Book launch: The Institute for Creative Dying

On 28 March 2023, the Department of English at The University of Pretoria (UP), Faculty of Humanities, collaborated with the Department of Library Services (DLS) to launch UP author Jarred Thompson's book titled “The Institute for Creative Dying” in the library auditorium. This is English lecturer Jarred Thompson’s debut novel, published by Picador Africa and Afritondo UK.

Thompson won the Afritondo short story prize in 2020 and was also the runner-up for the 2021 Dream Foundry Prize. He currently works as a literary researcher in Cultural Studies and lectures in the Department of English at UP. He has been the recipient of several prestigious scholarships including the Global Excellence and Stature Scholarship, the Chris Van Wyk Creative Writing Scholarship, two National Arts Council Grants, and an NRF nGAP (National Research Foundation – New Generation of Academics Programme) scholarship.

At the book launch, Professor Molly Brown welcomed guests and introduced Jarred and his interviewer, Dr Bonnie Kneen, who is a fellow lecturer and academic from the department. Dr Kneen chatted to Jarred about his writing process and asked specific questions aimed at illuminating various points in this unusually titled book. One of the themes mentioned during their discussion was Jarred’s choice of physical location for “the institute” in his book. Thompson says it was deliberately intended to demonstrate how the natural world (the “outside”) is allowed in. “There isn’t a clear boundary between nature and culture, decay and dying are allowed to creep in instead.”, he says. This is just one of the ways that the listeners discovered how Jarred had selected to represent his chosen space as “a place for dying”.

After some fascinating discussions, Thompson thanked all attendees and his colleagues for coming and presented the library staff with flowers. He also gifted the Humanities Faculty Library leader, Viveka Pillai, with a copy of his book. Jarred furthermore agreed to record a #UPisLit one-minute book review video for the library about his novel - which he has since done. We hope to see many more novels by UP authors launched from the library auditorium in future.

Dr Bonnie Kneen chatting to author Jarred Thompson.

Jarred Thompson thanking Humanities Faculty Library manager Viveka Pillai, with Adrienne Warricker on the left and interviewer Dr Bonnie Kneen looking on.