The Satire Supper held at the Societi Bistro in Orange Street was a wonderful opportunity for book lovers to meet their favourite funnymen.
The Jacana Jamboree event was hosted by Marianne Thamm and attended by Rico Schacherl and Steve Francis (the men behind Madame & Eve), Eric Miyeni, Zapiro and Tom Eaton. She spoke of the vital role they played in our society. “It’s terrible when Zapiro goes on holiday… we don’t know what to think!”
Thamm urged diners to interrogate their resident satirists as the evening played out. Our table enjoyed starters with Zapiro, had main course with Rico, got sweet with Eric Miyeni, and lingered over coffee with Tom Eaton.
Zapiro spoke about the fantastic opportunities available to the political cartoonist in South Africa. “In New Zealand and Stockholm, there are two events a year. We have five a week. Too many to choose from.”
He starts his process by writing down his ideas in a list. Then he does a lot of conceptual work using mind maps and left-brain planning. Then he takes his eye “for a walk” and usually when he’s out running, or in the shower, something suddenly clicks into place. “The magic arrives at the last minute.”
Rico, who has now done in excess of 7000 Madam & Eve cartoons, when asked how he can write and draw about female characters so astutely despite his being a man, quipped, “You don’t have to be a dog to write Lassie.”
Asked about his penchant for G&T, he said, “G&T? Tastes like aftershave. Never drink it. Only useful as a medicinal preventative for malaria.” He assured the table that Oliver Cromwell had succumbed to malaria in Merry England back in the 1500s.
“Where does Madam & Eve come from?” asked one guest. He assured us that he’d found it in a second hand shop in Bloemfontein.
Eric Miyeni proclaimed: “I don’t do satire. I did it at 22, but now I write opinion pieces for the Sowetan.” He spoke about the origins of blogging, back in 2001 before the phenomenon existed. “A friend had a timeshare website and I wrote a weekly piece, about whatever I was thinking at the time. At that stage we’d email the link to subscribers. Blogging came later.”
Tom Eaton held court last. Despite having almost no voice, he amused the group with his understated wit and gentlemanly demeanour. He spoke of the vicissitudes of the writing life. In his twenties, his spoof on the Da Vinci Code, The De Villiers Code, was a runaway success, selling 12 000 copies.
He said that being a columnist had turned him nasty: “It’s tricky to do be funny about the horrible things that are in the news all the time. As a satirist you end up angry and bitter all the time and then you end up dead. The year that Robert Kirby died, he’d been working for the paper for twenty years, and at the end of the year when they published the notable obituaries, they didn’t mention him. It was a wake up call.”
He suggested that South Africans were hooked on bad news. “Their obsession is an addiction. The media is like a drug dealer. But the media is also misunderstood. The public thinks it’s the media’s duty to tell them what’s going on. Most media doesn’t do that. The Mail & Guardian does. But they suffer for it. They take the hits.”
It was an event not to be missed! For those who’ve only heard rumour of the scrumptious edibles on offer at the high tea, the sacher torte and jam tarts were a feast for the eye and a banquet for the tongue. The meeting of two literary figures in the Mount Nelson Hotel, was a slap-up event for mind, body and soul.
Soyinka reflected on Matlwa’s remarkable ability as a doctor to combine her medical practice with writing. “Not very many medical doctors can engage successfully, particularly if they’re too busy cutting people up, to be stitching words together.”
He expressed his delight at the rise of the younger generation of writers. “What worries me is that we men have to defend our turf. The young women are taking over! All the new young writers are all young women. I’m getting worried.”
He reflected on the aggressive and quality writing coming from the younger generation. “We’re becoming extinct. We have to guard our laurels. But the monopoly has been too long. This change shows the shifting sociological conditions coming through in favour of the marginalised and neglected.” He said it was very good for the African continent where the “traditions” still highlight the insecurity of the male gender. “It’s a good thing that female writers are knocking out their male competitors.”
