13th TIME OF THE WRITER
The written word will envelop Durban as writers from around South Africa
and Africa arrive in Durban for a stimulating week of books, ideas and talk.
The
festival, which is hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of
KwaZulu- Natal), will feature a diverse gathering of novelists, short story
writers, humour writers and political commentators. Within a precarious funding
climate the Department of Arts and Culture has provided valued core support to
make the production of this year's Time of the Writer possible and thereby help
sustain this important platform which brings literature into the public domain.
Time of the Writer will also host a tribute evening to the life, creativity and
activism of the late Dennis Brutus as the culmination of a full-day colloquium
organised by the Centre for Civil Society (UKZN).
The writers at the festival include Nigerian Uwem Akpan, whose
brilliantly-crafted and nuanced debut collection of stories, Say Youre One
of Them, won last years Commonwealth Prize for Literature Best First Book
Award. Akpans collection was also selected late last year by Oprah Winfreys Book
Club, a prized honour in the publishing world. Joining him in the panel
discussion, Why I Write What I Write, will be the Durban-born Imraan
Coovadia. Coovadia has established himself over three provoking and intelligent
novels, as one of the leading contemporary South African writers. Zakes Mda, a
true giant of the South African literary landscape, makes a welcome return to
the festival, having just published Black Diamond, which The
Weekender called: a defiantly revealing novel about contemporary South
Africa…sane and insane, evocative and hilarious… The prolific Mda is the
author of South African classics such as The Whale Caller, The Madonna of
Excelsior, The Heart of Redness and Ways of Dying amongst
others.
The award-winning playwright, journalist and acts activist Mike van Graan,
author of plays such Bafana Republic amongst numerous others, will
deliver the festivals Opening Night Keynote Address, entitled The State of
the Arts. Durban is represented by Sally-Ann Murray, a well-established and
prize-winning poet, whose debut novel Small Moving Parts was published
last year. Constructed with an astonishing sense of place and detail it is a
powerful book that adds a new texture to Durbans ever-expanding literary
narrative. Fellow Durbanite Elana Bregin is a versatile author whose work spans
youth fiction to genre-bending biography. Her latest novel Shivas Dance
has been excellently received.
Thando Mgqolozana hails from the Eastern Cape and his sensitive debut
novel
A Man Who is Not a Man tells of the trauma a young Xhosa man
experiences after his initiation circumcision goes wrong.
William Gumede is one of South Africas most prominent public intellectuals
and was the author of the best-selling Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul
of the ANC and more recently The Poverty of Ideas (with Leslie Dikeni).
Gumede will be in conversation with Andile Mngxitama, a Black Consciousness
thinker, organizer and columnist. Mngxitama co-edited Biko Lives!
Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko and is the publisher of New
Frank Talk, a journal of critical essays on the black condition. The latest
issue of the journal will be launched at the festival. Other launches include
Anton Krueger's debut novel Sunnyside Sal (Deep South) on Friday 12
March and Andy Mason and John Curtis Dont Joke! The Year in
Cartoons (Jacana Media) on Saturday 13 March. Mason and Curtis, along with
several other Durban cartoonists will also conduct the workshop Dont Joke!
The Changing Face of South African Political Cartooning at the BAT Centres
Mission Control on Saturday 13 March at 13h30. The workshop forms part of a trio
organised by the fest at the BAT on the day, the other two encompassing creative
writing and childrens writing.
Whats So Funny About Africa? is the title of the enticing panel
that will see Sihle Khumaloand Ndumiso Ngcobo, two of South Africas top
humourists in discussion. Khumalo humourous travelogues Dark Continent, My
Black Arse and Heart of Africa have marked him as a witty and
astute observer. Ngcobo is a writer and satirist of razor-sharp wit, whose books
Some of My Best Friends Are White and Is It Coz I'm Black?
contain some of the most irreverent writing currently in South African
bookstores.
On Thursday March 11, the festival, in partnership with the Centre for
Civil Society (UKZN) ( http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs ) , will present
a Dennis Brutus Tribute Evening (17:30 21.00pm), while the CCS itself
will present A Dennis Brutus Poetry and Protest Colloquium
(09h30-17h00) at Howard College Theatre (UKZN). The colloquium will explore
aspects of Brutus political and literary legacy in the robust, self-critical
style he would have welcomed, with an emphasis on how his life might offer
pointers to our own futures. The Dennis Brutus Tribute Evening at the
Sneddon is divided into two sections the first (17h30 19h00) Dennis Brutus:
Life, Literature, Politics And Mandates To Us All features panelists such
as Ashwin Desai, Fatima Meer, Trevor Ngwane, Eunice Sahle and internationally
renowned sports writer David Zirin. The second section (19h30 21h00) is a Harold
Wolpe/Dennis Brutus Memorial Lecture entitled Fighting Global Apartheid
by Yash Tandon, the Ugandan political activist, professor, author and public
intellectual.
Apart from Uwem Akpan, Africa is further represented by Léonora Miano, a
Cameroonian-French author who has written three acclaimed and prize-winning
novels and Aher Arop Bol, whose debut, The Lost Boy, about the authors
escape from the Sudan is an epic quest for survival, education, family, and
meaning.
Readings, discussions and book launches will take place nightly at the
Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. A broad range of
day activities in the form of seminars, workshops, school visits, and a prison
writing programme, are formulated to promote a culture of reading, writing and
creative expression. The Hon. Ms. Lulu Xingwana, the Minister of Arts and
Culture will attend the festival and handover the prizes for the Schools Writing
Competition. The competition, which accepts entries in English, Zulu, and
Afrikaans, has, over the years, proved to be one of the central development
components of the festival.
Time of the Writers extensive programme of activities and culturally
diverse line-up of writers promise to deliver a dynamic literary platform for
dialogue and exchange on wide-ranging themes and offers a rare opportunity to
gain insight into the many facets that inform the art of writing.
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