She was born at the 'crossroads of South Africa's past and present' into a white privilege created by the apartheid system of the then ruling party. Her grandfather, Fanie Botha, was one of its longest serving ministers. But, over the years, Lidia Rauch has challenged the beliefs on which she was brought up and has committed herself to anti-racism work. Apartheid's Granddaughter tracks the sometimes bumpy journey and is an 'Invitation to Courage, responsibility and Healing'.

One thing all we all have in common is that we are all born. But, there are different Ways of Being Born (Jacana) . It's these that, in her book of the same name, subtitled Tracing the Footprints of Birth in Africa, Dr Mmatshilo Motsei investigates. Comparing indigenous knowledge with biomedical practice. Researched in South Africa, it is a universal issue.

To know yourself, it's said, you have to know where you've come from. For Ethiopian-born Dornica Merhazion that meant writing, and sharing, her activist parents story in a book called Born at the End of the World. We caught up with her at a busy Open Book Festival to hear the beginnings and the background.

For Krystle Zara Appiah, author, editor, screenwriter, the light shone on a writing path from an early age. She works for The Novelry now, but her journey of discovery in the world of words has seen her cross continents and cultures - with books that tell the story. We spoke to her on her recent visit to Cape Town's Open Book Festival.

Born in Lagos, schooled in the US and based in Sweden, Lola Akinmade is something of a phenomenon - a Vital Voice, award winning photographer, travel writer, teacher, speaker, author of, most recently, Bitter Honey - we were pleased to speak to her just prior to the Open Book Festival in Cape Town to find out where it all began.

Foodie or not, as a 'saffer' there's no way you wont find something to suit your taste in this book - from braais to pies, chips to chakalaka. From home-grown Durban girl Chef Nokx Majozi who serves it all with an overlay of nostalgia, spiced with personal passion. Delicious.

One of the four women who led The Women's March of 1956 to protest the pass laws, little has been known about Lilian Ngoyi. But in this book, media scholar Martha Evans has brought the stylish but fiery orator and activist to life, setting her firmly in apartheid South Africa of the time. Published by Penguin, its release coincides with the 70th anniversary of The March.

Every year the NPO 1000 Women Trust celebrates at Artscape's Women's Humanity Festival with a special event - this year, it was themed Healing Through Art and amongst others, it featured embroiderer Nell Louise Pollock and her powerful healing red-on-white artworks that helped her not only overcome, but gave her the opportunity to share the stories of others - in stitches.

It's impossible not to be moved by Because I Love You, writer and feminist researcher Joy Watson's book (Jonathan Ball) containing the, fictionalised, three stories of three women badly damaged by love. Her own story, part of which she includes here, has give Joy the insight to listen, to learn, to write and reflect. She shared the journey at the Woman Zone Book Club.

Of All Things We Need Hope (Modjaji Books) is indeed a story about hope, but also about forgiveness and restorative justice. And appropriately, in this Mandela Month, about kindness - as well as, unexpectedly, about knitting! Author and writing coach Sally Cranswick explains her thinking behind this story in which a woman visits her son's killer - in prison.