Translation: Dr Denise Brahimi addressed staff and students during her short visit to UCT this week.

Sometimes words on a page can really come to life. Ask the UCT French Studies students who shared an intimate classroom setting with famed French scholar Dr Denise Brahimi this week.

Brahimi, renowned for her work on contemporary African women writers and a former professor of comparative literature at the University of Paris 7, was at UCT for a short visit as the guest of Dr Vanessa Everson of the French Section in the School of Languages and Literatures. Brahimi is the author of numerous scholarly works, and her visit to UCT coincided with the release of her 'latest' book, Nadine Gordimer: Weaving together fiction, women and politics.

This is a translation by Everson of an original 2000 title, which has been described as Brahimi's most sought-after book yet.

The translation is said to give Anglophone readers a chance to explore Brahimi's insights into Gordimer's works for the first time.

(Publishers UCT Press hosted a launch of the translation in Cape Town in July.)

While at UCT, Brahimi addressed students in the French Section and presented a seminar on sharing, exchange, dialogue, multilingualism and diversity.