Ekow Duker
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The Sunday Times

29 March 2020

​I wrote a short piece, along with other authors, imagining life in the time of the corona virus. You can read my short story here.  

Inception Book Club

Johannesburg - 8 September 2019

Open Book 2019 - Cape Town

4-8 September 2019
​With literary royalty in the person of Chigozie Obiama (The Fishermen; An Orchestra of Minorities)
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With Nicole Dennis-Benn and Djamila Ibrahim
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Phumla's Book Club

Phumla, Thola, Tumi, Busiswa and Sibongile : 5 captivating ladies
​The Fat Zebra, Linden, Johannesburg
​29 June 2019
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Country Life

In conversation with Nancy Richards. Click here to listen to the podcast
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Exclusive Books Homebru Celebration

18 June 2019
​Scenes from an exhilarating Homebru celebration at Exclusive Books, Hyde Park.
Thank you Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane for your masterful facilitation and to all the other writers (​Fred Khumalo, Busisekile Khumalo ,Keletso Mopai, Mubanga Kalimamukwento and  Masande Ntshanga)and guests who were there.
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Vision View Sports Radio

31 May 2019
​With Thabang Kesthabile aka Uncle T on The Book Club Show on Vision View Sports Radio.
​Thank you for a brilliant end to the week! 
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Books and Beyond Book Club

25 May 2019
​Crown Plaza Hotel, Rosebank, Johannesburg
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The only fashion accessory you'll ever need

25 May 2019
​Crown Plaza Hotel, Rosebank, Johannesburg
That's Xolie Langa in the picture
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Kingsmead Book festival

25 May 2019 
The topic was “Writing, the Sweet Sorrow” with Heather Morris (The Tattooist of Auschwitz), Siphiwe Ndlovu(The Theory of Flight) Craig Higginson (The White Room) and me (Yellowbone), and wonderfully moderated by Efemia Christiana. It was well worth the early start! Here's the view from the stage.
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Click here for the official festival picture gallery, video and some refreshing reflections from the day.

Franschoek Literary Festival 2019

17 May 2019
Getting ready to chat with Lauri Kubuitsile and Deon Meyer about how ideas for writing first come to them.
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Sawubona Magazine

South African Airways inflight magazine. May 2019
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Reading Matters on Radio Today

With Sue Grant Marshall and Jesmane Boggenpoel. Click here for the podcast
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Goodreads reviews Yellowbone

Click here for the review in GoodReads by Baratang

LitNet reviews Yellowbone

Click here for the review in LitNet by Karabo Kgoleng

The Cape Town Launch of Yellowbone

The Book Lounge - 11 April 2019
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Mandi Friedman's Life in a Garden

With Lorraine Sithole - 7 April 2019
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Morning Live - SABC

31 March 2019
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The Johannesburg Launch of Yellowbone

The Dunkelder Theatre - 26 March 2019
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The Bookclubs Launch of Yellowbone

Morningside, Johannesburg - 23 March 2019

Longlisted!

It's not as bad as it sounds...
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Kaya Book Club - KayaFM 95.9

Great discussion with Kaya Sithole and Professor Oliphant on Ghana@60 and post independence Africa as seen through the lens of Ayi Kwei Armah's book, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born.
KayaFM studios, Johannesburg
8 March 2016
Click here for the podcast 

The Art of Sunday - KayaFM 95.9 

With the wonderful Brenda Sisane

Book Evening - Cape Town Pride Festival 2017

Hosted by Roger Paulsen and with Afrikaans poet, Johann de Lange
​Alexander Bar, Strand Street, Cape Town, 27 February 2017

Intense, witty and sharp
​Pearl Boshomane reviews Ekow Duker’s The God Who Made Mistakes

Click here for original review
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I don’t know how I feel about it. That was my initial thought after reading Ekow Duker’s The God Who Made Mistakes, a novel about a black man living what might be the South African dream (corporate job, German car, house in the suburbs, pretty wife), but stands to lose it all because of a secret that’s threatening to disturb the performed perfection of his life. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what Themba’s life-altering secret is, but Duker writes about it with such delicateness and simultaneously in such a raw manner that its reveal doesn’t feel cheap or fake.

Ayanda, the pretty wife, feels trapped in a marriage with a husband like Themba who doesn’t love her and doesn’t even pretend to. Unappreciated at home and at work, she takes to dancing as a refuge from her otherwise unpleasant life.

Themba is his mother’s favourite son: he’s an attorney, has his own home in the suburbs, he’s married (although it’s to a woman she detests). He made it out of the streets of Alex, to the pride of his mother and the dismay of his older brother, Bongani.

Bongani’s resentment for Themba is amplified by the thought that Themba might be the one who inherits their mother’s house when she dies, even though Bongani is the one who has never moved out of home.

Duker is not an emotional writer. So if you’re looking to clutch your chest in despair over a lethal combination of adjectives and adverbs, please read something else or turn on a soppy Lifetime channel movie.

The God Who Made Mistakes is intense. It’s interesting that the author can deliver a book this potent while using simple, to-the-point language. Duker has no time to explain the intricacies and complexities of human beings: he just rips off the skin to show us the bare bones of the worst in people.

There is no “good guy” in this book. The closest to a decent person we get is Ayanda. His mother is an overbearing, controlling woman (the proverbial mother-in-law from hell) and his brother is a loser who blames everyone but himself for the way his life has turned out.

This is not to say Themba is a saint; far from it. He’s quite unlikeable – a mentally weak man who thinks the only way to prove his masculinity is by treating his wife terribly. But once Themba admits his secret to himself and eventually those around him, it humanises him, softens him.

