Book lovers will have a chance to meet local and international authors at this weekend’s Cape Flats Book Festival, at West End Primary, in Lentegeur, Mitchell’s Plain.
Writer, performer and poet Siphokazi Jonas is one of the highlights in the line-up. On the Sunday, from 11.50am to 12.30pm, she will be reciting poetry from her anthology, Weeping Becomes a River, published by Penguin Random House South Africa last year.
According to the publisher, Jonas “confronts the linguistic and cultural alienation experienced as a black learner in former Model C schools in the 1990s and early 2000s, then fashions the fragments to reclaim and rewrite her place within a lineage of storytellers”.
Film-score composer Trevor Jones, in his foreword for Weeping Becomes a River, says Jonas’s writing “has an underlying political relevance, not only as a commentary on the politics of South Africa and her ethnicity but also as an eagerness to address and redress the gender balance”.
British children’s author Alan Durant will be reading extracts from his books, Quill Soup and What I Did on My Holiday, from 12.35pm to 2.10pm on Sunday.
Durant has written books for children of all ages – from picture books for toddlers to thrillers for teenagers. He also writes poetry for children and adults.
His titles include Burger Boy, Always and Forever, Dear Tooth Fairy, Clownfish and What I Did on My Holiday, which was illustrated by his South African wife Samantha van Riet.
His picture book Quill Soup was published in South Africa by New Africa Books and is available in all 11 official languages.
Also on Sunday, from 10am to 10.40am, Candice Japhta, the author of Crushed For Change, will be talking with veteran performer and producer Alistair Izobell (the author of Broken to Heal) about trauma and healing. Former Cape Times editor Ryland Fisher will be moderating the session.
Visit www.capeflatsbookfestival.co.za for more details.