Nana Ayebia Clarke, the founder of Ayebia, reflected on Soyinka’s output. “We are in the presence of a courageous writer, who’s been doing the work for a long time; he’s been speaking truth to power.” She said, “As a publisher, I’m aware that the younger generation of writers, especially those writing away from the continent, are writing less about the weighty issues, like dictatorships and corruption. They’re looking at the actual use of language and exploring the environment.”
She reflected on the increasing distance from the former generation that went in headlong to tackle political issues. “The younger generation are more comfortable to move away from the politicisation of writing and want to enjoy writing about the beautiful things they come into contact with in daily life,” she said.
Matlwa responded: “I think we’re moving inwards a little more. Perhaps there’s a trend in our generation towards introspection? We’ve been fortunate to have forefathers who created the foundation for us, in tackling apartheid and colonialism. We have to build the roof now. And how can we do that honestly and truthfully and without greed?”
She suggested there was a trend towards introspection that needed to encompass issues beyond the conventional black/white divide. “Even amongst us as black people there’s a lot of evil; there’s deceit and greed. Where does that come from and how can we solve it? The questions is: what am I doing? What am I contributing personally. The struggles are changing. It was easy to identify an apartheid enemy. Now the enemy it’s more subtle. The people we thought were our heroes disappoint us and break our hearts. You have to figure out how to put the pieces back together. That’s the younger generation’s job.”
Soyinka said he didn’t want people going away with a particular notion of weighty issues. He acknowledged that there were immediate and critical issues like child soldiers, HIV/AIDS, corruption, and continuing despotism that required a response from all quarters of society, however these were not necessarily more more important than other material that occupies literature.
“When you look at the history of literature, the history of the world and literature in relation to the world, you find that in terms of politics, disjunction, alienation and social, there’s nothing new. Literature has been battling these things constantly.
He said that side-by-side to these issues there was also the literature of the human condition. “In itself, this is not just fascinating, but an absolutely inexhaustible source of material for literary exploration, and the elucidation, and partial illumination of that human condition. Thank goodness that with all these weighty questions literature has not been frozen out by immediate issues, which of course have their place.”
At the end of a fascinating hour, the audience engaged with the panel with passionate questions, and heartfelt demands for a thorough airing of the range of issues that were raised in the forum. Nobody left hungry.
The Cape Town Literary Bus Tour started at Clarke’s Books in Long Street, where guests mingled, munching on crisp cinnamon biscuits and savouring the scent of cloves rising off the jugs of fortifying gluwein.
Academic, editor, writer and poet, Helen Moffett, added a new hat to her brimful by taking on the challenge of conducting a literary bus tour around town. Patricia Schonstein, Don Pinnock, Ronnie Govender, Rustum Kozain and Sindiwe Magona engaged with visitors coming from as far away as Nigeria and Abu Dhabi to attend the Cape Town Book Fair.
The first port of call was Bob’s Bar in Long Street, where Patricia Schonstein, pointed out the fittings that featured in her latest novel, Banquet at Brabazan: ceiling fans and heavy billiard tables under dim lighting that created a sense of a permanent night. She read an extract that featured locals, Chris Wildman and Hugh Hodge set in the spot.
The bus headed up to the nearby ghost town of District Six where Ronnie Govender sang an ancient Hindu sacred chant. He translated it as “Life is illusory. The only certainty is death.”
Helen Moffett urged visitors to the city to stay a mite longer in order to treat themselves to Govender’s iconic play, The Lahnee’s Pleasure, based on the book, and showing at the Baxter Theatre in August. It is being staged to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Indian people in South Africa.
Tourists and authors got off the bus and strolled around the area. Moffett encouraged folk to “look at the mountain, which hasn’t changed and which won’t change; to look at the sea and the vista. Walk several paces up to the hill and as you walk up the quiet, overgrown weedy space, imagine you’re walking on cobbles. Try to blot out the highway and office buildings and try to imagine the narrow tenement buildings that you see in Maitland and Woodstock and Salt River. There would have been the smells of sewage and drains, the rotting fruit and incense. And there would have been the people. Try to impose all of that on this vista which otherwise hasn’t changed.”