​For all its intensity, The God Who Made Mistakes is surprisingly witty and sharp, with acerbic asides like this one on the current state of menswear: “All the men wore blue suits these days, even the president. They thought it expressed their individuality when in fact it did the opposite.”

(He also writes great analogies and figures of speech.)

The book makes for great – and at times difficult – reading. One of its strengths is that Duker presents his characters, their lives, their thoughts, emotions and actions (and sometimes the disconnect between the last two) to the reader and leaves them there. It’s not Duker’s job to tell you how to feel; he’s not pushing the reader’s thoughts in any particular direction.

That doesn’t mean it feels as though he does not care about the subject matter and topics raised: quite the opposite.
No one could write so fiercely about something unless they cared about it deeply. But refraining from forcing your views down the reader’s throat is a skill to be admired, and The God Who Made Mistakes does this so well.

Follow Pearl Boshomane on Twitter @Pearloysias

Good Reads - 'I am still winded'

28 October 2016
This was a really lovely review from Lorraine in South Africa
Click here to read review

Creative Feel

Pretoria News

24 October 2016
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Cape Talk with Pippa Hudson

10 October 2016
A really enjoyable chat with the inimitable Pippa Hudson
Click here to listen to the podcast

The Book Launch - The God Who Made Mistakes

Exclusive Books, Rosebank Johannesburg. 6 October 2016

Once Upon A Time...

Or the story of how Bridget and I got engaged 

I saw this painting in Franschoek and fell in love with it 

Zemba Luzamba's Sons of Cloth. Oil on canvas
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The Franschoek Literary Festival

Franschoek, South Africa - 13-15 May 2016
It was a really lovely festival - as usual. Great organisation, great conversation and of course, great food.
​I was on two panels - one of which happened to be my first sold out gig!
Thank you Bridget for the photos!
 
Writing from the outside 
Alison Lowry explores the perspectives gained by writers who are based outside their home country. Do they write about that country or about their new homes, the people of their past or their present — and what influences these decisions? with Chinelo Okparanta (Under the Udala Trees), Ekow Duker (Dying in New York) and Patrick Flanery (I am No One).

Knowing when to stop 
Ekow Duker (White Wahala, Dying in New York) leads Fred Strydom (The Raft), Niq Mhlongo (Affluenza) and Steven Boykey Sidley (Imperfect Solo) in a conversation on structure, length and plot. How do authors decide on the end point of a novel, and how do they lead a story to its natural conclusion?

Pictures from my mother's surprise 92nd birthday 

Accra, Ghana - 16 April 2016

The Unbound Book Club

27 February 2016
Eight Amazing Ladies!
  • Nan Mankai
  • Wongiwe Ludidi
  • Mphokolo Makara
  • Bulelwa Tetyana
  • Salvation Moloele
  • Marlo Chipunza
  • Carmen Gribble
  • Hazel Makeke
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Aké Review and Book Festival

November 2015
A really punchy and animated book festival in Abeokuta, Nigeria. I was really glad to have been able to attend. The social commentary - Hear Word! - by Ifeoma Fatunwa and an all female cast was breathtaking! 
​Thank you Bridget for taking time out of your schedule to come along. And of course to Lola Shoneyin for putting it all together.
Click here for my interview

The Aerodrome interview

Not my favourite picture but the interview is pretty cool.
Click here for the link

Pictures from my 50th Birthday

You're only 50 once......
2 April 2015
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A radio station in the middle of a plant nursery in the centre of Johannesburg? With her warmth and zest for living, Sue Grant-Marshall makes you feel right at home.
Radio Today: 1485AM  / DStv Audio channel 869 / Live stream: http://www.1485.org.za

The Afro Freedom Book Club

25 March 2015
What a passionately honest group of book lovers! So many nationalities, such depth of feeling. It was well worth it getting lost on the way to Cyrildene. Thank you Lungi for the invitation, and to Celeste for the photos (not these, hers are much better).  And thank you Bridget for sharing your story.

The Birthday Interview - Classic FM

February 18, 2015
Tamara LePine Williams  baked me a chocolate cake and served it to me in a sumptuous wood panelled studio in downtown Johannesburg. What a wonderful way to kick off a birthday! 

Read of the Week

December 17, 2014

Mail and Guardian

December 12, 2014
Click here for link

Vanguard Magazine and Dibookeng : Digital Anthology

December 2014

True Love Man

November 2014
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Oh wow! Destiny Man

October 2014

Book Reviews


Writers Write: The best books we read in 2014

Writers Write: The Best Books We Read in 2014, featuring White Wahala
Reviewed by: Ashleigh Seton-Rogers 
Date: November 2014
Link: http://writerswrite.co.za/writers-write-reviewers-choose-their-top-books-of-2014


Open Book Festival, Cape Town

September 2014
Photos from the Open Book Festival in Cape Town with Mandla Langa, Zakes Mda, Sefi Atta, Jonny Steinberg, Andrew Brown, Karina Szczurek, Zethu Matebeni, Sixolile Mbalo and Sindiwe Magona to name a few. It was my first book festival and I must say I had a really good time! Thought provoking too... My highlight? Zelda la Grange, Nelson Mandela's personal assistant of many years, sharing some really entertaining insights of her time with the great man.

My Book launch

August 19, 2014
Photos from my book launch held on the 19 August 2014 at Exclusive Books, Melrose Arch in Johannesburg. A big Thank You to Alison, Terry, Thando, Karabo, Andrea, Laura, Babs, Bridget, Lorraine, Luntente, Shylock, Chi, Pamela, Nicolise, K, Windsor, Robyn and all those who in countless ways made the evening such an overwhelming success.

Afroshowbiz News 

August 23, 2014
My first television interview! It was a bit like going to the dentist but with makeup and dramatic countdowns....
"If this is the dream God has placed in your heart, who are you to doubt?"