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Nov 5, 2024 | 
wantedonline.co.za | Michele Magwood
There is much to savour in this compendium. I showed off my Irish roots writing about the exalted writer Edna O’Brien, caustic, beautiful, and brave, who inspired generations of women with her refusal to bend to patriarchal Catholic rules. I bared my loyal Jozi soul writing about two superlative books that sift the city’s grime and find gems.
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Oct 9, 2024 | 
wantedonline.co.za | Michele Magwood
You could spend an entire weekend immersed in the splendid world of Christian Dior. First off, dive into Miss Dior, Justine Picardie’s much-admired study of the great designer’s sister that is now out in paperback. As the cover promises, it is a story of freedom and fascism, beauty and betrayal, roses and repression. The enigmatic Catherine Dior was central to her brother’s sensibility and his vision of femininity. She was 12 years younger than him and he had doted on her in their idyllic childhood.
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Oct 2, 2024 | 
news24.com | Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu |Michele Magwood
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, author of The Creation of Half-Broken People. (Supplied/Marcus J Jooste) South Africans need to be in the know if we want to create a prosperous future. News24 has kept the country informed for 25 years, and we're about to enter a new chapter of fearless journalism. Join our free subscription trial to unlock this story and a world of news aimed to inform, empower, and inspire.
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Sep 10, 2024 | 
wantedonline.co.za | Michele Magwood
Two remarkable family memoirs stand out this month, both intriguing accounts of letterly families, if there is such a thing. Geographically they couldn’t be further apart: Joburg and Los Angeles, Riverlea and Hollywood. Kevin van Wyk is the elder son of the late writer and activist Chris van Wyk — the “irascible genius” of Irascible Genius: A Son’s Memoir — who lived in Riverlea, the so-called “Coloured area” bordering the bleak mine dumps of Jozi.
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Aug 14, 2024 | 
wantedonline.co.za | Michele Magwood
One of the most eminent designers in South Africa works not with paint or pencil, fabric or furniture, but with plants. Patrick Watson is a renowned landscape architect who, over the course of a decades-long career, has changed the way we experience our surroundings. Now, more than 20 of these extraordinary projects have been collected into one book — Veld: The Gardens and Landscapes of Patrick Watson.
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Jul 17, 2024 | 
wantedonline.co.za | Michele Magwood
In early interviews, Andrew confessed that she wasn’t much of a cook and had instead approached the real experts in her community for their best bobotie and bredie, beskuit and cake recipes, giving them due credit and providing Tannie Maria with an irresistible array of dishes. Now these recipes have been gathered into a bright, busy new collection laden with photographs of the Karoo and interleaved with Tannie Maria’s letters and jottings, titled Recipes to Die Live For.
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Jun 12, 2024 | 
wantedonline.co.za | Michele Magwood
All That Glitters Orlando Whitfield We can’t get enough of fraudsters, and the setting of this true story, in the highest echelons of the art world, gives it an irresistible glamour. Two posh kids, Orlando Whitfield and Inigo Philbrick, met at university in London and then set themselves up as art dealers. Whitfield watched, aghast, from the sidelines as Philbrick schmoozed and scammed buyers, leaving his old mate in his wake.
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May 8, 2024 | 
wantedonline.co.za | Michele Magwood
Atlas of Unexpected Places The quirky, enormously enjoyable Atlas of Unexpected Places has just been reissued in paperback. Its subtitle tells you everything you need to know about the content: Haphazard Discoveries, Chance Places and Unimaginable Destinations. Can there be anywhere on earth that is still unmapped or un-Instagrammed? Places that were once entirely unknown are now available to us in full colour, at our fingertips. Are there any surprises left?
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Apr 10, 2024 | 
wantedonline.co.za | Michele Magwood
It is fascinating to see how fashion seeps from one continent and culture to another. In the 1960s, the Mod subculture emerged in reaction to post-war conservatism. Bright, sharp-edged clothes were influenced by Italian and French design, icy pale lipsticks shone under blunt caps of hair, and miniskirts over coloured tights were de rigueur. Men wore slim, cropped suits and pointed boots and rode Italian scooters.
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Feb 7, 2024 | 
wantedonline.co.za | Michele Magwood
The self-flagellation and mortification of the flesh that traditionally dim our January days are nearly behind us. Alcohol fasts and “Veganuary” are so medieval, the stuff of monks and ascetics, yet every new year we’re implored to deny and deny, to atone for our festive appetites. So much for the flesh, but what of our souls? What’s the equivalent of a bean-and-kale bake for the brain?