Rustum Kozain, prize-winning poet, translator, editor and social commentator, is the author of This Carting Life. He was next to read and the poems he chose were from – and this will thrill South African poetry aficionados – a new manuscript. Sindiwe Magona said she didn’t quite recognise Searle Street now, which she’d frequented on the high holidays of Christmas and Easter to attend church. She said, “We trekked from Retreat, the Blouvlei Location where I grew up, to worship and to visit my father. He came here as a migrant labourer.”
She said the place had fond memories for her as she recalled the long walk to the Retreat station, the train ride and the steep haul up the hill. She read a series of poems from Please Take Photographs, her debut poetry collection that explored the darker themes of living through a dehumanising time.
As the bus trundled down the narrow streets, where terraced houses perched on the side of the slopes below De Waal Drive, Don Pinnock pointed out the verandahs on every house which played a significant role in the stability of the community. With forced removals, this vital containing element of the community was lost. “In an urban area with no verandah, there’s no street control by the older people. Here, they’d sit on the stoep and say, ‘Hey! I know your father. Don’t you do that.’ This high-level of informal social control, with Babi’s general dealer on the corner and everybody knowing everybody.”
When the bus came to rest in Salt River, Pinnock read from his debut novel, Rainmaker, which was short-listed for the EU Literary Award last year. The extract ventured into the gang culture and the tragic outcome of bored youth and social fragmentation.
Pink champagne and white lilies decked the tables at the Fraiche Ayres coffee shop at the Stark Ayres garden centre for Grand Dames of the Garden, the first event of the Jacana Jamoboree to sell out completely!
Margaret Wasserfall hosted the brunch with authors Una van der Spuy, Pat Featherstone and Christine Stevens. The common theme connecting the books was the vital connection that exists between the garden and the people that pass through it.
Each author highlighted the importance of understanding that what we put into the soil and what we take from it to put in our bodies has a significant impact on the health of our bodies and our planet.
If the vitality and verve of the crowd who attended this event is anything to go by, it is proof positive that gardening is one of the best health promoting activities on offer. Birthday girl, Nanette, celebrated her 82nd with a toast of bubbly.
The darling of the day was surely Una Van der Spuy, who at 98 has just published Old Nectar: A Garden for All Seasons her eleventh book on gardening! She reflected on the changes in gardening techniques over the years, pointing out the catalogues which boasted a fantastic range of 104 different types of camellia, some thirty years ago. She lamented the loss of flower shows. The last flower show happened some 30 years ago.
She observed how much easier gardening has become with modern technology. “In the old days, a hose was made of rubber and was heavy to carry about. Now people have drip systems. All you have to do is turn on a tap. And turn it off again.”
She advised that planning a garden should be done with the same attention to detail as home decoration. Consider the size, shape, texture and colour of the species you plan to plant. Choose leaves of different shapes and sheen to make the garden more interesting. Don’t just go to the nursery and buy.
Her tip to folk with small gardens was to avoid choosing plants with large leaves and dense foliage that would make their gardens cramped and seem smaller.
Christine Stevens, author of Harvest: Recipes from an Organic Farm, urged gardeners to consider growing food for the table. She and her husband moved to a remote wine farm in Slanghoek ten years ago. She set about building vegetable gardens in all sections of the farm, grown naturally, or what is trendily called “organic”. She uses no herbicides or pesticides.
She noted that people don’t grow fruit any longer. “Every garden should at least have a lemon tree in it.” And every garden should certainly have a compost heap. This cuts down on the methane gasses that go into landfills and enriches the soil in which one is growing one’s food.
