Thought provoking conversations will take place at this year’s “Time of the Writer” festival with the introduction of the “Cocktail Hour” series.
Each evening from March 15 to 19 at 5pm, writers, thought-leaders and professionals will discuss a range of subjects that draw from both their personal, political and professional experiences.
Presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, conversations around feminism, empowerment, writing in a time of Covid-19 and African cinema are some of the topics that will be discussed.
In the first of the series of “Cocktail Hour Conversations”, SA FM radio journalist Michelle Constant will speak to psychologist Coralie Trotter, medical surgeon and author Emmanuel Taban, playwright Nadia Davids and author Helen Moffett about writing in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic and the social and psychological coping mechanisms that writers and other creatives had to consider during this time.
On March 16, cultural producer, Russel Hlongwane, will moderate a discussion with film-maker Firdoze Bulbulia, Durban International Film Festival curator Chipo Zhou and author and academic Maik Nwosu about his book “The Comic Imagination in African Cinema & Literature”.
The book is a seminal study that significantly expands the interdisciplinary discourse on African literature and cinema.
In the third session on March 17, Sam Mathe will chat with journalist, author and activist Zubeida Jaffer about her remarkable career, her pursuit into publishing and her book about the phenomenal life of Charlotte Mannye Maxeke, “Beauty of the Heart: The Life and Times of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke”.
The following day, on March 18, journalist Ayesha Kajee will discuss “Feminism and Writing: a Path to Self-Realisation and Empowerment” with authors Abi Dare, Carice Anderson, Lethokuhle Msimang, Shafinaaz Hassim and Oksana Zabushko.
And in the last of the series, on Friday, March 19, Nancy Richards will moderate a discussion on the value of literature and the arts in teaching reconciliation in schools.
Author Sindiwe Magona’s book, Mother to Mother, which deals with the critical theme of reconciliation at a personal level, will be up for discussion.
Richards and Magona will be joined by theatre-makers, Yvette Hardie and Bobby Rodwell, who have also produced work that supports educators and schools across South Africa in nurturing citizenship, agency and self-confidence by providing opportunities for students to foster reconciliation and equity in their schools and communities.
Sessions will be live streamed on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.