Wits University Press

Wits University Press Wits University Press champions knowledge from and about Africa to local and global readers. African Content. Global Impact.

Since 1922 we have been curating and publishing innovative research that informs debate for the greater good of society. The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg was born when the South
African School of Mines and Technology was awarded University status by an Act of Parliament, becoming operational on 1 March 1922. At its first Senate meeting on 27 March 1922, a proposal for the formatio

n of ‘The University of the Witwatersrand Press’ was accepted by the Principal, Jan Hofmeyr. Of course, things have changed since then. The Press (since 2002 simply called ‘Wits University Press’) started publishing manuscripts by academic authors from around the world, and in the 1980s became renowned as a publisher of engaged political and historical works. However, Wits Press’s publishing programme was much broader and included genres such as theatre, palaeontology, archaeology, literary studies and selected textbooks. After 1994 there was a trend towards ‘cross-over’ books, which are still based on serious academic research and subjected to peer-review but appeal to both academic and general readers.

Goodbye to Prague and ECAS2025 !Wits University Press books attracted a lot of attention this week and we sold out of Ha...
28/06/2025

Goodbye to Prague and ECAS2025 !
Wits University Press books attracted a lot of attention this week and we sold out of Hannah Dawson’s book, Making a Life, an important new book on the lives and life making of young men on the urban margins of Johannesburg.
The launch of her book in discussion with Deborah James and Max Bolt drew a big crowd. https://www.witspress.co.za/page/detail/Making-a-Life/?k=9781776149551

Lovely to see many Wits colleagues and friends, including , , and of the journal, African Studies.

27/06/2025

A Copenhagen bookstore accidentally received a shipment of books intended for Nairobi. With the complicated and expensive logistics of sending it back or to the actual recipient, English-language bookstore Books & Company decided it was a unique opportunity to share and gain insight about African culture and make new connections.

Bookstore owner Isabella Mousavizadeh Smith says the display has already drawn people in and that it signals "someone sees your culture."

Read our writer Laura Matheson's article: https://lwid.dk/unpacking-a-mystery-at-books-company/

UPDATE:

Dear readers, we’re delighted that this story has reached so many people. Please note that as mentioned in the article, the Nairobi bookshop received the full five-box shipment. Books & Company has already commented here with the email from Joan (the publisher’s rep in Nairobi) and noted that they’re still trying to track down the bookshop in question. We’ll update the article if we get new info.

It’s been a privilege to cover this story and it’s wonderful that there’s so much interest in this wayward shipment of books!

Wits University Press authors amd colleagues
27/06/2025

Wits University Press authors amd colleagues

Wits University Press is this week at the biennial European Conference on African Studies in Prague, Czech Republic.Vi...
27/06/2025

Wits University Press is this week at the biennial European Conference on African Studies in Prague, Czech Republic.
Visit our stand on the 3rd floor if you’re around! Wits - University of the Witwatersrand

Review in the Mail & Guardian: "Pillay’s deeply grounded critical insights lead us to rethink the difference between acc...
20/06/2025

Review in the Mail & Guardian: "Pillay’s deeply grounded critical insights lead us to rethink the difference between accommodating knowledge and producing knowledge and what it means to engage with, or possess, knowledge in Africa. " - UCT

A timely call to rethink how African history and knowledge can reclaim space in global narratives

12/06/2025
If you missed this lovely thoughtful launch discussion at Love Books Johannesburg, here's a chance to watch the recordin...
10/06/2025

If you missed this lovely thoughtful launch discussion at Love Books Johannesburg, here's a chance to watch the recording of the conversation with author Hannah J. Dawson about her insightful book, Making a Life: Young Men on Johannesburg's Urban Margins. Thabang Sefalafala, sociology lecturer at Wits - University of the Witwatersrand is the elegant interviewer here.




Join Thabang Sefalafala in conversation with Hannah Dawson about her insightful book, Making a Life: Young Men on Johannesburg's Urban Margins.📕 Buy the boo...

LISTEN & WATCH A RECORDING of the book launch discussion of DIGITAL CAPITALISM AND ITS LIMITS - a new book edited by e...
10/06/2025

LISTEN & WATCH A RECORDING of the book launch discussion of DIGITAL CAPITALISM AND ITS LIMITS - a new book edited by eco-socialist professor Vishwas Satgar. Digital capitalism promises progresss, development and an end to the planetary crisis. Contributors discuss the implications of heightened technological innovation on employment, weak market democracies, climate change and labour power dynamics and alternatives for emancipatory futures in a digitalised world. Wits - University of the Witwatersrand


The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has been described as the next big leap in digital capitalism. Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, q...

WATCH INTERVIEW - Dineo Skosana, author of NO LAST PLACE TO REST, a book on coal mining and dispossession in South Afric...
04/06/2025

WATCH INTERVIEW - Dineo Skosana, author of NO LAST PLACE TO REST, a book on coal mining and dispossession in South Africa talks here with Polity presenting a compelling argument that dispossession remains a present-day reality and crisis, contradicting the notion that it is merely a relic of the past in the post-apartheid landscape.

No Last Place to Rest: Coal Mining and Dispossession in South Africa is an exploration of the ongoing struggles faced by families whose lives have been upended by the relentless expansion of coal mining operations in the Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. These regions, burdened with the task o...

👨‍👩‍👦 Nadia Davids' Hold Still portrays a family confronting their histories of exile and displacement, highlighting the...
04/06/2025

👨‍👩‍👦 Nadia Davids' Hold Still portrays a family confronting their histories of exile and displacement, highlighting the personal impact of global events like apartheid and the Holocaust. A must-read for those interested in the intersections of personal and political histories.

https://www.witspress.co.za/page/detail/Hold-Still/?K=9781776148868

Address

5th Floor, Wits Art Museum, Corner Jorissen Street And Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein
Johannesburg
2050

Opening Hours

Monday 08:00 - 16:00
Tuesday 08:00 - 16:00
Wednesday 08:00 - 16:00
Thursday 08:00 - 16:00
Friday 08:00 - 16:00

Telephone

+27117178700

Website

http://witspress.book.co.za/blog

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