She said there was a tendency to overdo the nurturing of plants. “A plant is a hardy thing. When we moved onto the farm broad beans were hard to find in the shops. I planted some in the garden, and some in the rows of vineyards. I dug around the ones in the garden, watering and weeding, nourishing and attending. The ones in the vineyard were left to their own devices. Blow me down, come September at harvest time. The beans in the orchard were larger, tastier and had many more beans on them.”
When the soil dries out, the roots go deep and a sturdier plant develops. For those who are mindful of the state of the earth’s water resources, the injunction not to water indiscriminately resonated deeply.
Stevens encouraged gardeners to grow different types of plants together, for example basil and tomato. Flavours that taste good together will usually grow well together.
Pat Featherstone has devoted her life to wholesome soil as the founder of Soil for Life. Featherstone, author of Grow to Live: A simple guide to growing your own good, clean food, mentioned that the Medical Research Council recently stated that the tenth biggest health risk affecting the country is that 80% of South Africans are eating less than three servings of fruit and vegetables daily. The World Health Organisation said in 2002 that 25 million deaths each year were diet related.
“South African topsoil is being lost at rates of 300 to 500 million tons per annum, washing into rivers and into the sea. Since the last world war, America has lost one third of its topsoil.” This has dire implications at a planetary level, but locally, some 55% of the land in the Eastern Cape is in such bad condition that it might never be restored for agriculture again.
Where the fertility of the soil is severely compromised, artificial fertilisers are used that cause the plants that grow too fast and consume too much water. This results in a watery flavour and a killing off of the soil. Bad planting practises, including mono-culture and lack of crop rotation, have contributed to the destruction of soil. She recommended commercial seeds should be washed before using to remove the pesticides with which they are sprayed.
“Plant lettuces between your roses and spinach in your ornamental garden. You don’t need a dedicated vegetable garden in a huge amount of space to have delicious salad stuffs,” said Margaret Wasserfall.
The message from the panel was loud and clear: Grow your own! Additionally, support your local farmers. Go to a local market, subscribe to an organic box scheme and keep the carbon footprint neat and tidy.
Speakers: Editor Dr Fanie du Toit (Programme Director for Educating for Reconciliation at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation) in conversation Raenette Taljaard and other contributors to the book.
Reconciliation is an open and urgent question. We do not agree about what reconciliation means. We do not agree about how it works. We certainly do not agree about what it has done or the ways in which it can be brought to bear on the problems that confront South Africa today. In short, reconciliation keeps us off balance. A source of strength that sits at the very heart of South Africa’s remarkable transition to democracy, reconciliation is also a frustrating fault line and a yet unfulfilled promise.
There are no simple answers. As the leading voices in In the Balance make clear, reconciliation is a question that must be debated – together – with a candid acknowledgement that the disagreements provoked by reconciliation are an opportunity to interact and learn from one another. Only by sharing our diverging accounts of reconciliation will we come to terms with its contested legacy, its contemporary meaning and its future possibilities. Direct and thought-provoking, the essays here offer staunch defences and pointed criticisms of reconciliation. Together, they challenge the conventional wisdom and sound an important call: once again, it is time to ask after reconciliation’s meaning, practice and value.
Come join us at the Jacana Jamboree for this not-to-be-missed launch.
Event Details
Date: Friday, 30 July 2010
Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
Venue: Lobby Books,
6 Spin Street, Cape Town | Map
Acclaimed home-grown photographer Jodi Bieber has created an open-ended essay which is a celebration and a portrait of life in Soweto today. The importance of Soweto in the collective consciousness is hard to overstate. It registers as a place born of resistance, perhaps even embodying the South African struggle for freedom. But the birth of Kwaito is attributed to Soweto too. And beyond the grand narratives, there is, and always was, a proliferation of dancing, art and fashion in this place defined by its energy and cosmopolitan nature. Labelling and un-labelling, claiming and discarding, Sowetans have created Soweto anew. This is a phenomenon that is celebrated in this photographic publication, which contemplates daily lived realities, where here, as elsewhere, South Africans are continually reinventing themselves and their urban space.
