The Homebru Podcasts 2021 Exclusive Books

'There's an entire generation of South African women who ought to read this book.' - Sara-Jayne King, author of Killing Karoline 'Ougat is masterfully written - raw, unpretentious, unsettling. Shana Fife captures all the darkness from her body, psyche and life with fearless honesty and transparency.' - Frazer Barry, award-winning theatre practitioner, writer and musician "A bold, unapologetic memoir about abuse, coming-of-age, a woman owning her sexuality and seizing her power. Shana Fife has a unique and compelling voice, which she uses with great effect to break with gender and sexuality taboos." - Dr Barbara Boswell, author of Grace By the time Shana Fife is 25 she has two kids from different fathers. To the Coloured people she grew up around, she is a jintoe, a jezebel, jas, a woman with mileage on the pussy. She is alone, she has no job and, as she is constantly reminded by her community, she is pretty much worthless and unloveable. How did she become this woman, the epitome of everything she was conditioned to strive not to be? Unsettlingly honest and brutally blunt, Ougat is Shana Fife's story of survival: of surviving the social conditioning of her Cape Flats upbringing, of surviving sexual violence and depression and of ultimately escaping a cycle of abuse. A powerful, fresh and disarming new voice - Shana's writing is like nothing you've read before.

It is not easy. Having a dream, having talent and being faced with a world that wants you to have neither - it is not easy. This is not an easy story. This is a book about difficult odds, about cruelty, about broken families and addiction. This is also a story about hope. This is a tale of bravery and the undefeatability of the spirit of South African women. This is a story about football, but it is a story about so much more. This is a tale about the fearless women who carry the sport on their back, told through the eyes of the best player on the African continent. This is the story of a little girl who rose out of the tough streets of Mohlakeng and went on to become a champion of the world.

Kojo Baffoe embodies what it is to be a contemporary African man. Of Ghanaian and German heritage, he was raised in Lesotho and moved to South Africa at the age of 27.
Forever curious, Kojo has the enviable ability to simultaneously experience moments intimately and engage people (and their views) sincerely, while remaining detached enough to think through his experiences critically. He has earned a reputation as a thinker, someone who lives outside the box and free of the labels that society seeks to place on us.
Listen to Your Footsteps is an honest and, at times, raw collection of essays from a son, a father, a husband, a brother and a man deeply committed to doing the internal work. Kojo reflects on losing his mother as a toddler, being raised by his father, forming an identity, living as an immigrant, his tussles with substance abuse, as well as his experiences of fatherhood, marriage and making a career in a fickle industry. He gives an extended glimpse into the experiences that make boys become men, and the battles that make men discover what they are made of, all the while questioning what it means to be 'a man'.

A compelling, diverse, and often bizarre array of anecdotes that will help you navigate your business and personal lives in this most peculiar of worlds.
What do the knees of a deputy president, a blow-up doll and a model with big nipples have in common? They all taught the author valuable life lessons. Hustling, Happiness, and a Blow-Up Doll Named Percy tells moving personal stories from Dale Hefer's life: from an award-winning marketing career culminating in becoming businesswoman of the year to her journey to sobriety, and provides key lessons and essential life and business tips. For example, why everyone needs a ‘Percy’ (a creative idea or simply the drive to do what one must to get things done). In addition to her own conclusions, Dale draws on the wisdom of her favourite philosophers – the Stoics, business partners, friends and, of course, her mum! Using real-life experiences and humorous stories, Dale Hefer shows how to make some sense of this strange world and shares tips about how to navigate it so you, too, can find your own brand of happiness and learn sound business lessons along the way.

When Mosilo Mothepu was appointed CEO of Trillian Financial Advisory, a subsidiary of Gupta-linked Trillian Capital Partners, in March 2016, the prospect of being at the helm of a black-owned financial consultancy was electrifying for a black woman whose twin passions were transformation and empowering women. Three months later, suffering from depression and insomnia, she resigned with no other job lined up. In October 2016, a written statement handed to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela detailing Trillian’s involvement in state capture was leaked to the media. Key to the disclosures were the removals of finance ministers Nhlanhla Nene and Pravin Gordhan from their posts due to the Guptas’ influence. Although she was not identified by name as the source of the affidavit, details of the revelations published in the Sunday Times left no doubt in the minds of Trillian’s executives: Mothepu was the Nenegate whistleblower. Despite fearing legal consequences, Mothepu had decided that she could not just stand by as the country burnt. Her disclosures resulted in the freezing of Trillian-associated company Regiments Capital’s assets and a High Court order for Trillian to pay back almost R600 million to Eskom. Facing criminal charges and bankruptcy, unemployed and deemed a political risk, Mothepu experienced first-hand the loneliness of whistleblowing. The effect on her mental and physical health was devastating. Now, in Uncaptured, she recounts this troubling yet seminal chapter in her life with honesty, humility and wry humour in the hope that others who find themselves in a similar situation will follow in her footsteps and speak truth to power.

Andile Gaelesiwe is the adored Khumbul' ekhaya host. She was raped by her father at the age of 11. The second rape was by a taxi driver who beat her up. Andile entered the music scene with the big hit of the late 90s, Abuti Yo. She started Open Disclosure for rape survivors. This fierce, at times funny memoir, an insight into Andile's consciousness that keeps reviving her will reverberate in young and adult readers.