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The Stars Say Tsau-Bona: Darryl David on the 2012 Midlands Literary Festival (Plus: Programme)

by Lindsay on Aug 14th, 2012
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The 2012 Midlands Literary Festival takes place from 24-26 August between Yellowwood Café in Howick and the University of KwaZulu-Natal‘s Centre for African Literary Studies. This year’s festival, organised along the theme “The Stars Say Tsau–Bona”, sees the launch of the Zulu Literary Museum at UKZN’s Pietermartizburg Campus as well as an exciting line-up of speakers.

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Festival founder and organiser, Darryl David, gives us a look at what to expect this year:

THE STARS SAY TSAU – BONA

The annual Midlands Literary Festival takes place from 24 – 26 August. But this will be an historic festival, says festival founder Darryl Earl David. It will be a first for African languages when a Zulu Literary Museum is launched as part of the festival. The Zulu Literary Museum will be based at the PMB Campus of UKZN, and will be housed at the Centre for African Literary Studies (CALS).

Precedents have been set. There is an National English Literary Museum(NELM) in Grahamstown and an Afrikaans Literary Museum in Bloemfontein (NALN). But 18 years since democracy no African language has managed to get a literary museum off the ground. A literary museum is truly the holy grail in literary circles. It is in this regard that I have invited a 30 strong line up of the country’s top writers to share this historic moment with us, to say ‘tsaubona’ to this new addition to the literary family of SA.

The theme of our festival (The Stars say Tsau – Bona) is a literary play on Antjie Krogs famous book The Stars say Tsau in which she translated poetry of the San people, thereby bringing it into the mainstream.

Sadly Antjie could not join us but I won’t grumble with a line up that includes Gcina Mhlope; struggle icon Ahmed Kathrada, Miriam Tlali (first black woman to write a novel in English); Anton Harber (founder of Mail and Guardian and Paton Prize Finalist); McIntosh Polela (Paton Prize Finalist); Judge Chris Nicholson; Oswald Mtshali ( Schreiner Prize winner many moons ago); David Robbins (past winner of the coveted CNA Prize and author of that SA classic The 29th Parallel); Ian Player and Ashwin Desai (Shakespeare on Robben Island) to name but a few of the stars descending on Pietermaritzburg and Howick.

Everyone of course is asking me why Pietermaritzburg? Why not Durban or Ulundi?, says David. Well, I have always maintained Pietermaritzburg should be the literary capital of SA. Alan Paton, Bessie Head, John Conyngham, Mahatma Gandhi (yes, he wrote volumes for his autobiography!), David Robbins, Moira Lovell, Kobus Moolman, DJ Opperman, Ina Rousseau. And to these acclaimed authors we need to add the Zulu writers – Herbert Dhlomo (first black man to publish a drama in English), Sibusiso Nyembezi (The Rich Man of Pietermaritzburg was voted one of Africa’s 100 best books of the 20th century, Reginald Dhlomo (first black man to publish a novel in English – not Sol Plaatje!!!), and amazingly enough, a certain Magema Fuze of Pietermaritzburg was the first man to publish a book in Zulu. It will take a brave man to argue against this pedigree.

And make no mistake, Zulu writers in the rest of the country read like the who’s who of South African literature. Benedict Vilakazi is the man whose name adorns the street on which Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu lived in Soweto. He was the first black man to earn a doctorate in SA; the first to publish an anthology of poetry in Zulu and the highest literary award in Zulu literature is the Vilakazi Prize. DBZ Ntuli has won the Vilakazi Prize the most times and will go down in history as having translated A Long Walk to Freedom into Zulu; John Dube, first president of the ANC was the first man to publish a novel in Zulu; Albert Luthuli, South Africa’s first Nobel Laureate; Nat Nakasa; Mazisi Kunene, first Poet Laureate of SA; Oswald Mtshali, winner of the Schreiner Prize ; Lewis Nkosi; Credo Mutwa; Mbongeni Ngema of Sarafina fame; Johnny Clegg; Gcina Mhlophe; Njabulo Ndebele; Mandla Langa; Ladysmith Black Mambazo; Fred Khumalo, winner of first European Union Literary Prize for Witches Brew; Sifiso Mzobe, who scooped the Sunday Times award last year- reason enough to create a Zulu Literary Museum to archive the immense role Zulu writers have played on the South African literary stage.

Of course all of this would not have been possible without a very generous sponsorship from Shuter and Shooter Publishers, something of an institution in Pietermaritzburg and a friend of Zulu writers for over a century.

A special word of thanks as well to Lythwood Lodge who are accommodating all our out of town writers in the lap of luxury during the festival. And to my wordsmiths who have walked this journey with me – words fail me!

~ ~ ~

View the full programme:

Programme – Midlands Literary Festival 2012

Book details

eBook options – Download now!

eBook options – Download now!

  • The Afrikaans of the Cape Muslims: Afrikaans at the Cape from 1815 to 1915 – A Sociolinguistic Study by Achmat Davids, edited by Hein Willemse and Suleman E Dangor
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    EAN: 9781869192365
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Cats: Events, News, South Africa
Tags: Africa Inside Out, Afrikaans, Ahmed Kathrada, Anton Harber, Ashwin Desai, Aziz Hassim, Books LIVE, Crime, Darryl David, David Robbins, Diepsloot, Elana Bregin, Elwyn Jenkins, English, Events, Gcina Mhlophe, Hlonipha Mokoena, Just a Dead Man, Magema Fuze, Margaret Von Klemperer, Mazisi Kunene, McIntosh Polela, Michael Chapman, Midlands Festival, Midlands Literary Festival, My Father My Monster, News, No Bread for Mandela, Oswald Mtshali, Reading Revolution, Seedlings, Shakespeare On Robben Island, Sounds of a Cowhide Drum, South Africa, Spring Will Come, Suleman E Dangor, Survival Training for Lonely Hearts, The Afrikaans Of The Cape Muslims, The Lotus People, William Zulu, Zulu Literary Museum
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