First African Book and Design Festival launch a hybrid event
BOOK lovers can look forward to the inaugural African Book and Design Festival, which runs from November 11 to 13.
The hybrid event will be available on a digital platform as well as with a limited in-person audience at The Future Africa Campus at the University of Pretoria.
Festival director Nonhlanhla Matshazi said: “The festival was born from the need to make books and reading a relevant active part of the lifestyle of younger generations on the continent. Literacy is at the foundation of building societies and shaping narratives and so it’s important that, even as we rapidly progress into the digital age, we take books and reading with us because all creativity is born from reading.
“The theme for the year is connecting the past, present and future of literacy in Africa. Literature about our past holds the key to our decolonisation and literature of today has the potential to reshape the future, and our goal is to demonstrate that and ensure that books are a part of our everyday lifestyle, especially for our children, because readers are created from a young age – hence our key message: if you don’t read, make sure your children do.”
As the primary sponsor, the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture Literary Division helped to get the festival off the ground, Matshazi added.
“This shows that literacy is a key focus and investing in it will help the country move forward, especially in these times of post-Covid recovery.
“The publishing industry, including authors, also supported the platform as something fresh that the industry needs. Publishing still largely operates in a very traditional way but the industry is beginning to rethink how they position books and reading in Africa.”
As for the authors participating in the industry, she revealed: “We are thrilled to have some of the great South African storytellers on the programme: Mandla Langa, Dudu BusaniDube, Nomsa Mwamuka, Busisiwe Khumalo, Trevor Ngwane, Shubnum Khan and many more.
“It’s so important that we, first of all, celebrate our authors. These are the people shaping our narratives and we should give them their flowers while they are still here.
“Second, we have to admit as Africans that we continue to face challenges brought about by colonialism.
“Our mindsets have been conditioned and our narrative stripped of our African identity. Literature is the one form of content that reawakens
our African consciousness and identity. It is true to cultural and individual experience.
“It’s real and tells truths that echo and resonate with our people. That is why it’s so important that South Africans and Africans, as a whole, start to see this value.”
There are several components to the festival, Matshazi shared: “Because of Covid-19, we are unable to have a traditional festival with book stands and food trucks but we definitely will have a pop-up book store on-site at the Future Africa Campus so people
can come and buy books written by African authors during the festival.
“We also have some exclusive experiences, including a networking breakfast for the publishing industry, a poetry evening for poetry lovers and a ‘bookies brunch’ celebrating young female voices.
“And, in between all that, there is a dialogue on different narratives, including how democracy is understood and practised in townships, a narrative so relevant now post-elections; and the importance of showing
Africa’s full spectrum of identities, a conversation we explore with a diverse group of authors that call Africa home but come from completely different races and cultures.
“And for anyone out there looking to write a book, we have sessions on what it takes to self-publish and how authors can use new-age branding techniques to position and sell their work. It’s a programme that has something for everyone.”
The festival ends with Bookies Under the Stars.
“It celebrates female storytellers who are creating a new narrative for African women. The African woman for too long has been seen as a symbol of struggle and hardship with our stories centring on violence against our bodies and oppression by the patriarchy.
“But today there’s an emerging generation of female storytellers who are showing young African women living modern lives, having fun, chasing big city career dreams and finding love.
“Bookies under the Stars, brought to you by Showmax, is going to celebrate and showcase these trailblazing female voices and give audiences a chance to engage with them and have a conversation about these narratives and how they resonate for most African women, from Johannesburg to Lagos.
“The two authors headlining the event are Busani-Dube, who is the author of the Hlomu series that has inspired Africa’s first telenovela, The Wife, which comes to Showmax, and the other author is Damilare Kuku from Nigeria, who has written the highly anticipated Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad, which will be an exciting conversation.”
Some of the recommended reads of the festival director are The Lost Language of the Soul by Mandla Langa, the Hlomu Series by Dudu Dube, Echoes of the Mountains by Phindiwe Mabhena, When the Village Sleeps by Dr Sindiwe Magona, Like Fish in Water by Gareth Japhet, Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad by Damilare Kuku and Amakomiti by Trevor Ngwane.
The event is free, you just need to register on the website for any session you would like to attend or just pop into the book store and you might just bump into your favourite author. To check the schedule and register, visit www.africabookanddesign.com
For the invite-only events, follow them on socials (Instagram: @AfricaBookandDesignFest Twitter: @AfriBooksDesign Facebook: @AfricaBookandDesignFestival) and tag them to secure an invite!