Stefan Tobler’s Editor’s Note on why he fell for The Alphabet of Birds – subscribe by 5th May to receive an advance copy (in which you’ll be thanked by name!): 

The Alphabet of Birds is a book that I believe will enter the canon of South African literature. SJ Naudé has written stories of real human power, that go to the heart of how we experience life, love and death today. The dying and mourning are heart-breaking and true. The families scattered across the world are terribly of our time. The perspectives on South Africa right now, on young professionals living abroad, on gay relationships, all go beyond the usual clichés. 

His characters are often striving for something beyond their grasp, glimpsing something beyond their vision, and the way Naudé suggests this desire for something outside of themselves makes it completely believable. He has given words, as much is possible, to our mute incomprehension in the face of the big questions. I’d venture to say it’s an honest and subversive approach, in a secular time, to what, in another time, would have been a religious sensibility. One thing I know: each time I read the stories, I’ll find more.