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Darryl David talks to Naomi Meyer about the Midlands Literary Festival, which runs from August 31 to September 1 at the Yellowwood Café on the Karkloof Road in Howick.
Darryl, it is nearly time for the Midlands Literary Festival. You are known for your book festivals – but what is special about this one for you, personally?
Hi Naomi. Yes the Midlands Literary Festival is this Spring Day weekend.
What makes this festival so special is how the community have come out and supported us. We lost our sponsor after lockdown. But it is so heartening to see how The Witness, the oldest newspaper in South Africa, based in Pietermaritzburg, has helped us publicise the event.
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On a more personal note: I’ll be going to Howick, my home town, to launch my first photographic memoir, Karoozing: an ode to the open road.
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On a more personal note: I’ll be going to Howick, my home town, to launch my first photographic memoir, Karoozing: an ode to the open road. It is a coffee table book in the best sense of the genre. The book captures my almost 30-year love affair with the Karoo and other landscapes of the heart. And I broke the bank and included a bonus section on churches of the Karoo. I had always wanted to do a book on Karoo churches. This will be the closest I will ever come to realising that dream. This book, then, will have the most definitive collection of Karoo church buildings.
I have seen enough books in my lifetime to say that this is a beautiful book. It is the most beautiful book I have produced thus far.
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Tell me more about your new book, besides its launching at the festival?
Besides what I've already said, I want to make it clear that the book is not just photo after photo.
It contains approximately 10 travel articles I wrote for The Witness before my book festival phase. In the book I have recorded them for posterity as they appeared in the newspaper almost 20 years ago.
It was a series of articles that endeared me to people in Pietermaritzburg and the KZN Midlands. Just last year I met a reader who enquired about my daughter, saying how much she enjoyed those stories.
The book ends with an article on 21 scenic drives of South Africa.
I am also really proud of the foreword that Dana Snyman wrote. If there's anyone who understands the book and me as a person, I think Dana is top of the pile. In true journalistic fashion he penned that foreword in under 30 minutes, just as the book was about to go to press. And after I had hounded him for weeks for a blurb! And then the spirit must have moved Dana, because that blurb of five lines graduated to a foreword of a page. It is one of the more memorable moments of producing the book.
The book also has blurbs by the likes of Deon Meyer and Justin Fox. These are all people whom I’ve admired since I was a young man, right until today – Justin because of his role as editor of Getaway, and Deon not in his capacity as a crime writer, but as a lover of the Karoo and a person who is a most gifted photographer himself.
I also approached Kirby van der Merwe, because Kirby is a talented artist and I wanted an artist’s opinion of the book.
The book is also full of extracts from literary texts and beautiful quotations that are in dialogue with the photos.
I have also said that Karoozing is my most Afrikaans book to date. A strange thing to say about a photographic book, I realise. But it surprised me how much I think in Afrikaans when I view my photographs of the Karoo. Sadly, the poems by NP Van Wyk Louw and Eve Palmer have been used so many times in books about the Karoo that I decided to leave them out. I tried to be original in my choice of poems, as can be seen on the flaps of the dust jacket.
But many of the poems I used are Afrikaans ones. The influence of Koos Kombuis really surprised me, because he has never been to any of my book festivals. But two of my favourite songs bear his name. And many more the name of my childhood hero David Kramer.
Lastly, I'd like to foreground the role of music in my life. All the book reviews of my memoirs are out and none picked up the role of music. (Nor the role of photography, for that matter.)
What people who have got to know me only recently don't know about me is that in Pietermaritzburg I am known for my singing voice as a young man. When people see me on the street they always ask, "So you're teaching music, Darryl?"
It saddens me that reviewers of my memoir BookBedonnerd never picked up on that. At least with this book they're bound to pick up on the importance of photography in my life. 😊
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Please tell me about the authors attending the festival – anyone you specifically would like to mention?
You always get me into trouble with questions like this!
But I suppose our uMngeni local municipality mayor Chris Pappas and deputy mayor Sandile Mnikathi are bound to be highlights of the festival with their book Saving South Africa.
Anthony Akerman with Lucky Bastard has, however, been the most popular author as far as ticket sales go. As has been his wife, André Hattingh, who has produced Poetree in partnership with well-known KZN artist Bronwen Findlay.
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And then there is the ever popular Tony Park. It is quite amazing how popular Tony's books are with South Africans. He will speak about his latest book, which delves into the underworld of the most trafficked animal no one knows about: the pangolin.
But the trend from ticket sales is that the weekend combo for the entire festival has proved that people believe that almost every session is not to be missed. The likes of Chris Nicholson, Sven Axelräd, Shubnum Khan and Alistair Mackay lead me to believe that this festival has something for every book lover.
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I believe my ex-HOD at UKZN, Dietloff van der Berg's translation of Rumi is going to be popular.
Why, even the reclusive Jaco Alant, professor of French at UKZN, has started a Facebook page to promote his second novel, Wes en geweld.
Ilze Brüggemann is a local author and her Map cards for Africa makes for an interesting travel read.
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And finally, the lady who helped me get this festival off the ground in 2010, Nikki Bower (Tilley), returns to Howick to launch her memoir about what it means to be bipolar.
All in all I believe there's something for everyone on the programme.
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What are the practicalities: costs, venue, accommodation?
Venue: Yellowwood Cafe, Howick.
Costs and accommodation: Visit the Midlands Meander website, https://midlandsmeander.co.za.
Download the full programme here
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Kommentaar
"Plaaslik" is ek inderdaad aangesien ek in Howick grootgeword het. My fietsspore lê die dorp vol en as ek reg onthou, was ons posbus-nommer 706 gewees.