Breaking Stones is a book about hope, about over-coming all odds, about coming to terms with ones self, and, above all, about the joy of giving back. Alves was born in a rural mountainous region of Portugal. The setting may have been mid-20th century, but the living conditions were Stone Age - no electricity, no running water, no creature comforts of any variety. Breaking Stones follows Alves odyssey from a boyhood spent with his best friend, Burro the donkey, in Portugal to the social alienation he experienced in Germany to the culture shock he felt in Montreal, where his family moved when he was a teen. The adventure continues as Alves tries to find himself as everything from a wannabe rock star to a worm picker, a club-owner to a calche-driver, a landlord to a political activist, a steel-worker to a high-tech consultant, a restaurateur to a philanthropist. In the midst of everything, Alves experiences the euphoria and heartbreak and tragedy of marriage and fatherhood. And ultimately, the kid from the Stone Age emerges intact and wiser in the Internet Age.

The phenomenon of human potential is never beyond our sight. An opportunity is always offered to people. Sometimes in a mysterious way. Whoever ignores or rejects it will never truly experience life’s journey. Staying on the same path is to constantly relive the same day. That’s why exploration embodies mankind’s natural need to deal with the secrets below the surface. Although the facts about us as human beings speak in an understandable language, this doesn’t mean we’re not an enigma to ourselves. Understanding oneself is a very demanding process, similar to an autopsy. Not a physical autopsy, but a spiritual one. Discovering the anatomy of one’s soul cannot be done abruptly. Moments of inspiration will make the realization of whether we are controlled by our consciousness or our subconsciousness easier. Hiding behind a heavy veil until the very end is not truly living. Sometimes a mere piece of paper under a windshield wiper with just three words and a phone number can change your life instantly. The hero of this novel who only refers to himself as “The Recorder” dared to call a number left on a piece of paper beneath his windscreen wiper. He sensed an opportunity. A few weeks later, a telegram arrived: IT’S TIME. IT’S YOUR TURN NOW. MOVE NOW! A trip to an unknown estate marks the beginning of an adventure, and he begins writing the history of his life.

Poet and anti-apartheid activist Dennis Brutus recorded a series of tapes in the 1970s which have been edited and annotated by Bernth Lindfors to give valuable insights into Brutus's life and works. Dennis Brutus (1924-2009) is known internationally as a South African poet, anti-apartheid activist and campaigner for human rights and the release of political prisoners. His literary works include Sirens Knuckles Boots (1963), Letters to Martha, and Other Poems from a South African Prison (1968), A Simple Lust (1973), and Stubborn Hope (1978). When Dennis Brutus was a Visiting Professor at The University of Texas at Austin in 1974-75, he recorded on tape a series of reflections on his life and career. In addition, he frequently responded to questions about his poetry and political activities put to him by students and faculty in formal and informal interviews that were also captured on tape. Transcripts of a selection of these tapes, as well as reprints of two interviews recorded earlier, are reproduced here in order to put on record fragments of the autobiography of a remarkable man who lived in extraordinary times and managed to leave his mark on the land and literature of South Africa. Brutus was an effective anti-apartheid campaigner who succeeded in getting South Africa excluded from the Olympics. His opposition to racial discrimination in sports led to his arrest, banning, and imprisonment on Robben Island. Upon release, he left South Africa and lived most of the rest of his life in exile, where he continued his political work and simultaneously earned an international reputation as a poet who often sang of his love for his country. The tapes are edited by Bernth Lindfors who has added an Introduction and a transcript of a 1970 interview as well as other transcripts of lectures and discussions. Bernth Lindfors is Professor Emeritus of English and African Literatures, The University of Texas at Austin, and founding editor of Research in AfricanLiteratures. He has written and edited numerous books on African literature, including Folklore in Nigerian Literature (1973), Popular Literatures in Africa (1991), Africans on Stage (1999), Early Soyinka (2008), and Early Achebe (2009).

Containing the transactions of the various institutes, together with abstracts of papers published in other journals.