New Generation Events at 2011 FLF

The 5th annual Franschhoek Literary Festival is on from 13 to 15 May this year, and there are various events designed for younger book fans.

In A Real Tweet on Friday 13 May at 11:30, Sam Wilson (Editor-in-Chief of Women's Lifestyle at 24.com) will chair a wide-ranging discussion about cellphone fiction and other new ways to reach out to new and would-be readers. With Steve Vosloo, founder of the Shuttleworth Foundation's m4Lit project, Kontax scriptwriter Sam Wilson and education specialist Michael Rice.

Also at 11:30, two serious women and two very funny men discuss contemporary comic art in Serious vs Hilarious, facilitated by Andy Mason (What’s so Funny?). Starring Marguerite Abouet, author of the award-winning Aya graphic novels set in Côte d’Ivoire; Colin Cotterill, bestselling crime writer and comics blogger based in South East Asia; Jeremy Nell, maverick South African cartoonist; and Leonora van Staden, an Afrikaans graphic novelist with a feminist axe to grind.

At 13:00 Sarah Lotz (Tooth & Nailed), Lauren Beukes (Zoo Story) and science fiction artist Mer Roberts explore dystopian narratives and technological upheavals in Speculative Fiction, chaired by Delphi Carstens who is writing a PhD on the subject.

Also at 13:00, the Stellenbosch rapping professor Leon de Kock will have some of the poets and rappers in the Umuzi book Letters to South Africa performing their SA versions of Allan Ginsberg’s famous Letter to America.

On Saturday 14 May at 10:00 in Blood, Guts, Sweat & Tears, three doctors who also write – Rosamund Kendal (The Angina Monolgues), Dawn Garisch (Trespass) and James Clelland (Deeper Than Colour) – put aside their stethoscopes to talk about their books with crime writer Jassy Mackenzie.

Also at 10:00, SAFM’s Karabo Kgoleng knocks some myths about young reading on the head in Young, Black and Reading as she talks to literary magazine editor Phakama Mbonambi, Marguerite Abouet and romance imprint Nollybooks publisher Moky Makura.

For anyone who is part of – or trying to understand – the subspecies “teenager’, Sally Partridge (Fuse), Edyth Bulbring (Melly, Mrs Ho and Me) and Sarah Lotz (Tooth & Nailed), share their secrets about reaching the plugged-in generation with Fiona Snyckers in What’s Different About Writing for Teens? on Saturday at 11:30.

Colleen Higgs of Modjaji Press talks romance with Fiona Snyckers (Trinity on Air), Nani Mhlanga (Her Forever After), Sapphire Press editor Lindsay van Rensburg and Nollybooks publisher Moky Makura in Love Stories at 14:30.

Other events of special interest include Off the Wall Poetry at BICCCS Café on Friday, an open mic evening with Hugh Hodge, Karin Schimke, local and Cape Town poets and Youth Affair’s Voices From Our Valley poetry-in-motion theatre production at 18:30 on Friday and Saturday evenings.

There are a number of accommodation options available for students who want to spend the weekend in Franschhoek. See www.flf.co.za, join the Franschhoek Literary Festival on Facebook, or follow the FLF on Twitter @FranLitFest.

The FLF is presented in association with Porcupine Ridge Wines and the Sunday Times, and is further made possible through the generosity of Franschhoek guest house owners and voluntary workers who give their time and energy to make it an event to remember. Ticket proceeds and other donations go towards the FLF Library Fund. The full FLF programme is available on www.flf.co.za. Bookings are open and tickets can be booked on www.webtickets.co.za. Ticket prices remain unchanged at R60 per event, unless otherwise indicated.

2011 Franschhoek Literary Festival Bursting at its Seams

The 2011 Franschhoek Literary Festival (FLF) will again celebrate the magic of words from 13 to 15 May, with a gathering of over 90 authors, poets, editors, illustrators and chairpeople taking part in 70 events.

This is almost double the contributors and events of last year and promises to be a bursting, vibrant and engaging festival.

With a continuing focus on good accessible writing and diversity, the many Southern African writers on the programme range from renowned to little-known, and the topics vary from biography, history and politics to poetry, literary fiction and love stories.

FLF events are informal, often spirited discussions between several writers, with some one-on-one conversations. People in the news like Jonathan Jansen, Max du Preez, Karabo Kgoleng, Justice Malala, Jenny Crwys-Williams, Peter Harris and John Maytham will this year rub shoulders with academics, struggle stalwarts, poets, publishers, journalists and first-time novelists still hoping to make it big.

Coming from America this year are Zakes Mda, Peter Godwin and Douglas Rogers. Barbara Trapido will come from Oxford, to be joined by Anna Trapido, the first FLF mother and daughter team. Arriving from Scotland, courtesy of the British Council, are top Scottish writer Janice Galloway and Jamaican poet and novelist Kei Miller of Glasgow University. Making his way from Doha will be satirical blogger Azad Essa. From Nairobi will come prizewinning author Doreen Baingana, courtesy of the African Arts Initiative. The French Institute will be bringing out a French writer (details will be announced soon).

The FLF was started in 2007 by a committee of six volunteers who aimed to create a festival of mostly English-speaking local writers, with a few coming from overseas. The ultimate goal was to raise funds for a new community library where it is most needed. In four years, attendance has more than quadrupled, and it is now one of the leading literary events on the South African calendar.

Thanks to the people who buy tickets and generous funding from sponsors, the FLF Library Fund has also swelled to the point where a new library is being discussed with the local municipality. FLF associates and sponsors Porcupine Ridge Wines and the Sunday Times continue to emphasise that their involvement is specifically to promote reading and encourage writing.

FLF 2011 will pay tribute to the King James Bible on its 400th anniversary in a special language event that will celebrate its magnificent English. Other events of special interest to writers will be On Being Edited with Ivan Vladislaviæ and Tim Couzens, Mindfields, The Write Honourables, Men of Letters, and Do I Give up the Day Job?

Madiba fans will enjoy Writing Mandela, and more of South Africa’s favourite topics will be addressed by Jonathan Jansen and others in Leadership And Innovation, How To Fix Our Schools, and Healing Our Nation. Controversies may erupt in the following panel discussions, 1994 And All That, Conspiracy Theories, Mzansi, Outcasts, and Zimbos. Doctors who write will feature in Blood, Guts, Sweat and Tears.

Friday 13 May will be of special interest to new-generation readers, with events about graphic novels, speculative and cellphone fiction, satirical blogs (notably, Holy Cows to Beefburgers) and works-in-progress. Half-price tickets will be available to those with student cards.

Publishers will again do book launches and hold dinners, and aspiring poets will bring their work to a rousing open mic session. As usual, there will also be performances by Youth Affair, a group of talented youngsters directed by a local rising star of TV soaps, Jeremy Davids, now working on a PhD in Drama.

This year book lovers will once more flock to Franschhoek in the third weekend of May and hurry from venue to venue through village streets which buzz with book talk. All the destinations are within a few minutes walk, including the bookshop and booking facilities in the Town Hall and a great range of cafés and restaurants, small hotels, guest houses, interesting shops and more bookshops.

The full programme will be available on www.flf.co.za towards the end of February. Follow the FLF on Twitter: FranLitFest, and join the Facebook group for regular updates.

The FLF is presented in association with Porcupine Ridge Wines and the Sunday Times, and is further made possible through the generosity of Franschhoek guest house owners and voluntary workers who give their time and energy to make it an event to remember. Ticket proceeds and other donations go towards the FLF Library Fund.