Open Book Festival announces initial lineup

The Open Book Festival offers a selection of book launches, panel discussions, workshops, masterclasses, readings, performances, and more. The festival also hosts the popular Comics Fest, #cocreatePoetica and various children’s and outreach programmes.

Venues for the event include the Fugard Theatre, District Six Homecoming Centre, the A4 Arts Foundation, and The Book Lounge in Cape Town. Selected events will also take place outside the city centre, such as at Elsies River Library and Molo Mhlaba School.

The Open Book Festival has established itself as one of the most innovative literature festivals in South Africa. It has twice been shortlisted for the London Book Fair Excellence Awards. Last year, nearly 10,000 people attended the festival’s record 140 events, with ticket sales from previous years surpassed in the first two days. The festival is committed to creating a platform to celebrate South African writers, as well as hosting top international authors. The festival strives to instil a love of reading among young attendees, with the programme designed to engage, entertain and inspire conversations among festival goers long after the event.

“We are once again compiling a phenomenal lineup of authors, across a wide range of genres, to join us at the festival,” says festival director Mervyn Sloman. “We’ve put together a short preview of some of the authors joining us, to help plan your reading.”

“A key objective of Open Book Festival is to celebrate the wealth of South African talent,” says Sloman. “We have a selection of the most insightful minds and compelling storytellers joining us.”

The international authors included in the lineup are:

Lesley Arimah (Nigeria / USA)
Books include:  What it Means when a Man Falls from the Sky

Jonas Bonnier (Sweden)
Books include:  The Helicopter Heist, Stockholm Odenplan

David Chariandy (Canada)
Books include:  Brother, Soucouyant

Anna Dahlqvist (Sweden)
Books include:  It’s Only Blood

Nicole Dennis-Benn (Jamaica/USA)
Books include:  Here Comes the Sun

Guy Delisle (Canada)
Books include:  Hostage,Pyongyang: A Journey inNorth Korea, Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China, Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City

Frankie Edozien (Nigeria/USA)
Books include:  Lives of Great Men

Mariana Enriquez (Argentina)
Things We Lost in the Fire

Aminatta Forna (Scotland/Sierra Leone/USA)
Books include:  Happiness,The Hired Man, The Memory of Love

Adam Smyer (USA)
Books include:  Knucklehead

Mariko Tamaki (Canada)
Books include:  Skim, Emiko Superstar,This One Summer

For further information and the full programme, visit www.openbookfestival.co.za