Last weekend I joined a panel of smart city people at the South African Book Fair, to talk about the notion of a post-apartheid Johannesburg – under the title ‘Future Perfect’. The other members of the panel were David Everatt, former head of the powerhouse Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), and about to take up the […]
No More Mister Nice Guy – Meet Charlie Human, Brilliant Author of Apocalypse Now Now
Charlie Human’s first novel will sneak up behind you and whack you on the back of the head with a very big stick. And you’ll like it. Nechama Brodie finds out how the sweet-as-pie author lured his dark side out into the open. The first time I read Apocalypse Now Now was on my […]
Future Joburg: How Joburg’s changing skyline could shape the city of the future
This article first appeared in City Press in November 2014 At the start of the just-released trailer for Marvel’s new Avengers movie, the Age of Ultron (out in May next year), the villain – a seriously bad-guy robot – whispers ominously: “I’m going to show you something beautiful.” What he reveals is the skyline of […]
Making Maboneng
This article originally appeared in the Australian Smith Journal in 2014. <great images by Greg Lomas, who did the portraits for this feature – see more images in the link> “This is a real 360-degree view,” says Jonathan Liebmann, standing on the rooftop of his latest acquisition: the 17-storey Hallmark Towers in downtown Johannesburg. The northern […]
The new edition of the Joburg Book is out now!
More than 10 000 copies sold! Just in time for jasmine and jacaranda season (yes, I know they’re both aliens), the new and updated edition of the best-selling Joburg Book has finally arrived, and is on sale now at all good book stores (you can also order online from Kalahari or Exclusive Books if you […]
Running the streets of Rio
[this article first appeared in the Mail & Guardian newspaper] ‘This is cassava,” I shouted, trying to make myself heard over the music. “What? Who’s Cassandra?” We were sitting at a table at Carioca da Gema (Avenida Mem de Sá 79; barcariocadagema.com.br), drinking Brahma beer and eating thick pieces of aipim frita — fried cassava […]
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