The full-programme line-up has been announced for the sixth Open Book Festival, from Wednesday September 7 to Sunday September 11. The majority of events take place in The Fugard Theatre, District Six Homecoming Centre and The Book Lounge in Cape Town.
The festival presents more than one hundred events including panel discussions, workshops, master classes, readings, performances and more, designed to inspire, stimulate and entertain audiences.
“We look forward to a fantastic five days of interesting and entertaining events,” says festival director, Mervyn Sloman.
“We put an enormous amount of thought into curating the programme, but it is the immense generosity of the participating writers from South Africa and around the world and the engagement of audiences that makes the festival special.
Events range from serious discussions about the state of the nation, with a particular focus on tertiary institutions, highlighting the generational divide in South African politics and looking at the future of journalism through to more light hearted events designed to entertain, including our ever popular Writersports.
“There are several events happening outside the CBD which have fed out of collaborations with new partners. Be sure to take note of On the Bus (Elsies River Library), Women and Urban Space (MoholoLivehouse in Khayelitsha) and Sigh the Beloved Country (Kwa Sec in Gugulethu).”
As in previous years, Open Book 2016 includes Poetica, a dedicated programme of poetry and spoken word events,Comics Fest, including the bigger weekend Marketplace, and KidZone.
The Open Book School Library Project continues at St Mary’s Primary School in the Gardens where five “Open Boxes” have been placed.
An additional box will be placed in the Grade 5 classroom during the festival.
As part of the Open Book Festival’s mentorship project, writing programmes ran at Westridge High School in Mitchell’s Plain, Mowbray library and Usasazo High School in Khayelitsha during the first half of 2016.
The festival has already been recognised internationally, having been shortlisted for the London Book Fair Excellence Awards in the category of Literary Festivals.
In 2015, Open Book hosted nearly 10 000 visitors at the 123 events with more than 150 participants.
Check out the full programme at www.openbookfestival.co.za and visit the individual author pages on the website for a list of the events in which they are participating.
Most events on the programme are R45. Day passes which provide access to six events a day cost R150 and five-day festival passes are R600.
There are also a number of free events but tickets must still be booked for these events to secure a place.
Bookings are through www. webtickets.co.za