I listened to 65 years of number-one hits, so you don’t have to! Perhaps it is my South Africanness that compels me to categorise things. To analyse, compartmentalise instead of experience. But I insist that the analysis often leads me to a deeper understanding, and then a more rewarding experience. […]
Over the the last *gasp* couple of decades, I’ve operated as a writer, poet, singer and spoken-word performer and assembled a decent body of work. I’d like to present a selection of it when I return to my coastal stronghold of Port Elizabeth later this month. It will be […]
In my work as a writer, I do a fair bit of transcribing interviews. I do it manually, playing and rewinding like it’s the 90s. What I have found, when listening back and transcribing an interview, is the fascinating phenomenon of being able to really listen to the conversation again. […]
By Hagen Engler It might not seem that way, but South Africans are closer to understanding each other than we’ve ever been. Of course we abuse, hate and exploit each other too. But it was ever thus. Only now are we honest about it. SA Twitter, once a cosy clubhouse […]
The generations of migrants who came from across Africa to seek their fortune in Johannesburg, the City Of Gold, also brought musical gifts that have been synthesised, alloyed and polished, forging a unique culture of sound that has done much to shape the city itself. By Hagen Engler [This […]
Hagen Engler, author of In The Maid’s Room, lists some of his most bizarre influences. [This piece appeared in the Sunday Times.] I’m most satisfied with my writing when I’m a bit nervous about it. When I’m not sure how it will be received. It might be an experiment […]
How to be white when you’re no longer centre of attention? When you no longer even matter? How to be white when everyone’s patience runs out? These existential questions are addressed in Hagen Engler’s third novel, the satirical farce In The Maid’s Room. Other crucial learnings are how to buy […]
I put some mags on their table and just leave. I make like I’m only stopping by to drop off mags. I’ve got somewhere else to go. Still gotta swing by Angelo’s and Havanas and the Keg & Fox and the Hanging Judge, and 52, and Times Café, and um, […]
“My lyrics are loony. I’m PE’s George Clooney. Even Miss PE wants to do me. I’m hooked on porno movies. Had 14 tabs open at last count. Is that a bad amount? Yeah yeah! Come on, Club Tonite! Can I get a yeah-yeah? Yeah yeah! You can do better than […]
This is an excerpt from my third novel, In The Maid’s Room, which launches next week, in Port Elizabeth “Hallo, ma. You going anywhere past Walmer? Walmer Town Hall, Servistar, Walmer Park? Even Walmer Township.” She nods. Surly woman, large with a couple of whiskers on her chin, and a […]