Litnet

"It is small and intimate and a fabulous way to meet and mingle with famous writers from all over the world!"

"Coetzee illustrates through microcosm (the destruction of one man) the inefficacy and cost of the Vietnam War."

"Book fairs are all about discussion and dialogue, and books are a mirror to society and its issues, so it makes sense that sometimes uncomfortable issues emerge. It is ideal if these can be the impetus for addressing the issues in a meaningful and constructive way."

On literary festivals:  “But in my experience their primary function is to entertain readers. They appeal mainly to regular book buyers, to the people who join book clubs."

Together with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, we at the South African Book Fair 2015 are proud to present “Revisiting Mandela’s Legacy”.

"As one pages through this year’s theatre and live performance programme options, what emerges is a diverse selection of debut works that point towards Peach’s more contemporary alternative, yet still accessible, vision for the festival's future."

"It is hard to decolonise because it is quite difficult to understand what 'colonised' means, especially when you're colonised. For this reason I prefer to think of what happened in this country in terms of kidnapping."

"We're all from vastly different backgrounds and our common interest in music and social issues is why we're together, so we try to relay that through the art we make together."

"Michiel Heyns beautifully retains the individual idiolects of characters in the translation, as well as giving careful consideration to Winterbach’s idiosyncratic language use, including Engfrikaans. In this way, It might get loud reveals itself as having the 'capacity to provoke new and singular responses' (Attridge 2004:75) that are accented."

"Who will restore my beautiful dreams to me? Who will restore Shama to me? Who will restore my childhood?"

Over 100 authors, writers, poets, publishers and playwrights will be sharing their experience, talents and knowledge in a three-day book-inspired escapade.

"Even if they are 'only' fiction, at the root of such [historical war - editor's note] novels is a reality where pure evil manifests in human form and, as Donoghue’s narrator notes, the voices of the dead 'clamour to be heard'. This is precisely why the task of imagining these stories bears a great responsibility and should not be undertaken lightly."

"a psyche which is  rent ..."

An e-interview between Paul Murray and Tony Jackman about Cape of Rebels, a play which tackles freedom of the press in two different eras of upheaval in South Africa, and to be staged at the National Arts Festival.

"Darryl says I need only comment on why the winner  wins. But when I’ve won competitions I haven’t cared why I won. It’s when I  didn’t that I wanted to know what the judge thought of my entry. So my penance  for taking on this job is I give everyone a comment."

"If we are to listen to one  another, and to one another’s stories, we must be willing to recognise not only  our own wounds but the wounds of others."

  "Of our perception –  the wheezing, the binary beating ..."

"I was once introduced at a literary seminar as an 'Indian' playwright. Swallowing a choice expletive which, regrettably, is my wont at such provocations, I said, as politely as I could, 'I have never heard of Athol Fugard being introduced as a white playwright, or Mbongeni Ngema as a Zulu playwright. Why do you introduce me as an Indian playwright? I wasn’t born in India. I was born right here in South Africa.'"

At the JM Coetzee | Athol Fugard Festival gala awards dinner recently, Darryl David  announced the winners in every category, and he also named each category after a  famous writer who deserved to be honoured. Read his report on the The South Africa Independent Publishers Awards 2015.

Darryl David, the organiser of the festival, shares some of his photos with LitNet.