Tag Archives: Open Book Festival

Slices of Heaven: Open Book Festival 2024

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“Words don’t help with grief, but presence does,” said Alex Latimer, author of the short story “Death and rooibos”, included in his collection Love stories for ghosts. In the story, Death takes a young boy’s mother away and remains behind in the child’s life well into his adulthood – a strange, friendly, comforting presence having a cup of rooibos whenever he visits. Alex was one of the well over 100 authors speaking at this year’s Open Book Festival, which took place last weekend between 6 and 8 September at the Homecoming Centre in Cape Town. The session he was part of, “Love and other toxins”, also featured Shubnum Khan and Sven Axelrad, and was expertly chaired by Dela Gwala. I have loved all three of these authors for a long time, but collectively they stole my heart during that afternoon …

Continue reading: LitNet

Interviewing authors

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I have the huge honour of interviewing the following authors at upcoming literary festivals.

First up: Prince Albert Leesfees is taking place between 30 August and 1 September, and I will be interviewing Andrew Brown about his The Bitterness of Olives on Saturday, 31 August, at 10:15 a.m. I am not only looking forward to this conversation, but to returning to Prince Albert and the local Leesfees. More great memories will be made for sure.

Tickets: Prince Albert Leesfees

And then it’s Open Book time! Taking place between 6 and 8 September, the Open Book Festival is a highlight of every literary calendar. Karavan Press authors will be busy at the festival this year, and I can’t wait to listen to them all. I will be interviewing an author that I assist in distributing in South Africa, an Island Prize runner-up in the first year of the prize’s existence, Hamza Koudri. He will be on a panel with Damilare Kuku and Zibu Sithole and I have the privilege of chairing the session about WRITING SISTERS on Friday, 6 September, at 12 p.m. I interviewed Zibu at the festival last year and absolutely loved reading I Do … Don’t I?, the sequel to The Thing With Zola. And I can’t wait to meet Hamza and Damilare and to talk to them about their fascinating novels in the context of this topic that is very close to my heart (I only have one sibling, a brother, but he is the best sibling in the world, and I can’t imagine my life without him).

Tickets: Open Book Festival

Hope to see you at one or both of these events!

At the Open Book Festival 2023

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Six years after publication, The Fifth Mrs Brink is making her last official appearance at a festival before going out of print. The Book Lounge will be selling the remaining copies of the original edition of my memoir.

But no worries, Future Readers, Karavan Press is going to bring out a new edition of the book soon.

Karavan Press is “seriously punching above its weight” at this year’s festival. You can read about it here: Karavan Press and Friends at Open Book Festival.

I will be participating in two panels, one in which Mervyn Sloman of The Book Lounge will be chatting to Mbali Sikakana of NB, Eugene Ashton of JB, and me about the future of publishing. It will be fun!

And then, I will be chairing a session with Sue Nyamnjoy, Zibu Sithole and Diane Awerbuck and we will be talking about writing journeys.

Diane Awerbuck is a prizewinning writer, reviewer, editor and teacher. She writes femme/goth thrillers (Home Remedies); memoirs (Gardening at Night); pandemic cowboy thrillers (South, as Frank Owen; North, as Frank Owen); doctorates on trauma (The Spirit and the Letter); holy-wholly poetry (As above, so below); and short story collections (Cabin Fever; Inside your body there are flowers). She hopes you are sitting comfortably.

Zibu Sithole lives in Johannesburg with her son. She is a journalist with more than 10 years of experience writing for television and radio as well as print and digital media. She is a published ghostwriter of mainly romance novels. The Thing with Zola is Zibu’s first novel published under her own name.

Sue Nyamnjoh is a Cameroonian-born creative currently residing in Cape Town. She has a background in media studies and languages and holds a BA(Hons) from the University of Cape Town. Earlier this year (2023), Sue released her debut poetry collection. The anthology, [un]ravelling, explores universal themes of love, grief, joy, and loneliness from a deeply personal lens. Beyond literary pursuits, Sue enjoys large doses of music, food, and people, in no particular order. She is mother to a feline named Shola and various plants in questionable states of existence.

You can book your tickets here:

OPEN BOOK FESTIVAL 2023

Open Book Workshop Week 5-10 June 2023

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What a pleasure to be part of the Open Book Workshop Week and to share my passion for the short story with others. I hope you will join me for one or both of the workshops I will be running:

SHORT STORY BASICS

SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS

Full programme:

Open Book Workshop Week

Open Book Festival 2022

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Vanya Gastrow, Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase and Fred Khumalo speak to Karina Szczurek about the ongoing vulnerability of foreign nationals in South Africa.

A topic close to my heart. I can’t wait to talk to these remarkable people/authors about their lives and work.