At this Jacana Jamboree launch in Cape Town, Jodi will be in conversation with Ismail Farouk, an artist and urban geographer. His work explores creative responses to racial, social, political and economic justice. He is currently employed as a researcher at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town.
Please join us!
Event Details
Date: Thursday, 29 July 2010
Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
Venue: Lobby Books, 6 Spin Street, Cape Town | Map
In conversation: Jonathan Crush and Daniel Tevera, with a performance by Jonathan Khumbulani Nkala!
Jacana Media and Lobby Books invite you to the launch of Zimbabwe’s Exodus, edited by Jonathan Crush and Daniel Tevera.
The ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe has led to an unprecedented exodus of over a million desperate people from all strata of Zimbabwean society. The Zimbabwean diaspora is now truly global in extent. Yet rather than turning their backs on Zimbabwe, most maintain very close links with the country, returning often and remitting billions of dollars each year. Zimbabwe’s Exodus is written by leading migration scholars, many from the Zimbabwean diaspora. The book explores the relationship between Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis and migration as a survival strategy. It includes personal stories of ordinary Zimbabweans living and working in other countries, who describe the hostility and xenophobia they often experience.
At the launch, Jonathan Khumbulani Nkala will be performing, The Crossing, his one-man play about his journey on foot from a dusty Zimbabwean village to Cape Town.
The event is part of the Jacana Jamboree – we’ll see you there!
Jacana Media in association with The Book Lounge, Cape Times and Equal Education invite you to join the Jacana Jamboree at the launch of Slow Motion: Stories about walking by Andie Miller.
Join the author in conversation with writer and committed walker Damon Galgut. The event is part of the Jacana Jamboree.
Please bring high-quality children’s and young adults’ books in good condition, to donate to Equal Education’s book drive for school libraries. 10% of all Jacana books sold at the event will also go to Equal Education’s book drive.
Event Details
Date: Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
Venue: The Book Lounge
71 Roeland Street (Corner Buitenkant), Cape Town | Map
Jacana Media, in association with the Cape Times and Equal Education, is thrilled to invite you to the Jacana Jamboree, a series of events running in venues all across Cape Town before, during and after the Cape Town Book Fair.
Please join us from Wednesday 28 July to Sunday 1 August – and again from 19 to 31 August – to partake in an incredible lineup of books, authors and events. The complete programme is below – we’ll see you at the Jamboree!
Please bring high quality children’s and young adults’ books, in good condition, to donate to Equal Education’s book drive for school libraries. 10% of all Jacana Books sold at the event will also go to Equal Education for their library book drive
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Print and download the complete programme at Scribd:
Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM Venue: The Book Lounge, 71 Roeland St, Cape Town Cost: Free RSVP: 021 462 2425 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 021 462 2425 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, booklounge@gmail.com
The author in conversation with Damon Galgut!
Slow Motion is a collection of non-fiction stories about walking. This collection has been written over a number years, and documents transformation in South Africa through the eyes of pedestrians across the economic, racial and age spectrum. The book inevitably examines the issue of crime, and how we have moved from a race-based to a class-based society, as pedestrians of all colours continue to be marginalised in an increasingly autocentric society. It is, nevertheless, essentially an optimistic book; it tells the stories of South Africans (and visitors) who have chosen to ‘reclaim the streets’ from predators and traffic. The band of pedestrians includes writers, artists, political activists, disabled people, dogs and their owners, Walk for Life members, Jews on the Sabbath, domestic workers, refugees, babies learning to walk, and even a golfer and a caddie.
In conversation: Jonathan Crush and Daniel Tevera, with a performance by Jonathan Khumbulani Nkala!
The ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe has led to an unprecedented exodus of over a million desperate people from all strata of Zimbabwean society. The Zimbabwean diaspora is now truly global in extent. Yet rather than turning their backs on Zimbabwe, most maintain very close links with the country, returning often and remitting billions of dollars each year. Zimbabwe’s Exodus is written by leading migration scholars, many from the Zimbabwean diaspora. The book explores the relationship between Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis and migration as a survival strategy. It includes personal stories of ordinary Zimbabweans living and working in other countries, who describe the hostility and xenophobia they often experience.
At the launch, Jonathan Khumbulani Nkala will be performing, The Crossing, his one-man play about his journey on foot from a dusty Zimbabwean village to Cape Town.
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Thursday 29 July
PINK CHAMPAGNE BREAKFAST WITH GRAND DAMES OF THE GARDEN: Margaret Wasserfall, Una van der Spuy, Pat Featherstone and Christine Stevens in conversation about growing for love and growing for food
Time: 11 AM – 12:30 PM Venue: Fraiche Ayres at Stark Ayres Nursery, Liesbeek Parkway, Rosebank Cape Town Cost: R80 RSVP: To book: www.strictlytickets.com
Margaret Wasserfall, in conversation with Una van der Spuy, Pat Featherstone and Christine Stevens!
Margaret Wasserfall, former editor of SA Garden & Home speaks with Una van der Spuy, Pat Featherstone and Christine Stevens about their passion: growing.
Una van der Spuy is one of South Africa’s best-known gardeners, author of 11 gardening books – most recently Old Nectar, on her famous home garden, Old Nectar, which has been visited and admired for decades. Now an irrepressible 97 year old, still active and enthusiastic, Una will share the wealth of knowledge and experience she has distilled over a lifetime.
Christine Stevens, organic farmer, wine-maker, extraordinary cook and author of Harvest: Recipes from an Organic Farm, will share her passion for growing things and taking food straight from the garden into the kitchen, focusing on the benefits of seasonal planting and companion planting.
Acclaimed home-grown photographer, Jodi Bieber, has created an open-ended essay which is a celebration and a portrait of life in Soweto today. The importance of Soweto in the collective consciousness is hard to overstate. It registers as a place born of resistance, perhaps even embodying the South African struggle for freedom. But the birth of Kwaito is attributed to Soweto too. And beyond the grand narratives, there is, and always was, a proliferation of dancing, art and fashion in this place defined by its energy and cosmopolitan nature. Labelling and un-labelling, claiming and discarding, Sowetans have created Soweto anew. This is a phenomenon that is celebrated in this photographic publication, which contemplates daily lived realities, where here, as elsewhere, South Africans are continually reinventing themselves and their urban space.
Jodi will be in conversation with Ismail Farouk, an artist and urban geographer. His work explores creative responses to racial, social, political and economic justice. He is currently employed as a researcher at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town.
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DISCUSSION: Writing science in South Africa
Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM Venue: Central Library, The Old Drill Hall, Darling Street (opposite the Grand Parade), Cape Town Cost: R30 Book: www.strictlytickets.com
Science writers and journalists in discussion about how to make quality science writing more accessible and exciting for the public.
Activist and writer Nathan Geffen (author of Debunking Delusions) in conversation with Marcus Low (editor of Equal Treatment magazine), Christina Scott (President of the South African Science Journalists Association), Adele Baleta and Prof. George Claassen (author and co-author of five books including, most recently Geloof, Bygeloof en Ander Wensdenkery: Perspektiewe op Ontdekkings en Irrasionaliteite, 2007).
HIV denial, global warming scepticism, fears over the Hadron collider, defences of intelligent design: How can science writers rejuvenate scientific discourse and help liberate it from the murky waters of social relativism and uninformed scepticism? How do we prevent the flame of science from being extinguished in a storm of over-hyped press releases, sensationalist headlines and short attention spans? Top South African science writers and journalists discuss these and other burning issues in the world of South African science writing.
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DISCUSSION: Pop, Popular, Populist: examining the relationship between the ruling party and society
Heavy-weight political analysts come together to look at the state of our democracy and ask: Where to from here?
