Books LIVE

2013 Franschhoek Literary Festival Round-up: Mtutuzeli Nyoka’s Speech from the Opening and More

The Books LIVE team was out in full force at the Franschhoek Literary Festival this year, live-tweeting from various panels and compiling a liveblog of each session. The liveblogs are online here if you want to recap on any of the sessions.

We’ve collected some of the articles and opinion pieces on the festival, starting with Mtutuzeli Nyoka’s speech from the opening event, in which he reflects on his journey as a writer:

To all the writers, publishers, editors, the organisers of this highly esteemed event, the press, friends and family, honoured guests, and all the many people who, unseen and unheard, quietly make it possible for the book industry not only survive but thrive in our country, I greet you.

It is both a pleasure and a privilege for me to be standing in front of all of you today, and I should first express my gratitude to the organisers of the Franschhoek Book Festival for their invitation to me to speak here tonight.

• Complete speech: Mtutuzeli Nyoka

Bibi Burger attended the “Feeding Africa” discussion with Leonie Joubert and Michelle Matthews and wrote about it for SLiPNet:

“Feeding Africa” saw sustainability consultant Michelle Matthews in conversation with popular science writer Leonie Joubert. The topic of the discussion was Joubert’s new book, The Hungry Season: Feeding South Africa’s Cities, which deals with various issues related to food security.

• Complete article: SLiPNet

SLiPNet’s Kavish Chetty found that “nothing of value” was said at the “Trial by Twitter” discussion with Fiona Snyckers, Julian Rademeyer, Sam Wilson and Ann Crotty and was disappointed with the discussion, or lack thereof, at the “Mampoer Shorts” discussion with Anton Harber, Fred de Vries, Osiame Molefe and Justin Fox:

I am sure that when my gracious editors dispatched me to Franschhoek, they could not anticipate having signed me up for this: an investor’s meeting sans investment. Mampoer Shorts is an online longform journalism platform, aiming to host non-fiction which cannot be accommodated within the formats of available media – newspapers, at the one side of the spectrum, can at best host around 1,500 words, while the exhaustive length of books can be more consuming for the writer. Anton Harber, co-creator and editor, speaks of how he finds 5,000 – 12, 000 words “a very attractive length to tackle”; his co-presenter Justin Fox speaks of this as a “comfortable length”, his “natural length”.

• Complete article: SLiPNet

Also for SLiPNet, Chantelle Gray van Heerden attended the panel discussion “To frack or not to frack” and the “Found in translation” session.

The Contemporary Literary Practice honours group at Stellenbosch University attended the festival as part of their report-writing module and wrote about the talks they attended for LitNet. Clarista Kotze did not share Chetty’s disappointment in the “Mampoer Shorts” discussion, Louis Roux left the discussion “Does patriarchy lead to sexual violence, or are submissive or absent mothers also at fault?” feeling angry and Tembi Charles was converted in the “Dystopia in science fiction” discussion and enjoyed Alexander McCall Smith’s discussion with Jenny Crwys-Williams.

Ean Barnard enjoyed “The Suitcase under the Bed” workshop with Alison Lowry and Tracey McDonald while Naydene Fisher went to find out what publishers really want from Steve Connolly, Melinda Ferguson, Debra Primo and Ron Irwin:

You’ve got a story to tell. So what now?

You wrote a book. So what now?

You write. So what now?

“The Suitcase under the Bed”, presented by veteran publishers Alison Lowry (20 years in the publishing industry) and Tracey McDonald (13 years), was a publishing workshop focused on the practical implications for any aspiring author approaching publication.

• Complete article: LitNet

What do publishers really want from authors in South Africa today?
Steve Connolly, MD of Random House Struik, put this question to a panel consisting of Melinda Ferguson, features editor at True Love and publisher at MFBooks (the Joburg imprint of Jacana); Debra Primo, publisher at UKZN Press; and Ron Irwin, an American literary agent, writer and academic who lectures creative writing at UCT.

• Complete article: LitNet

• More reports from the Contemporary Literary Practice honours group

Crwys-Williams managed to nab an interview on 567 Cape Talk with Antony Beevor, while he was down for the festival:

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Book details

• A Hill of Fools by Mtutuzeli Nyoka
  EAN: 9781770102965
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• The Hungry Season: Feeding Southern Africa’s Cities by Leonie Joubert, Eric Miller
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  EAN: 9781770102293
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• Team Trinity by Fiona Snyckers
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  EAN: 9781920590376
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• Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade by Julian Rademeyer
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  EAN: 9781770223349
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• Diepsloot by Anton Harber
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  EAN: 9781868424214
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• Rigtingbedonnerd: Op die spoor van die Afrikaner post-1994 by Fred de Vries
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  EAN: 9780624054658
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• With Both Hands Waving: A Journey Through Mozambique by Justin Fox
  EAN: 9780795701443
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• A Piece of the Pie: The Battle Over Nationalisation by Tim Cohen
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  EAN: 9781868425174
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• Extreme Environment: How environmental exaggeration harms emerging economies by Ivo Vegter
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  EAN: 9781770223646
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• Wild Law: Second Edition by Cormac Cullinan
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  EAN: 9781920025359
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• Timeless Karoo: Discover the sunlit interior by Jonathan Deal
  EAN: 9781770072848
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• Die aanspraak van lewende wesens by Ingrid Winterbach
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  EAN: 9780798157063
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• Wolf, Wolf by Eben Venter
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  EAN: 9780624055341
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• Shadow by Carel van der Merwe
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  EAN: 9781415201817
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• The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith
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  EAN: 9780349123158
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• The Second World War by Antony Beevor
  EAN: 9780297844976
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• The Kelly Khumalo Story by Melinda Ferguson
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  EAN: 9781920601126
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• Flat Water Tuesday by Ron Irwin
  EAN: 9781250035981
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