Along with the customary, strong SA and African presence this year, at the 12th Time of the Writer International Writers Festival, the gathering of novelists, short story writers, journalists, cartoonists, and political commentators will include cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro.
In conversation with Zapiro, in a panel entitled "I Write And Draw What I Like", will be investigative journalist/political commentator/ author Max du Preez. Twenty writers from nine countries will be in Durban for the festival, running from March 9 to 14.
The festival, co-ordinated by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KZN) draws, perhaps, the most diverse literary audience in SA.
Also attending:
lPoet, short story writer/novelist Marlene van Niekerk (Agaat and Triomf and poetry collections Sprokkelster and Groenstaar) will share a platform - "What Are The Imperatives of South African Fiction?" - with literary luminary Mandla Langa, (The Lost Colours of the Chameleon).
- Mtutuzeli Matshoba, writer, playwright and screenwriter.
- Zachariah Rapola. Noma Award-winner for his collection of short stories, Beginnings of a Dream.
- Siphiwo Mahala, (debut novel When A Man Cries) shares the stage with Pietermaritzburg-born Futhi Ntshingila, (debut novel Shameless).
- Sade Adeniran (Nigeria) - winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best First Book Africa Region for debut novel Imagine This.
- Mia Couto (Mozambique) realist influenced prose.
- Fatou Diome's (Senegal) first novel, The Belly of the Atlantic (Le Ventre de l'Atlantique) a bestseller in France.
- Moses Isegawa (Uganda) (Midnight's Children and Marquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude and novels Abyssinian Chronicles and Snakepit).
,li>Dinaw Mengestu (Ethiopia) published widely in Rolling Stone and Harper's, author of much-awarded debut novel The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, examining the plight of an Ethiopian immigrant in the US.
- Dr Valerie Tagwira (Zimbabwe), whose debut novel The Uncertainty of Hope set in Mbare, Harare, against the background of Operation Murambatsvina, explores the challenges faced by Zimbabweans. Life expectancy has dropped to 37.
Crime theme:
- Deon Meyer, king of SA crime/thriller writing; Authors Mike Nicol, Angela Makholwa and Margie Orford. An anthology of crime fiction with contributions by Meyer, Nicol, and Orford will be launched at the festival.
- Book launches include the latest edition of Kenyan-based literary journal Kwani?, introduced by editor Billy Kahora; Mandla Langa will launch his The Lost Colours of the Chameleon; Durban-based Deborah Ewing launches her children's book When My Dad Comes Home, which will feature in the Funda: Children's Literature Special, March 14 at the Sneddon. Other children's writers in this session include Gcina Mhlophe, Elana Bregin and Margie Orford. On offer: Readings, discussions and book launches nightly at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, UKZN plus workshops, school visits, a day forum on March 11 on publishing issues - and a prison writing programme.
- Winners of this year's Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book and Best First Book Africa Region will be announced on March 11, at the Sneddon. Tickets at Computicket (or at the door an hour before the event): R25 for evenings, R10 for students. Workshops and seminars free. See www.cca.ukzn.ac.za or contact 031-260-2506/1816. - Sally Scott