What is it that makes crime writing, both fiction and true, so popular? Is it because it seems to hold a mirror up to society?
Some claim crime fiction addresses our anxieties by taking us beyond the surface of things into its underlying meanings, suggesting the mysteries of human behaviour can be solved.
In South Africa crime fiction and crime non-fiction is well established, with writers such as Antony Altbeker, Adriaan Basson, Jonny Steinberg, Mandy Wiener, Deon Meyer, Diale Thlolwe and Mike Nicol.
During The Bloody Book Week, the brainchild of Jenny Crwys-Williams and “the first crime book week in Africa”, readers of crime will be able to meet and hear South African crime writers speak. It takes place at several bookstores in Joburg and Pretoria until Sunday.
Participants include Michael Robotham, Nicol, Wiener, Micki Pistorius, Carol Thompson, Meyer and Sifiso Mzobe, the most recent winner of the Sunday Times Fiction Award.
Participating bookstores are Exclusive Books Hyde Park, Estoril Books, Boekehuis Bookshop, Love Books, Skoobs, Novel Books and CNA Cresta and East Rand Mall.
Crwys-Williams will also host dinners with writer Robotham, best known for his psychological thrillers, as well as with David Klatzow, a local forensic scientist.
Some of the highlights of this focus on crime writing are a discussion hosted by Cwrys-Williams between crime fiction writer Meyer and the National Police Commissioner, Bheki Cele, and an event hosted by Boekehuis bookshop featuring two of South Africa’s young writers, namely Mzobe and Hawa Golokai, an exciting new crime writer. Golokai hails from Liberia, and now lives in Cape Town.
In a coup for Cryws-Williams, Vusi Pikoli, former National Director of Public Prosecutions who was suspended after he issued an arrest warrant for Jackie Selebi, will talk to journalists Wiener and Basson about his role in the run up to the Selebi trial.
l For a full programme e-mail [email protected]