Authors, publishers, academics and book lovers are in for a treat as the Open Book festival returns to the District Six Museum Homecoming Centre next month following a two-year hiatus.
The three-day festival will take place from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 September.
This year’s edition of the festival is a return to an in-person format following a two-year break because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the past, the festival’s various events took place at venues between The Book Lounge and the Fugard Theatre.
This year everything will happen under one roof at the Homecoming Centre (formally known as the Fugard Theatre).
A special event for children will be hosted at The Book Lounge on Saturday 3 September.
Frankie Murrey, programme Coordinator, says the event brings people together for conversations with established and debut authors and guest speakers.
“We are excited to be back. People can look forward to conversations that are important and relevant to anyone living in Cape Town. We will be doing about 40 events over three days and we will be featuring about 80 writers.”
She explains that the writers are all South African based, which is a significant change from previous years.
Murrey says the reason for this is to support those in the industry who have been hard hit by the pandemic. She says that the festival is not only aimed at book lovers.
“We have selected themes and topics which will generate insightful and important discussion. There is no specific theme, but we always find topics that regularly come up, things like queerness, feminism, land and landlessness, gender-based violence (GBV).”
Mervyn Sloman, Festival Director, says: “Open Book has a record of running important conversations. We work hard to create a safe and diverse space within the festival so that people from all backgrounds feel safe in engaging with difficult conversations.
“It’s going to be a great festival; I encourage people to attend. It’s also important to us that people who can’t afford the ticket prices don’t feel that is a barrier. People who would like to attend but cannot pay the R50 for a ticket must email us on openbooktickets@gmail.com”.
Chrischene Julius, Acting Director of the District Six Museum, says: “The Homecoming Centre is delighted that we can once again host the Open Book Festival.
“The subject matter and the themes for the 2022 edition are matters that closely align with our mission and we could not be more excited to host the discussions and meaningful engagements with the public.”
- Bookings can be made at www.openbookfestival.co.za
