At Risk: Writing on and over the edge of South Africa

Risk n 1 the possibility of bringing about misfortune or loss ... to act in spite of the possibility of injury or loss (Collins English Dictionary). Living with risk is part of living in South Africa now. Violent crime and AIDS pose bodily threats. Dizzying shifts in race and class rock one's sense of identity. Ethically, one is daily challenged by rampant need in the face of plenty. In fact, society as a whole feels as if it is a giant experiment that could very well go wrong. But it could also succeed. In each of these twelve non-fiction narratives, something, or someone, is at risk. Written in registers of the unexpected – surprise, shock, bewilderment as well as uncertainty, skepticism and doubt – the pieces form a second wave of South African writing. They cut loose from the grand narratives of apartheid and the themes of confession and redemption born of the fledgling democracy. These personal, intimate accounts blow the lid off our South African age.