Equatoria

Seeking to name the unattainable

Okapia johnstoni could only be imagined in early twentieth-century Europe from descriptions comparing this almost mythical central African creature to the unicorn. Antwerp zoo commissions two English adventurers to bring a live specimen back from the Belgian Congo.

The trip by Willis Reed and Guy Nichols takes place in 1912, barely ten years after the shy okapi had been witnessed by a European for the first time. Reed has devoted his life to researching this shy creature and the journey turns from mission to obsession.

This odyssey upon the rivers and through the jungles of central Africa is not one of darkness but of well-meaning imperial arrogance, as the two “explorers” come face to face with the limits of their own folly and the absurdity of trying to name the unnameable.

• First novel in English by a prominent South African writer
• Translated from Afrikaans by winner of Sunday Times Literary Award and shortlisted title for Independent Foreign Fiction Award
• It makes a valuable and original contribution to contemporary African fiction.
• Equatoria will be of great value in to those teaching or studying contemporary South African literature and society.
• Will appeal to readers of fiction, historical novels and natural history. Based on the true story of two American naturalists.

'As a novel from Africa it challenges stereotypical representations of the 'heart of darkness' –
African Review of Books

'Dreyer plays a complex game with naming, categorisation and classification, and ownership, as it figures in the (misplaced) identifications between man and nature and man and fellow men' – Litnet.co.za

'In Equatoria reality is an unknown jungle which results in the reflection and distortion of certainty, and despair' – Burger, South Africa

Tom Dreyer was born in Cape Town in 1972. After obtaining a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town, Tom published two novels, Erdvarkfontein (1998) and Stinkafrikaners (2000). The latter was awarded the Eugène Marais Prize in 2001. His novel Equatoria was published in 2006 to critical acclaim and is the first of his novels to appear in English. Tom lives in Cape Town and works in the IT industry.

Michiel Heyns (translator) is an author, translator and English academic. His translation of Marlene van Niekerk's The Way of Women was shortlisted for the 2008 Independent Foreign Fiction prize