Henrietta Rose-Innes's Blog, page 5

Chan Chan remembered

Back in 2011, I contributed to Louis Greenberg’s anthology, Home Away: 24 hours, 24 cities, now an out-of-print gem of South African writing. My hour was melancholy 5pm, of course; and my city was the ancient ruined Peruvian city of Chan Chan. You can read my short meditation on the city here: Chan-Chan-at-close-of-day-2. (I’m also particularly fond of this little piece because it includes a little pen illustration by my mother.)

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I was reminded of it recently by Paul M.Cooper’s excellent “ruin of the day” series on Twitter:

#RuinoftheDay: Chan Chan, Peru.

The seat of the ancient Chimú civilization on Peru’s arid coast, this vast adobe complex contains plazas, houses, temples & storerooms. Its name means “sun sun”.

Chan Chan fell into decline around 1470 CE, after the Inca conquered the Chimú. pic.twitter.com/Q2j9SpOjRp

— Paul

“100 African SFF writers” comes to Cape Town.

I’m very pleased to be included in an expansive survey of Cape Town-based spec-fic – Cape Town: The Writers – alongside Diane Awerbuck, Lauren Beukes, Imraan Coovadia, Panashe Chigumadzi, Mandisi Nkomo, Mia Arderne, Ziphozakhe Hlobo, Nicholas Ernest, Toby Bennett, Zinaid Meeran Novelist & others. Part of the outstanding series, 100 African writers of SFF by Geoff Ryman (also of the African Speculative Fiction Society) for Strange Horizons Magazine. Read the Nineveh extract and interview here.

I think Nineveh falls into a grey zone, where I don’t completely recognize the moment when it passes into speculative from non-speculative. It’s set in a recognizable Cape Town but not an altogether real Cape Town.

Certain things are invented—the plague of insects for example, or the underground cabins beneath the swamp and the estate—these gesture towards fantastical fiction. But I like to keep on that line of uncertainty between the real and unreal.

 

Green Lion “superbly well written”

Reviewer Sue Broom has put up a lovely thoughtful assessment of Green Lion on Nudge-book.com:

Her portrayal of the sheer physicality of the lioness is sublime … The wilderness within the fence takes on a mystique of menace and there are some beautiful descriptions of its landscape. A recurring image throughout is gold – rare and precious but glinting with danger. Superbly well written, along with a poignant human story … gives us many interesting strands linking bereavement, extinction of species, conservation, representations of animals in theatre and dance … 5/5.

Green Lion: “On location” in Cape Town

I wrote a piece about my writerly relationship with my home town, Cape Town, for the excellent books and writing blog The Literary Sofa:

To tourists, Table Mountain seems incongruous, wondrous; to locals, it’s a landmark and a compass point, even for those of us who live so far from the centre that the “tabletop” is a just pale silhouette. Having a mountain changes things. Capetonians’ heads are often in the clouds, as anyone from grittier, faster, slicker Jo’burg will attest. Here, it’s possible to to climb into the sky and gaze down upon the geography of the city from a contemplative distance – a novelistic view. It’s a good city for writing.

They’ve accompanied the piece with a lovely brief review of Green Lion:

Green Lion calls into question our relationship with the natural world without being preachy – it is above all a compelling story peopled by intriguing characters … Rose-Innes’ lyrical but understated prose has both edge and elegance, a combination I am always excited to discover. Highly recommended for lovers of literary fiction inspired by ‘issues’, driven by great storytelling.

 

African Fantasy in London

Tonight (16 Oct) I’ll be discussing “Writing Africa’s Futures: Fantasy Africa or Fantastical Africa” with Nigerian writer Chikodili Emelumadu, shortlisted for The Caine Prize, at Durning Library.

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Green Lion gets BookBlasted

Here’s a lovely, wide-ranging, thoughtful review from BookBlast for Green Lion:

Individual vs. family, rich vs. poor, man vs. wild animal, conservation vs. extinction: Henrietta Rose-Innes’ multi-layered narrative addresses all these contradictions skilfully and with lightness of touch. Green Lion speaks to us urgently of another kind of moral responsibility to that which we are used to receiving from South African writers … one of the best novels about man and his environment that I have read in a long time.

Also on BookBlast – I recently did a fun 21-question interview about my life & writing, which you can find here:

It often begins with a visual image, a picture or an object that grabs me, or that surfaces from the past – like the photo of an extinct, taxidermied lion that I first saw in the South African Museum when I was little, and which returned to haunt my latest novel Green Lion. I don’t think I’ve ever consciously chosen a theme or a subject. Ideally, the writing of the book reveals its own purpose.

“Tectonic” Nineveh gets glowing review from Book and Brew

Book and Brew reviewer Jasmin Kirkbride gives Nineveh a strong recommendation in a new review:

From the outset, Nineveh is characterised by vibrant insectoid imagery: the opening chapter focuses on a tree that has been colonised by caterpillars, for example. In the hands of any other author, such a motif might make your skin crawl, but under Rose-Innes’ deft touch it makes for compulsive, surprisingly beautiful reading. Right up to the last pages, you cannot be sure quite where the fleeting – often surreal – imagery is going to take you.

21 questions answered for Bookblast

I had fun going through these questions for BookBlast’s “Author of the Week” feature.

With salutes to The Johannesburg Review of Books, Civitella Ranieri, the hometown writing community and all my lovely publishers.

Your views on success?

Whatever you achieve, you look up to find the real prize has scuttled a little further out of reach. Best to take it all with a large scoop of salt and remember that nobody cares too much about your success or failure except yourself, the people who truly love you – and your mortal enemies. I find this sobering.

Top ten books about animal/human relationships

I wrote a little list for the Guardian’s “Top Ten Books” feature, delving into some of my favourite writing about how we interact with the animals with which we share the world. Featuring Ursula K. Le Guin, James Herriot, Karen Joy Fowler, Russell Hoban and others.

Our interactions with animals are many and various, ranging from devotion to a pet goldfish, say, to the raw violence that takes place in a dogfighting ring or factory farm. The relationships I’m drawn to, and have chosen to highlight below, are intimate, enigmatic and mostly benign, characterised by hopeful longing for communion with minds and bodies like but unlike our own.

Green Lion on the sofa for Autumn

Delighted to see Green Lion lounging on the Literary Sofa in this list of Autumnal reading suggestions.

“Raises vital issues about our relationship with the natural world … above all an immersive and compelling story. Great characters, superb lyrical writing and a particular treat for anyone who knows Cape Town.”

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