Gaborone Book Festival 2020 this week

The third edition of the Gaborone Book Festival will virtually take place from Wednesday to Saturday this week. As is the norm, the festival will feature both Botswana based authors and other selected African authors from across the continent.

The festival focuses on current and topical issues many of which are covered in featured author’s books. This year the festival will for the second time in collaboration with the Bessie Head Trust, highlight the expansive life of the literary icon, Bessie Head. It will also highlight the story of the political firebrand, Onkgopotse Abram Tiro, who was the first person to be assassinated by a parcel bomb in Botswana by the white South African apartheid government.

Other areas the festival will bring focus to are black tax, mental health, migration, travel, being black, female and widowed, state of publishing in Botswana as well a conversation on why authors need to pay attention to book covers.

“Apart from focusing on authors, we would also be giving space in our platform to those who support the book ecosystem, bloggers or influencers in different yet crucial spaces.

As traditional, this year, the Setswana conversation will focus on Mogolokwane and the place it occupies in the contemporary and ever evolving culture in Botswana,” said Keikantse Phele, one of the co-founders and curator at Gaborone Book Festival Trust. The Trust is further excited that the virtual festival will attract more people outside Gaborone and Botswana, who are part of the community it has built over the past 3 years.

The Gaborone Book Festival Trust’s main mission is to foster a love for reading and share its transformative power. Secondly, GBF promotes, celebrates and highlights the work of Batswana authors through different platforms throughout the year. Reading transforms individuals, promotes curiosity and ideas needed to drive and solve problems in societies.