Tickets are being snapped up for theOpen Book Festival running from Thursday to Monday September 24. Bibliophiles will be spoilt for choice with more than 100 events and over 100 authors participating in the five day programme.
The festival includes a partnership with Etonnants Voyageurs, which sees 10 French writers appearing at the festival, and SA writers will join a worldwide literary conversation which was started at the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference last month.
Some of the many events sure to be highlights are those including John Crace, whose popular Digested Reads columns, which appear in The Guardian, have been put together in a book titled Brideshead Abbreviated. Crace rewrites books as a shortened version in the same style as the original and he will perform some of these next Friday at 8pm in Digested Reads 1.
The other events he will appear in are:
• The Future of Print Media: Does it Have One? next Friday from 2pm to 3pm in the Fugard Studio together with Elaine Glaser and Kathryn Schulz. This event will be chaired by Judith February. Tickets R30.
• Bruce Clark will be talking to him about his book Love, Sex, Fleas, God on Saturday from 10 to 11am at the Fugard Ground. Tickets R30.
• Digested Reads 2 takes place on Sunday from 6 to 7pm at The Book Lounge. Crace will be in the company of Mark Forsyth, author of The Horologicon. This is a free event.
Crace will digest Open Book with festival director, Mervyn Sloman on Monday from 4 to 5pm at the Fugard Ground. Tickets R30.
•Don’t miss Man Booker Prize winners Allan Hollinghurst and Kiran Desai and Orange Prize winner Lionel Shriver discussing The Lives of Writers on Sunday, September 23 from 4 to 5pm.
•Nick Barley of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, James Gleick, Stephen Johnson, Arthur Attwell and Shathley Q will talk about The Future of the Book on the final day on Monday September 24 from 2 to 3pm.
The three-day Youth Programme will run from Monday to Wednesday with closed events taking place at schools around Cape Town. There are, however, several events open to the public:
• Elizabeth Wasserman will talk to kids in an Afrikaans event about Speurhond Willem en Anna Atoom on Monday at Bellville Library.
• Master storyteller Sindiwe Magona will read to young fans on Monday from 3 to 4pm at Central Library.
• Philip de Vos will chat to kids in an Afrikaans event “Moemin en meer!” on Tuesday from 10 to 11am at Bellville Library.
• Helen Brain will entertain Grade 2 students with a reading from one of her books from 11am to 12pm on Tuesday at Central Library.
• Verushka Louw from The Book Lounge will talk to Emily Gravett, Alex Latimer and Paddy Bouma about the difference between “books for children” and “children’s books” on Wednesday from 6 to 7pm at The Book Lounge.
Tickets are R30/R40 but there are also more than 20 free events and there are special ticket packages are available for groups and Book Clubs. Buy 20 tickets for R500, 50 tickets for R1 100 or 100 tickets for R1 999. Visit www.openbookfestival.co.za for the full programme.
For those wanting to travel to Cape Town for the festival, the Townhouse Hotel is the official accommodation partner of the festival and is where all the authors will be staying. They are offering a special rate for the duration of the festival. E-mail [email protected]
GIVEAWAY
We have five pairs of tickets to give away to John Crace’s Digested Reads event with Hedley Twidle next Friday at 8pm. Crace’s book, Brideshead Abbreviated, is a collection of his Digested Reads column which appears in the Guardian. To enter sms “Crace” and your name to 34445 between 8am and 8pm today. Winners will be notified telephonically. - Staff Writer