Book your ticket here: Webtickets

At the Open Book Festival 2019

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It’s Open Book Festival time! Another amazing programme beckons. I am super-excited because this time, apart from launching a book as co-editor and chairing a session, I will be participating for the first time as a publisher.

1) KARINA, the PUBLISHER, at #OBF2019:

Karavan Press at OBF2019

2) KARINA, the EDITOR, at #OBF2019:

The anthology we, Joanne Hichens and I, are launching at the festival as co-editor is HAIR: Weaving and Unpicking Stories of Identity.

Hair invite FB

3) KARINA, the CHAIR, at #OBF2019:

  • SUN | 08/09 | 10-11 | HCC Workshop

FUTURE-THINKING: Duncan Brown, Helen Moffett and Aaniyah Omardien speak to me about what environmental responsibility looks like.

4) KARINA, the PUBLISHER in the audience at #OBF2019:

And these are the events at which Karavan Press author, Dawn Garisch, will be speaking about her latest novel Breaking Milk:

  • THUR | 05/09 | 16-17 | HCC Workshop

DISTRUSTING THE PRESENT: Tracey Farren, Dawn Garisch and Masande Ntshanga speak to Alex Dodd about how the dystopian present informs their work.

  • SAT | 07/09 | 16-17 | HCC Workshop

THERE IS NO TEXTBOOK: Patrick Flanery, Dawn Garisch and Julia Martin speak to Pippa Hudson about the impossibility of preparing for some events.

  • SUN | 08/09 | 12-13 | A4 Ground

GENE THERAPY: Oyinkan Braithwaite, Nicole Dennis-Benn and Dawn Garisch speak to Bonnie Mbuli about dealing with family challenges.

 

 

HAIR: Weaving & Unpicking Stories of Identity

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Joanne Hichens and I are thrilled to announce that the anthology we co-edited ⁠— HAIR: Weaving & Unpicking Stories of Identity ⁠— is going to be launched at the Open Book Festival this year!HAIRcover_10cmHigh_rgb

HAIR: Weaving & Unpicking Stories of Identity is a collection of short stories inspired by hair. Like skin, hair is a body feature with a complex and controversial history, and is constantly under scrutiny in the media, specifically with regard to identity. HAIR: Weaving and Unpicking Stories of Identity features short stories by contemporary established and emerging South African writers of diverse backgrounds writing about hair and its intimate, personal as well as socio-political meaning. The book includes illustrative photographs by local visual artists. We hope that the stories will entertain, delight and challenge the reader.

“Dreadlocks, perms, afros, wigs and braids; hair is an extension of our ever-changing selves. In this startling new collection of masterful African stories juxtaposed with vivid modern photography, we see hair woven firmly into lives like generational pain in families. Or watch it blossoming into grand filaments of pride and reservoirs of power. Ranging from the fantastical to the mundane, the surly and mysterious to the jovial and witty, reading the stories in Hair will make yours stand on end.”

– Efemia Chela

Stories by Diane Awerbuck, Tumelo Buthelezi, Craig Higginson, Mishka Hoosen, Bobby Jordan, Shubnum Khan, Fred Khumalo, Bongani Kona, Alex Latimer, Kholofelo Maenetsha, Songeziwe Mahlangu, Mapule Mohulatsi, Palesa Morudu, Tiffany Kagure Mugo, Sally-Ann Murray, Sue Nyathi, Alex Smith, Melissa A. Volker, Lester Walbrugh, Mary Watson, Michael Yee

The title is appropriately deceptive. The reader goes into the stories expecting, and hoping, to engage with the politics and the business of hair. And the anthology brings all that successfully to the fore, but offers much more. Although the common narrative is about the politics of hair, what you will mostly find in these pages are stories about life and/or death, with hair in all its physical manifestations as a recurring motif.

– Palesa Morudu

Photographs by Kirsten Arendse, Saaleha Idrees Bamjee, Nina Bekink, Noncedo Charmaine, Keran Elah, Retha Ferguson, Sue Greeff, Liesl Jobson, Simangele Kalisa, Andy Mkosi, Manyatsa Monyamane, Nick Mulgrew, Aniek Nieuwenhuis, Chris Snelling, Karina M. Szczurek, Lebogang Tlhako, Karina Turok, Michael Tymbios, Jasmin Valcarcel, Megan Voysey

“Enthralling. Excellent idea given rich life by sharp writing and exquisite images.”

– John Maytham

EDITORS: Joanne Hichens and Karina M. Szczurek

FOREWORD: Palesa Morudu

ISBN: 978-0-9946805-4-9

PUBLICATION DATE: September 2019

PUBLISHER: Tattoo Press

HAIR will be launched at the Open Book Festival on 7 September at the Fugard Studio, 20.00-21.00. Please join the editors and a few of the contributors for the occasion!