Speakers: Richard Calland in conversation with Judith February, Raymond Suttner and Ronnie Kasrils
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Friday 30 July
WORKSHOP: How to make a success of NGO Publishing
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM Venue: Cape Town Book Fair, Room: 1.42, CTICC Capacity: 60 people Promotion: Lucky Draw!
Discussions around bespoke materials for second language audiences, NGO publishing for the trade market, and packaging research for organisational outcomes and the trade market.
Facilitator: Marcus Toerien with Aadielah Maker (Soul City), Lee-Anne Smith (SAIIA) and Moira Levy (IDASA).
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DISCUSSION: Creating literature for children in Africa
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM Venue: Cape Town Book Fair, Room: 1.42, CTICC Capacity: 60 people
Librarians, educators and others concerned with creating literature for children in Africa, come and share your ideas about what books our children should be reading, what they should look like AND how we get these books to them!
Speakers: Carole Bloch (PRAESA’s Early Literacy Unit), Niki Daly (author/ illustrator), Arabella Koopman (publishing consultant), Nombulelo Baba (Centre for the Book/National Library) and Pamela Maseko (UCT).
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CAPE TOWN LITERARY BUS TOUR
Time: 12:00 PM for 12:30 – 2:30 PM Venue: Meet at Clarke’s Bookshop, 211 Long Street for a bus trip around the Cape Town CBD Cost: R80 Catering: Mulled wine and cinnamon biscuits Book: www.strictlytickets.com
Come with us on a literary tour that will provide a chance to meet some of the writers who have created and recreated Cape Town in writing. Writers on board the bus will read extracts from their work at the places that have served as locations for scenes in their work or provided the inspiration for their writing, and there will be an opportunity to chat with them on the road. This will be followed by mulled wine and cinnamon biscuits and a chance to get books signed by the authors at Clarke’s Bookshop.
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DISCUSSION: Cannibal Ogres, Mock Europeans, Faux Tintins and the Hovering Showerhead
Time: 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Venue: Michael Stevenson Gallery, 160 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town Cost: Free Capacity: 50 people seated Book: 011 628 3204, thando@jacana.co.za, or book via www.strictlytickets.com
World-class political cartoonists come together to examine symbols, stereotypes and issues of representation in South African political cartoons!
Speakers: Moderated by Dr Stella Viljoen, in conversation with Zapiro (aka Jonathan Shapiro), Andy Mason and Anton Kannemeyer.
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BOOK LAUNCH: In The Balance: South Africans Debate Reconciliation
Speakers: Editors Fanie du Toit (Director for the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation) and Erik Doxtader in conversation Raenette Taljaard and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.
Reconciliation is an open and urgent question. We do not agree about what reconciliation means. We do not agree about how it works. We certainly do not agree about what it has done or the ways in which it can be brought to bear on the problems that confront South Africa today. In short, reconciliation keeps us off balance. A source of strength that sits at the very heart of South Africa’s remarkable transition to democracy, reconciliation is also a frustrating fault line and a yet unfulfilled promise.
There are no simple answers. As the leading voices in this book make clear, reconciliation is a question that must be debated – together – with a candid acknowledgement that the disagreements provoked by reconciliation are an opportunity to interact and learn from one another. Only by sharing our diverging accounts of reconciliation will we come to terms with its contested legacy, its contemporary meaning and its future possibilities. Direct and thought-provoking, the essays here offer staunch defences and pointed criticisms of reconciliation. Together, they challenge the conventional wisdom and sound an important call: once again, it is time to ask after reconciliation’s meaning, practice and value.
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DISCUSSION: South African Writing Now
Time: 8:00 PM Venue: Societi Bistro, 50 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town Cost: R180 Book: www.strictlytickets.com Promotion: Win a hamper of books
Some of South Africa’s most exciting and innovative writers come together over dinner to talk about new directions in local literature!
