The programme has been announced and bookings are now open for the eighth Open Book Festival, which will take place from Wednesday September 5 to Sunday September 9.
The festival will include book launches, panel discussions, workshops, master classes, readings, performances, the Comics Fest, #cocreatePoetica and various children’s and outreach programmes.
Venues for the event include the Fugard Theatre, District Six Homecoming Centre, the A4 Arts Foundation, and The Book Lounge in Cape Town, and are all within walking distance of each another.
Selected events will also take place outside the city centre, such as at Elsies River library and Molo Mhlaba School in Khayelitsha.
“We have put together a programme that we hope will appeal to book lovers of all interests and ages,” says festival director Mervyn Sloman.
“The stimulating conversations that arise from the panel discussions, both during and after the event, are what make the festival unique. We are always grateful to the authors who are so generous with their time and to the audience members for their willingness to openly engage in debate.”
Open Book Festival once again teams up with the African Centre for Cities to present a number of events exploring urban issues.
Inspired by the collection Feminism Is, South Africans Speak Their Truth, a series of Feminism Is talks will also interrogate ideas of feminism, gender, patriarchy, sexual health and ownership of the body.
The festival has become known for its focus on political and societal topics, and events will include discussions around the 2019 elections, a look at if our laws hinder or help us and the future of the media.
There’s also a strong recurring theme in the programme around loss, memory and personal transitions. Various events will give us a window into the authors’ worlds of writing and creating characters dealing with death and capturing the author’s own personal changes in their lives.
Younger visitors can enjoy activities including storytime at Central Library, Origami Demo Sessions and a workshop for teens to Create Your Own Character.
The events take place from 10am to 9pm each day.
Tickets range from R45 to R180. There are also a number of free events but tickets must still be booked for these events to secure a place. Day passes, which provide one access ticket to six events a day, are R150 and festival passes, which are five-day passes with one ticket access to six events a day, cost R600.
The 2018 programme is now available at www.openbookfestival.co.za
Visit the individual author pages on the website for a list of the events in which they are participating.
