The Book Cottage

A final mashup!
It was lovely to see in the shop ahead of her amazing talk with at SANSA, wonderfully mediated by 🪐
We have both fine books in stock.

A big thanks to the serene Dean who kept customer orders going while John raced around town with boxes of panelists’ books ☺️

And to all the authors, speakers and creatives (we loved the ceramics!) and especially the readers, cheers to you🥂

What happens when the founders of four mighty book clubs share a stage?
Writer and editor Bongani Kona steered a brilliant debate between Shawn Buck from , Ann-Maree Tippoo from , John Bradshaw from and Paige Nick , author of Book People and founder of the

A few standout themes:
📖 Why we get so defensive about books that we love
📖 Just how important is a Book Club’s name ☺️
📖 How to keep the intimacy and trust in a large IRL (in real life) book club
📖 The richness that exists in the older hits, notwithstanding current best-sellers
📖 How to find the perfect venue for up to 200 Silent Book Club participants in a Cape Town winter 🌂
📖 Might the non-fiction faction be drawn over to the classics..?

Each Book Club had small beginnings.
Yet via different platforms, they’ve grown to large memberships with a fiercely loyal following.

As podcaster John Bradshaw said, ‘it was designed to be sustainable, just one interview a month - a gentle thing that grows as we put it out into the world.’

Ps. We all coveted Ann-Maree’s Marmite-centric merch (no indecisiveness here) and John Morris brought in a pile of book club-worthy titles. You know where to find us when it’s your turn to host 📚

News24 Editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson led a packed panel discussion with three heavyweight political authors:

Max du Preez (The End of Normal), Anthony Butler (Presidential Power) and Pieter du Toit (The Dark Prince) took an unflinching look at SA’s future political landscape.
Invaluable reading, particularly in a local government election year 🇿🇦

On a completely different note, author introduced A Pawfect Life.
The founder of Flux Trends and a self-confessed cat butler, Dion explores the astonishing rise of the global pet economy.

Chatting to animal behaviour expert Lenke Elferink, talk ranged from the absurdity of Lear jet-setting hounds to the very singular grief that arises from the loss of a pet.

Dion is also a certified End of Life Companion Doula, and the book is filled with humour, empathy and practical advice. You’ll love the cover too.

What a treat to have , and Mike Nicol in the shop after their talk.

Debates ranged from daily word counts and the potential chaos of AI, to movie rights and whether surfing (Mike) constitutes research.

All three mentioned the massive tenacity required to become a published author; Tony reckons if he got a tattoo, the one would be Show don’t tell, and the other, Trust the process ✍🏼

Amid the hilarity (lullaby research to soothe a hen’s PTSD) 🪿Sally’s book delves into the ongoing poaching of succulents and our disconnection from nature. As she said, ‘I want to look for viable happy endings to the poaching crisis.’

We have all these wonderful books in store, you’ll find us on High Street.

It’s been a whirlwind week and we’ve loved meeting all the authors and panelists.

Pics 2-4, the legendary investigative journalists Micah Reddy, Kyle Cowan and Jeff Wicks, all die-hard Joburgers, revealed The State of the Shadow Nation with mediator

Pics 5-8, A Book and a Bottle held at The Wine Glass delved into the state of wine writing🍷
exquisite bubbly Elation put the world to rights, as did tastings by

In between, we got acquainted with some stunning new sculptures and truly covetable ceramics, now on show at The Windsor Hotel.

A note: the charming and prolific author Irma Joubert began her writing career after 35 years as a history teacher. Sometimes people just amaze you.

Be sure to visit The Book Cottage on High Street. We stock all the panelists’ books and look forward to meeting you! 📚


mtkl