Hair invite FB

Our CapeTalk interview with Refilwe Moloto: HAIR

“That’s what friends are for”

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This time it was rage. No melancholy insomnia, just a big fat stick of fury ready to explode, the fuse much too short. I had been so livid that I walked around wanting to headbutt people, especially myself for being… well, not wise, to put it mildly. A volatile state. And once again Jack arrived, all in black, mattress-pressed, and ready for another clandestine rescue mission. He has a knack for showing up when most needed. Ryno sent him. A clandestine mission expert himself, Ryno is my publicist and friend, aka Work Husband, and he knew how much I coveted Reacher #21, Night School. When the proof copies arrived in his office, one was rushed off to me. And so I went back to night school with Jack and learned some valuable lessons about his rules. Recently, I had failed to follow one, and paid dearly for disobeying. Jack knows how to trust his gut feelings, follow his instincts, analyse, predict, outsmart, wait – patiently – and strike when least expected. Night School is vintage Reacher, all tension, wits and charm. Frances Neagley is back at his side. And oh, that crisp writing which seduces me every time. Yes, all men want to be like him, all women want to… Obviously! Because:

“…her hands flat and open, her palms close to the bed, hovering, skimming a cushion of air, as if she was balancing.”

with Jack

In September, Andy Martin, the “gonzo academic”, author of the must-read Reacher Said Nothing, is one of the international Open Book Festival participants in Cape Town. If you are a Reacher fan, or a surfer, come and listen to him talk about both.

In October, the second Jack Reacher film is released, based on Never Go Back.

Night School will be published on 8 November 2016.

Sugar Man: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez by Craig Bartholomew Strydom and Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman

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“I remember her tongue sliding into my mouth,” a friend tells me, his eyes sparkling, mischief playing on his lips. A pause follows while everyone around the table is trying to recall their first French kiss. “Yeah, ‘Sugar Man’ was playing in the background,” he says eventually, snapping us out of our respective reveries.

“I wonder how many times you had sex”, Sixto Rodriguez sings in “I Wonder”, one of the songs on his debut album, Cold Fact, which was released in South Africa in 1971. The South African release is the beginning of one of the most incredible stories. Ever.

Years of enthusiasm and dedicated research, countless unbelievable coincidences, and an Oscar-winning documentary later, Sixto Rodriguez has risen from decades-long obscurity to enjoy the world-wide recognition he and his music deserve.

Sugar Man coverAnd now, the two men who refused to give up on a crazy idea and started it all, Craig Bartholomew Strydom and Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman, have written a fascinating book chronicling the quest.

Many of my South Africa friends have a Rodriguez story to tell. Like Strydom and Segerman, most of them first heard the music in the army. All believed the rumours that Rodriguez had committed a spectacular suicide. But unlike the authors of Sugar Man: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez (2015), they did not set out to find out what exactly had happened to the singer with an astounding cult following in South Africa.

I’d never heard of Rodriguez until I saw Malik Bendjelloul’s remarkable documentary Searching for Sugar Man (2012). The soundtrack immediately crept under my skin. I shed tears of unbelief and joy watching the amazing story.

I cried again every few pages while reading. With infectious passion, Strydom and Segerman offer an incisive behind-the-scenes look at the Rodriguez Saga. Divided in four parts – The Mystery, The Man, The Music and The Movie – Sugar Man: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez is full of gems Rodriguez fans will love, including two generous photo sections. The writing is great, and the beauty of reading the story is that you can slow down at leisure and savour the magic of every step along the authors’ journey.

I met and heard Strydom and Segerman for the first time at the Open Book Festival in Cape Town earlier this month. Listening to them speak about Rodriguez and their involvement in his story was magical, reliving it all once more through Sugar Man: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez even more so. Their generosity, die-hard dedication and integrity (there is no glossing over the difficult bits in the book) is truly inspiring.

Craig Bartholomew Strydom and Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman with Andrew Donaldson at Open Book 2015 (Photo: Books Live)

Craig Bartholomew Strydom and Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman with Andrew Donaldson at Open Book 2015 (Photo: Books Live)


Malik, who heard the news with Brittany by his side while on a trip to Los Angeles, was finally able to exhale. It was as if he had been holding his breath for four years. He was now only one step away from the moviemaking’s greatest accolade. Craig went for a long walk after the announcement, remembering his statement to his army friends in 1984: ‘I am going to find out what happened to Rodriguez.’ His words may have dissipated into the ether, but they had been the genesis of an idea. An idea that was later energised by the liner notes of a CD and eventually realised. Now, thanks to an indefatigable Swede and a young record dealer who literally begged for the rights to re-release the music of the rock star who never was, that idea, that story, was world-famous. And so, at long last, was the withdrawn poet-sage-musician-activist who started it all.
(Sugar Man: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez, 234-5).

For all Sugar Man news: The Official Rodriguez Website