The programme for the 2019 Open Book Festival has been revealed!
The full programme has been announced for the ninth Open Book Festival!
This year’s Open Book will take place from 4 to 8 September 2019 in Cape Town.
Tickets are available at Webtickets.
See the full programme here:
South African authors taking part this year include Diane Awerbuck (North), Fred Khumalo (Talk of the Town), Masande Ntshanga (Triangulum), Mohale Mashigo (Intruders), Niq Mhlongo (Black Tax), Rémy Ngamije (An Eternal Audience of One), Sisonke Msimang (The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela), Yewande Omotoso (The Woman Next Door), Rekgotsofetse Chikane (Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation), Caryn Dolley (The Enforcer), Zimitri Erasmus (Race Otherwise), Ishay Govender-Ypma (Curry: Stories and Recipes from Across South Africa), Kelly-Eve Koopman (Because I Couldn’t Kill You), Funeka Soldaat (Uhambo), Jonny Steinberg (One Day in Bethlehem), B Camminga (Beyond the Mountain), Refiloe Moahloli (Yes Yanga!) – and many, many more!
Two of the international authors attending this year have been longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize – Chigozie Obioma (An Orchestra of Minorities) and Oyinkan Braithwaite (My Sister, the Serial Killer). Nicole Dennis-Benn (Patsy), who was a crowd favourite in 2018, is back this year. She is joined by, among others, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Friday Black), Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties), Elisabeth Åsbrink (Made in Sweden) and Saidiya Hartman (Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments).
Press release:
The programme is out and bookings are live for Open Book Festival 2019!
Join The Book Lounge and The Fugard Theatre for the ninth Open Book Festival which takes place from 4 to 8 September this year.
With a record number of more than 150 events, this promises to be the best Festival yet. Enjoy book launches, workshops, readings, performances, panel discussions and more, with topics ranging from poetry to politics, to comics, food and fun. The engaging and entertaining discussions are designed to keep the conversations going long after the event.
The Festival also hosts the popular Comics Fest, #cocreatePOETICA and various children’s and outreach programmes. Venues for the event include hosts The Book Lounge and The Fugard Theatre as well as the District Six Homecoming Centre and the A4 Arts Foundation. Selected events will also take place outside the city centre including Elsies River Library and Ottery Library.
‘We’re ready for another inspiring five days of entertainment, insightful conversations, stimulating debate and great books,’ Festival Director Mervyn Sloman says. ‘We’re also excited about new additions to the programme includng the Mystery Author 15 minute lunch time readings, poetry and ice-cream pairing and poetry yoga.’
Two of the international authors attending this year have been longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize – Chigozie Obioma (An Orchestra of Minorities) and Oyinkan Braithwaite (My Sister, the Serial Killer). The Festival welcomes back Nicole Dennis-Benn (Patsy) who was a crowd favourite in 2018. She is joined by among others Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Friday Black), Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties), Elisabeth Åsbrink (Made in Sweden) and Saidiya Hartman (Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments).
As always, there is a dazzling array of South African authors taking part, from Festival favourites to new faces. A handful of them include Rekgotsofetse Chikane (Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation), Haji Mohamed Dawjee (Sorry, Not Sorry), Caryn Dolley (The Enforcer), Zimitri Erasmus (Race Otherwise), Ishay Govender-Ypma (Curry: Stories and Recipes from Across South Africa), Kelly-Eve Koopman (Because I Couldn’t Kill You), Funeka Soldaat (Uhambo), Jonny Steinberg (One Day in Bethlehem), B Camminga (Beyond the Mountain) and Refiloe Moahloli (Yes Yanga!).
Now in its fourth year, #cocreatePOETICA is a partnership between Poetica and #cocreateSANL to present an electric programme of performances, readings, discussions and workshops exploring themes such as culture, identity and history. Catch Dutch poets Simone Atangana Bekono and Radna Fabias as well as an awesome range of talented local poets including, Allison-Claire Hoskins, Roché Kester, Primrose Mrwebi and Mbongeni Nomkonwana.
‘In addition to the Dutch poets, we are also delighted to have Mackenzie Berry, Morgan Parker and Ishion Hutchinson join us. All three will certainly make valuable contributions to the events they are part of. Hutchinson is a winner of the 2019 Windham Campbell Prizes for Poetry and author of two poetry collections,Far District and House of Lords and Commons,’ Sloman says.
