For Your Bookshelf: Diekie Vannie Bo-Kaap
Diekie vannie Bo-Kaap is the first Bo-Kaap youth novel written in Kaaps, the colloquial Afrikaans variety of Cape Town.
Ice and Diekie have always been close, growing up in the Bo-Kaap where traditions run deep and community means everything. Over time, their friendship turns into something more—something they believe is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. But one night, the sound of sirens and gunfire shatters that belief, forcing them to see their world in a different light.
Author: Zulfah Otto-Sallies
Genres: Young adult, general fiction
Format: Paperback
Language: Afrikaans
Pages: 96 pages
Publisher: Tafelberg
First Published: 1997
Plot Summary
Bo-Kaap raised them. The calls to prayer, the smell of koesisters on Sunday mornings, the aunties gossiping over washing lines. Ice and Diekie grew up here, side by side, running through the same alleys, dodging the same troubles. But somewhere along the way, the way they looked at each other changed. Love snuck up on them, quiet but certain. Then, one night, everything changes. A burst of gunfire. The screech of tires. The kind of night that turns kids into adults in an instant.
There’s poverty, gangs, choices no one their age should have to make. And when a bag full of money lands in their hands, everything they thought they knew about right and wrong is suddenly blurred.
Meet The Author of Diekie Vannie Bo-Kaap
Zulfah Otto-Sallies grew up in Cape Town’s Bo-Kaap neighbourhood after being born in Port Elizabeth. From a young age she was immersed in the arts, with her father being part of one of the area’s Malay choirs. She started writing lyrics for them at 13 and went on to win awards for her songs. Writing lyrics was her way of storytelling. Later in life she earned a Masters degree in Visual Arts/Multi-Media and Theatre from an arts program in Amsterdam. Otto-Sallies had a prolific career producing films, plays, and short stories. Some of her best known works were the play Diekie vannie Bo-Kaap, which was adapted into a book, the short film Raya, and a documentary Through the Eyes of My Daughter. She made major contributions to Cape Town’s film and arts scene over the course of her 55 year life until she passed away in July of 2016.
Read an interview with Zulfah Otto-Sallies on the African Women In Cinema blog.
About The Author