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM Venue: (to be confirmed) The Annex (Iziko), Govenment Ave, Company’s Garden Cost: Free Capacity: 60 people Book: thando@jacana.co.za, 011 628 3204
An interactive one-day introduction to the world of cartooning, facilitated by Andy Mason and Kathy Coates, with appearances by Zapiro, Stephen Francis & Rico of Madam & Eve, and artists from Supa Strikas!
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STORYTIME READING with Maryanne and Shayle Bester
Time: 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM Venue: The Book Lounge, 71 Roeland Street, Cape Town Cost: Free RSVP: 021 462 2425, booklounge@gmail.com
The Bester sisters are an author-and-artist team who publish exquisite children’s books in English, Xhosa, Zulu and Afrikaans.
How do we get sustainability on the political agenda for the upcoming local elections?
Speakers: Moderated by Prof. Edgar Pieterse (African Centre for Cities), in conversation with Lance Greyling (MP and Chief Whip of ID Parliamentary Caucus), Muna Lakhani (Earthlife Africa), Prof. Mark Swilling (Director, Sustainability Institute) and author Richard Calland.
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HIGH TEA AT THE MOUNT NELSON with Wole Soyinka and Kopano Matlwa
Time: 4:30 PM Venue: The Mount Nelson Hotel, 76 Orange Street Book: Booking at the Cape Town Book Fair booking office
Time: 8:00 PM Venue: Societi Bistro, 50 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town Cost: R180 Book: www.strictlytickets.com Promotion: Win a hamper of books
A selection of South Africa’s sharpest wits will join different tables for each course for some challenging, rigorous and out-of-the-ordinary dinner table conversation.
Speakers: Marianne Thamm hosts Rico Schacherl and Steve Francis (the men behind Madame & Eve), Eric Miyeni, Andy Mason, Zapiro, Ndumiso Ngcobo and Tom Eaton.
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Sunday 1 August
DISCUSSION: The Eyes and Minds of the Boys behind the Birds and the Bees
Time: 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM Venue: The Labia Theatre, 68 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town Cost: R30 Book: www.strictlytickets.com Catering: Breakfast snack buffet
How field guides and photographic reference books are made – hosted by John Ledger, with some of South Africa’s top wildlife writers and photographers.
Speakers: John Ledger (host) Peter Steyn, Trevor Carnaby and Shem Compion.
DISCUSSION: Dinosaurs or Dynamos: Is there a future for museums in South Africa?
Time: 2:00 PM for 2:30-4:00 PM Venue: Iziko National Gallery, Government Ave, Company’s Garden Cost: Free Book: thando@jacana.co.za, 011 628 3204; or book via www.strictlytickets.com
Pippa Skotnes in conversation with Steven Dubin, Sue Williamson, Riason Naidoo and Andrew Lamprecht!
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ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION LITERARY AWARD WINNER and awards supper
Announcement:
Time: 6:00 PM Venue: Old Townhouse, Greenmarket Square, Cape Town Cost: Free, but booking essential Book: www.strictlytickets.com Shortlist: Click here
Awards supper:
Time: 8:00 PM Venue: 5 Flies Restaurant & Bar, 14 –16 Keerom Street Cost: R180 Book: www.strictlytickets.com
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19 August, to run until 31 August
EXHIBITION OPENING: SA Cartooning: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
The event will include the launch of the Toonlab Tabloid, a publication featuring work by South Africa’s current and future generations of political cartoonists.The exhibition will run from 19 to 31 August.
Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM Venue: (to be confirmed) The Annex (Iziko), Company’s Garden Garden RSVP: thando@jacana.co.za, 011 628 320
Govender said the stories he’d heard as a child within the walls of Govender’s Hotel on Cowley Street fed into his fictionalised autobiography, 
WORKSHOP: How to make a success of NGO Publishing
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION LITERARY AWARD WINNER and awards supper
