [Heart of Darkness], what it finally reveals is the necessity and limitations of words. Except that in Boehmer’s novel, what is brought back from Africa is not a lie made of hollow words. Instead, it is an experience – charged, brutal, contradictory, and yet containing within itself the possibilities of truth.

Read the full review

The post Biblio review of The Shouting in the Dark appeared first on Elleke Boehmer.

Afrikult. reviews The Shouting in the Dark

Erica — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 10:19:23 +0000

Jade Lee has given The Shouting in the Dark a glowing review in Afrikult., praising Boehmer for her seamless “interweaving of the personal, political and historical in such a way that engages the reader.” She writes:

Like the book’s portrayal of South Africa, the story is circular. It is layered and nuanced; it is a song of possibility, longing and grief that continually loops back upon itself making new words out of the stories of the past. Like any excellent book it both speaks to the specificity of its historical and geographical location and to the broader nature of human relationships and belonging.

Read the full review

The post Afrikult. reviews The Shouting in the Dark appeared first on Elleke Boehmer.

New Shouting in the Dark review: Maple Tree Literary Supplement

Erica — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 10:07:57 +0000

A new review of The Shouting in the Dark appears in Issue 21 of the Maple Tree Literary Supplement. In it, Gerri Kimber calls the book “Elleke Boehmer’s most powerful, spellbinding novel to date.”

Read the full review

The post New Shouting in the Dark review: Maple Tree Literary Supplement appeared first on Elleke Boehmer.

The Shouting in the Dark longlisted for the 2016 Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize

Erica — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 15:15:38 +0000

The Shouting in the Dark has been longlisted for this year’s Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize. As Books Live note, the prize criteria stipulate that the winner should be “a novel of rare imagination and style, evocative, textured and a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction”.

The shortlist will be announced on Saturday 14 May at the Franschhoek Literary Festival.

See the full list at Books Live.

The post The Shouting in the Dark longlisted for the 2016 Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize appeared first on Elleke Boehmer.

Hartstaal blog review of Op de veranda

Erica — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 07:27:07 +0000

Ingrid Glorie of Hartstaal has reviewed Op de veranda (The Shouting in the Dark) on her literary blog.

Read the full review

The post Hartstaal blog review of Op de veranda appeared first on Elleke Boehmer.

Nederlands Dagblad review of Op de veranda

Erica — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 07:22:40 +0000

Hans Ester of the Nederlands Dagblad posted the following review of Op de veranda (The Shouting in the Dark) in January.

For those who don’t read Nederlands, the final line calls the book “a strong, hard-hitting novel that makes the reader long for more”.

The post Nederlands Dagblad review of Op de veranda appeared first on Elleke Boehmer.