Lovers of books and poetry have the chance to get behind the pages written by their favourite local authors at Cape Town’s favourite literary celebration, the Open Book Festival, which returns to being an in-person occasion after two years of Covid-19 regulations.
Happening this weekend, from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 September, the festival of the written and spoken word takes place at the Homecoming Centre on Caledon Street.
Prior to covid, the scores of local and international authors, academics, publishers, economists, journalists and thinkers presented scintillating discussions at various venues in the east city precinct, with The Fugard theatre being the main hangout, alongside the Homecoming Centre.
Unfortunately, Covid killed the much-loved Fugard Theatre, but it has now been incorporated into the expanded Homecoming Centre, so it will still be familiar turf for past Open Book aficionados. This year the Homecoming Centre will be where all events, except for a children’s event on Saturday at the Book Lounge, will be held.
Another change for the festival which started in 2011, is that it’ll only be local authors in the mix.
Open Book coordinator Frankie Murray says the focus on local is to channel the funding to the pockets of local writers, all of whom were hard-hit by the pandemic, rather than spending it on expensive international flights, which are still in covid disarray. Given the logistics of getting people across oceans to be at a specific place at a specific time is tricky at the best of times, it’s a logical decision given the circumstances.
Admittedly, it is exciting to have a scattering of international stars, but our SA writers shine just as bright, so it’s not much of a loss, and the line up of discussions is as exciting as ever, now compressed into three days rather than the five we had become accustomed to.
The three-day format is also a change wrought by covid, as what with the continual chopping and changing of regulations on gatherings, early this year the organisers (Murray and Book Lounge owner Mervyn Sloman) decided to host a series of smaller events.
So there was a mini book fest in March, then a three-day writers’ workshop in June, now the headline fest at three days.
Whether this format will continue, or next year will see a return to a single five-day fest is still open, but this weekend’s celebration is nothing to sneeze at. There’s more on the programme than one person can possibly attend, and all the events are so enticing it’s almost impossible to choose. But with 40 events over three days, choose we must.
You can do so by author and juggle between the likes of Fred Khumalo, Yewande Omotoso, Bronwyn Law-Viljoen, Margie Orford, or Pumla Gqola, to pick a few.
You could choose by topic, whether current affairs such as landlessness and force removals, policing (with Jeremy Veary on the panel), the damage of state capture; cultural affairs such as xenophobia, collective anxiety, absent fathers; personal affairs, such as writing about family and lovers, power and justice, the power of cults; or any other criteria you’d like to use. Or you could make your choices by printing the programme, sticking it on a door and throwing darts at it. You can’t go wrong as there’s also poetry, short readings and Q&A sessions, and the popular writer sports where our wordsmiths have to respond to what you, the audience, tell them to write.
Whichever events you choose, you can be sure the conversation will not shy away from the difficult issues, the political and personal struggles we face as South Africans, as well as eliciting a fair share of laughter and wit. Participating in what Adam Smyer, a California-based novelist who attended in 2018, called “real talk”, enables us to find solutions, find solidarity, and sometimes, find solace as we celebrate our shared humanity together.
Some of the events are free of charge (although booking still required), while others cost R50 a ticket. Peruse the programme at www.openbookfestival.co.za and make your choices.