Don’t miss
Now in its seventh year, the Open Book Festival will begin on Wednesday and continue until next weekend, hosting more than 140 literary events around the city of Cape Town. A collaborative effort between the Book Lounge and the Fugard Theatre, the Open Book Festival will spread out to venues such as the A4 Arts Foundation, the District Six Homecoming Centre, the Central Library, the Elsies River Library, the Kuyasa Library and the PH Centre. The events will include workshops, readings, performances and panel discussions with more than 100 local and international authors, including Man Booker prize-winner Paul Beatty, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Ayobami Adebayo and Pumla Dineo Gqola. Details: September 6 to 10 at various venues around Cape Town. Tickets start at R45, day passes are R150 and festival passes are R600. Visit openbookfestival.co.za Art critic Ashraf Jamal writes: “Mbayiwa has found in the Karoo the perfect metaphor for his artistic and moral vision.” Hugh Mbayiwa says he chooses to “interpret Africa on her smiling day”, which reveals the painter’s focus. It’s an image of the continent he shares with Nigerian novelist and poet Ben Okri. Details: September 7 to 16 at the Elizabeth Gordon Gallery, 1202 Florida Road, Durban. Phone 031 303 8133 for more information. This multimedia art exhibition, curated by Carol Brown for Stephan Welz and Co, offers 20 pieces depicting urban life in the city of gold.The artists featured are Wilma Cruise, Wayne Barker, Carl Roberts, Xavier Clarisse, Mbongeni Buthelezi, Sam Nhlengethwa, Lizette Chirrime, Sthenjwa Luthuli, Leeroy Jason, Roger Ballen and Sipho Ndlovu. Details: September 5 to 7 at the Killarney Country Club, 60 Fifth Street, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg. Phone 011 442 7411 for more information.
For just R130, you can witness legendary pianist Andile Yenana at The Orbit with a lively two-set journey into umngqungqo wakwantu, the Xhosa dance that celebrates the movement of the mind, body and soul, navigating through amagwijo by way of improvisation and spontaneous interplay. Yenana’s band will include Tumi Mogorosi, Ariel Zamonsky, Sydney Mavundla, Siya Makuzeni and Nhlanhla Mahlangu. Details: September 1 at The Orbit, 81 De Korte Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
Book by calling 011 339 6645 or visit theorbit.co.za
This instalment of the series of talks among South African writers and their colleagues from the continent and the African diaspora will feature Rehana Rossouw, a journalist of 30 years who recently published her debut novel, What Will People Say? The Cape Town-born writer will be in conversation with awardwinning Democratic Republic of Congo poet and prose writer Fiston Mujila. In one of his poems, he says his texts describe a “geography of hunger” — hunger for peace, freedom and bread. Details: September 7 at the Goethe-Institut,
119 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg. Visit goethe.de/ johannesburg
Don’t miss this guided tour through the popular exhibition featuring the collected works of Andy Warhol, titled Warhol Unscreened: Artworks from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Collection. Details: September 2 at 12 noon at the Wits Art Museum, corner of Bertha and Jorissen streets, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. The “talkabout” is free and no booking is required. For more information, email info. wam@wits.ac.za