Book of the Month October 2012

In this autobiography Mimi Coertse tells her story of exceptional talent, perseverance, personal suffering and international fame. We discover the toddler who wanted to be " the best singer in the world" ; the schoolgirl who was denied a soprano role because she was " too difficult" and of a novice who sang herself into a contract with the Vienna State Opera and quite overwhelmed this European city of music.

Mimi's achievements increasingly became a voice for South Africa. In the very darkest days of isolation she sang of and for her country, across all borders. Living to sing.

After literally coming in from the cold, Mini at last could become a mother and was soon campaigning for understanding between divided communities. She continues to seek out and develop new local singing talent, introduces astonished audiences to artists who have found their voices in a new South Africa.

A Life to Sing is the life story of a gifted woman who poured all her love and sorrow into her dream and her life's work. It's a story with as much drama, irony and pathos as the roles Mimi performed on stage. It's a voice that echoes log after the diva has left the theatre.

Source : Mimi Coertse, A life to sing : my story as told to Ian Raper, 2011, Rosslyn Press, Boordfontein, South Africa.

Book of the Month September 2012

Sandra McGregor, like many people passionate about Cape Town, was not born in the city. Her extraordinary sensitivity is the subject of this book and Dolores Fleischer, whose friendship has stimulated this record of Sandra's life, shares this passion.

Sandra has experienced an intense love affair with the mother city. Her most meaningful paintings are those she did in District Six, an inner part of Cape Town targeted in 1966 for forced removals and demolition by the apartheid government..

An artist in search of place and meaning, she experimented with different styles of painting, but it was here, motivated by her deep love for her friends in the District, that she felt fully human. She did her paintings not to make a political point, she sought no fame, power or notoriety, there was no commercial motive or cleverness in her actions. The reason for painting was simply her feeling of complete "oneness" with the place and her acceptance by the people. She captured for us what it was like to be a Capetonian in the days before the removals. The part of Cape Town she painted no longer exists, except perhaps in the Distric Six Museum and St George's Cathedral, her new home.

Dolores Fleischer has worked with Sandra to complete a circle of friendship of over seventy years. She has given us an unusual insight into the personal struggles of a woman born into privilege and contending with love and loss. Hidden from view is Dolores' own testimony of selflessness, kindness and love, those things that are about making us fully human.

Source:  Sandra McGregor : "onse artist" in district six / Dolores Fleischer