Fading Footprints: In search of South Africa’s first people
Pagecast is South Africa's biggest book podcast that offers insider interviews with recently published authors, delving into the creative processes and stories behind their latest works. As the leading platform for book lovers, Pagecast brings you the story behind the story, exploring the thoughts, ideas, and emotions that shape the country's most compelling literature.
-------- Â
32:30
--------
32:30
Hollywood on the Veld by Ted Botha
Join Mila de Villiers in this episode of Pagecast as she sits down with acclaimed author Ted Botha to discuss his latest book, Hollywood on the Veld.
More about the book:
In 1913, a secretive American millionaire, who lived on the top floor of the famous Carlton Hotel, had a crazy idea: to make movies in Johannesburg. And not just any movies but the biggest in the world, huge spectacles with elaborate sets, thousands of extras and epic story lines.
Isidore Schlesinger – better known as ‘IW’ – built a studio on a farm called Killarney, where he set out to challenge a place in America that was in its infancy: Hollywood.
The glamour, gossip and high drama of IW’s studio fit perfectly into a city experiencing an intoxicating golden age. There was as much action on the movie sets as there was on screen: from political intrigue and the clashing of massive egos to public outbursts, fiery judicial inquiries, disaster and death.
Behind this mad enterprise was a maverick, a tycoon, a recluse, a friend of the famed and the connected. IW could have held his own in California but he chose as his base the City of Gold, and his indomitable ambition saw his ‘Hollywood on the Veld’ soar. This is the never-been-told-before story of the rise and fall of the strangest and most unique movie empire ever.
#Pagecast #TedBotha #HollywoodOnTheVeld #BookPodcast #SouthAfricanAuthors #LiteraryPodcast #AuthorInterview #BookDiscussion #CinemaHistory #MustReadBooks
-------- Â
28:05
--------
28:05
Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance by Bronwen Everill
Join Mphuthumi Ntabeni in conversation with historian and author Bronwen Everill, as they discuss her book Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance. This conversation offers essential insights into how we can rethink the African continent’s economic past, present, and future.
More about the book:
We need to think differently about African economics.
For centuries, Westerners have tried to 'fix' African economies. From the abolition of slavery onwards, missionaries, philanthropists, development economists and NGOs have arrived on the continent, full of good intentions and bad ideas. Their experiments have invariably gone awry, to the great surprise of all involved.
In this short, bold story of Western economic thought about Africa, historian Bronwen Everill argues that these interventions fail because they start from a misguided premise: that African economies just need to be more like the West. Ignoring Africa's own traditions of economic thought, Europeans and Americans assumed a set of universal economic laws that they thought could be applied anywhere. They enforced specifically Western ideas about growth, wealth, debt, unemployment, inflation, women's work and more, and used Western metrics to find African countries wanting.
The West does not know better than African nations how an economy should be run. By laying bare the myths and realities of our tangled economic history, Africonomics moves from Western ignorance to African knowledge.
#Africonomics #BookPodcast #AfricanEconomy #AuthorInterview #EconomicDevelopment #AfricanBusiness #PodcastEpisode #Pagecast
#BronwenEverill #MphuthumiNtabeni
-------- Â
35:32
--------
35:32
Pagecast conversations at the KBF 2025: "Stories of Identity, Justice, and Change"
In this episode of Pagecast at the Kingsmead Book Fair, Sibongile Machika sits down with two dynamic South African authors, Siya Khumalo and Khaya Dlanga, as they explore how storytelling challenges norms, sparks dialogue, and drives social change in today’s South Africa.
Khaya Dlanga, author of Life Is Like That Sometimes, reflects on personal resilience, blending humour with profound social commentary rooted in his Eastern Cape upbringing.
Siya Khumalo, author of The Queer Book of Revelation, discusses navigating the intersections of religion, sexuality, and activism through bold science fiction that challenges perceptions and inspires acceptance.
Discover how these voices use their craft to confront complex issues of identity, justice, and transformation.
#PagecastPodcast #SouthAfricanAuthors #StorytellingForChange #BookPodcast #SocialJustice #SouthAfricanLiterature #IdentityAndJustice #AuthenticVoices #LiteraryPodcast #CulturalDialogue
Pagecast is South Africa's biggest book podcast that offers insider interviews with recently published authors, delving into the creative processes and stories behind their latest works. As the leading platform for book lovers, Pagecast brings you the story behind the story, exploring the thoughts, ideas, and emotions that shape the country's most compelling literature.
South Africa