‘We can’t wait to hear the winner of the Leopard’s Leap Take a Moment competition. Our incredible and longstanding partners will again host the popular #WORDS4WINE – join Leopard’s Leap at their stand and exchange a pre-loved book for a glass of wine.’
From intimate dinners with international authors to discussions around access to food in urban spaces, how we consume, engage with and are shaped by food is a hot topic at this year’s Festival. The African Centre for Cities (ACC) will present a number of events, including transporting authors on a journey around Cape Town giving a fascinating insight to spaces where food and urban systems connect.
Gender and LGBTQ issues are an important focus with a number of events discussing identity, bodies, culture and belonging. Catch They Called me Queer with Zoey Black, Kelly-Eve Koopman and Kim Windvogel share coming out stories with Kelly Smith, and At the Coalface with Roche Kester, Tlaleng Mofokeng and Kim Windvogel in conversation with Joy Watson about sex and gender activism.
Interrogating the state of the nation is always a key element at the Festival, with events discussing the role of the media, the responsibility of tertiary spaces to prepare students for a world in crisis, student funding and the possibility of healing through storytelling.
At the fabulous Comics Fest Marketplace you can enjoy the work of more than twenty South African artists and snap up some of their amazing work. As part of the Comics Fest events, learn how to create your own comic or GIF and use your smart phone as a creative tool. Be sure to also catch the VR experience, The Lost Botanist.
Young visitors to the Festival are equally important and there’s a wonderful story telling line up for them on Saturday 7 September at Central Library, as well as cool events such as how to learn to draw your own Superhero.
This year’s festival will launch the first #WritingmyCity anthology, a partnership between Open Book Festival, the City of Cape Town and Cape Town public libraries to encourage people to submit their stories that speak to Cape Town in some way. A total of 187 entries were received in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa. The anthology that comes out of this project will be launched in the company of two of the judges and selected contributors.
The ninth Open Book Festival takes place from 4 to 8 September at the hosting venues The Book Lounge and The Fugard Theatre, as well as events at the District Six Homecoming Centre and The A4 Arts Foundation, from 10:00 to 21:00 each day.
For further information and the full programme, visit www.openbookfestival.co.za.
Bookings can be made at Webtickets.
A Festival Day pass costs R150 and allows the holder to book for six events. A Day pass on 8 September costs R100 to book for four events. A Full Festival pass costs R600 and allows the holder to book for 30 events.
All events, including free events, require a ticket for access.
Open Book Festival is organised in partnership with The Fugard Theatre, the District 6 Museum, the A4 Arts Foundation, the Townhouse Hotel, Novus Holdings, the Embassy of Sweden, the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the HCI Foundation and sponsored by Leopard’s Leap, Open Society Foundation, City of Cape Town, Pan Macmillan, NB Publishers, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Penguin Random House, African Centre for Cities, UCT Creative Writing Department, University of Stellenbosch English Department, Canada Council of the Arts, the Western Cape Government and the Windham Campbell Prizes.
Now in its ninth year, the Open Book Festival has established itself as one of South Africa’s most innovative and leading book festivals. Attended by 10 000 visitors annually, it is committed to creating a platform to celebrate South African writers, as well as hosting top international authors. The festival strives to instil an interest in, and love of, reading among young attendees, while the programme of more than 100 events over five days is designed to resonate with festivalgoers long after the event. Elements of the festival programme include talks by international authors and South African writers; poetry; a comic book marketplace; panel discussions; book launches; outreach reading initiatives; youth programmes; and writer sports. The festival has been recognised internationally, having been shortlisted twice for the London Book Fair Excellence Awards in the category of Literary Festivals.
The Open Box School Library Project increases learners’ and teachers’ access to books. The books remain in classrooms in mobile book units to be used by learners and teachers during the school day. Seven Open Boxes have been placed at St Mary’s Primary School with three book handovers to Grade R classes at Siyazingisa Primary School in Gugulethu and two this year to Intshinga Primary School, also in Gugulethu. Other schools where the Open Box initiative has been active include Matthew Goniwe Memorial High School, Parkhurst Primary and Westridge High School.
Ends
Image credit: Open Book/Mak1one
Categories Africa Fiction International Lifestyle Non-fiction South Africa South African Current Affairs
Tags Book events Cape Town News Open Book Open Book Festival
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