The Big Issue

High quality, varied and entertaining content for readers across age, culture, religion, gender and other demographics. Stories include reporting on local and international happenings with a ‘bigger issue’ about an individual, and unusual news or events that impact us all. The Big Issue shares in-depth interviews with local and international celebrities, artists, change-makers and thought leaders. It also focuses on local people or organisations committed to making positive changes in society – intent on finding innovative ways to effect change.

THE BIG ISSUE

Ed’s Letter

Guest Ed’s Letter

Have your say

Find a friendly vendor • Each issue we feature our vendors and the area they work in. They buy their own magazine stock and sell them on to you, our readers. Meet some of our lovely Claremont people.

Words, words, words • Extract from A Long Letter to My Daughter, published by Tafelberg (2021), translated by Annelize Visser. (Available in Afrikaans as ‘n Baie lang brief aan my dogter.)

INSIDE THE SECRET READING SOCIETY • The Good Book Appreciation Society is a secret Facebook book club with almost 15 000 very active reading members.

That cigarette • Mia’s debut novel Mermaid Fillet (2020) was published by Kwela Books, an imprint of NB Publishers. Mia is a Cape Town-based writer with bylines in Mail & Guardian, New Frame, Vrye Weekblad, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and more.

A quick thrill • An extract from Homeland, published by Penguin Random House (2018), translated by Linde Dietrich.

A good mutton curry • TANNIE MARIA’S PASSION FOR FOOD AND DELICIOUS RECIPES LED HER INTO A THRILLING POLICE INVESTIGATION.

Joke’s on Tim Noakes • Paige Nick has published novels, a book of columns and a series of choose-your-own-adventure erotic novels (under the pen name Helena S. Paige), co-written with Sarah Lotz and Helen Moffett. Death by Carbs is a Banting comedy where someone murders low-carb diet guru Prof. Tim Noakes. Detective September has so many suspects he doesn’t know where to begin.

Little issue • young minds matter

South Africa, my home • Diana is internationally acclaimed for the poem I’ve come to take you home (2010) that she wrote about the indigenous Khoi woman Sarah Baartman, and was instrumental in bringing Sarah’s remains home from France where they were exhibited.

Nurses • A creative project dedicated to medical staff and their acts of bravery during COVID-19 – by Ronelda S. Kamfer and Nathan Trantraal.

A voice to be heard • Ronelda spent a part of her childhood on a farm in Grabouw (her grandparents were farmworkers), before moving to the Cape Flats with her family. She regards this dual reality as the source of her poetic voice. Her four poetry collections have won prestigious awards and have been translated from Afrikaans into Dutch, Italian and French. Her debut novel Kompoun will be published by Kwela Books this year.

A SHORT STORY BY REŠOKETŠWE MANENZ People Like Us • Rešoketšwe is a prizewinner of note. She won the 2021 Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Best Fiction Award, the 2020 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award and the 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize. She was the first runner-up for the 2019 Collins Elesiro Literary Prize for Fiction.

Remembering my mother • Colleen has written two collections of poetry, a short story collection and most recently, a memoir, my mother, my madness. She founded Modjaji Books in 2007 and has since published more than 150 titles.

An invitation to reconcile • kykNET’s new reality TV show Die Uitnodiging (The Invitation) is back. The second season reconnects families, mends broken relationships and encourages healing. We chat to host and executive producer Cato Bekker.

Moms, maths and gangs • This story of hope from communities rife...