Litnet

Darryl David

It’s going to be the festival of the year, beams Darryl David! “It might very well be the only festival of the year, but boy will it make up for the many that we missed!”

At the end of April, I announced nothing more than a dream to create the world’s largest online literary festival. Four months later, I can proudly announce the launch of the inaugural Madibaland World Literary Festival from 20–30 November 2020. For those not familiar with South Africa, the festival name was inspired by a travel book of the same name by well-known writer and journalist Denis Beckett, which in turn was inspired by a man who needs no introduction, a man known the world over – Nelson Mandela, who was lovingly called Madiba in this part of the world. The festival is a partnership between the University of the Western Cape and Book Town Richmond, the only Book Town in South Africa and on the African continent. The University of the Western Cape, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary, will take charge of the online architecture for the festival, leaving Book Town Richmond to concentrate on what they do best – create unforgettable book festivals. And when you see the line-up for the inaugural festival, it will become clear why this festival has the potential to become the flagship international book festival for South Africa.

And few would argue with the statement above when they peruse the list of writers set to speak at the inaugural festival. There are literally writers from every corner of the world. And the who’s who of South African writers have also assembled for this festival. 

Although we are waiting for a few more writers, including a large cohort from India, to confirm their participation, here is the preliminary line-up for the Madibaland World Literary Festival:

1. 1. Shilpa Raj: The elephant chaser’s daughter
   2. John Connell: The cow book
   3. John Connell: The running book
   4. Greg Marinovich: Shots from the edge: A photojournalist’s encounters with conflict and resilience
   5. Jacob Dlamini: Askari: A story of collaboration and betrayal in the anti-apartheid struggle
   6. Jacob Dlamini: The terrorist album: Apartheid’s insurgents, collaborators and the security police
   7. Gabeba Baderoon: The history of intimacy
   8. Christopher Merrill: Poetry
   9. Christopher Merrill: Walt Whitman, Song of myself
   10. Michael Green: For the sake of silence
   11. Christopher Nicholson: Winter
   12. Christopher Nicholson: Among the summer snows
   13. Angie Butler: Explorers of the heroic age
   14. Emma Neale: Billy bird
   15. Emma Neale: Poetry
   16. Karen Karbo: The stuff of life
   17. Karen Karbo: The gospel according to Coco Chanel
   18. Kiki Petrosino: Witch wife
   19. Kiki Petrosino: White blood: A lyric of Virginia
   20. Sumayya Lee: The story of Maha
   21. Chris Abani: The secret history of Las Vegas (tbc)
   22. Etienne van Heerden: Die biblioteek aan die einde van die wêreld (The library at the end of the world)
   23. Fred Khumalo: The longest march (tbc)
   24. Hugh Bland: The trappist missions
   25. Hedi Lampert: The trouble with my aunt
   26. Ashwin Desai: Inside Indian indenture
   27. Breyten Breytenbach: Poetry (tbc)
   28. Dominique Malherbe: Sarah Goldblatt biography
   29. Chris Nicholson (South African judge) (tbc)
   30. Erica Platter: Durban curry
   31. Vernon Head: A tree for the birds
   32. Athol Williams: Poetry
   33. Fikile Hlatshwayo: Blacks do caravan
   34. Carol Campbell: The tortoise cried its only tear
   35. Zoë Wicomb: Still life
   36. Lauri Kubuitsile: But deliver us from evil
   37. Rumena Bužarovska: My husband
   38. Amanda Michalopoulou: God’s wife
   39. Nikola Madžirov: Remnants of another age
   40. Dana Snyman: On the back roads / Soekmekaar
   41. Antony Osler: Mzanzi Zen
   42. Mike Lowry / Steve Wimberley / Phillip Kretzman: Inspirational animal stories
   43. Tracy Going: Brutal legacy
   44. Vladimir Martinovski: Poetry
   45. Riana Scheepers: A writer’s house (tbc)
   46. Diana Ferrus: Poetry
   47. Jan van Tonder: Die verevrou
   48. Ronnie Kasrils: Catching tadpoles
   49. Raashida Khan: Fragrance of forgiveness
   50. Ronnie Govender in conversation with Rajendra Chetty (tbc)
   51. ZP Dala / Sylvia Garib: Durban in words (tbc)
   52. Philippe Menache & Darryl David: Churches of South Africa: A platteland pilgrimage
   53. Hattie Edmonds: The spectacular vision of Oskar Dunkelblick
   54. Jolyn Phillips: Bientang (tbc)
   55. Shanthini Naidoo: Women in solitary (tbc)
   56. Jerzy Koch: Pleks van plaas
   57. Elleke Boehmer: Southern imagining: To the volcano
   58. Nico Moolman: Russia in the Anglo-Boer War
   59. Mongane Wally Serote: Sikhahlel’ u-OR: A praise poem for Oliver Tambo (tbc)
   60. Mandla Langa: Dare not linger (tbc)
   61. Ahmed Kathrada Foundation
   62. Paul Weinberg: Traces and tracks: A 30-year journey with the San
   63. Lizzie Collingham: The hungry empire: How Britain’s quest for food shaped the modern world
   64. Lizzie Collingham: Curry: A tale of cooks and conquerors
   65. Kirsten Miller: All that is left
   66. Andrew Miller: Dub steps
   67. Don Pinnock: The last elephants
   68. Patricia Schonstein: The inn at Helsvlakte
   69. Petro Hansen: Vervleg
   70. Andries Bezuidenhout: Onplaats
   71. Ronelda Kamfer: Chinatown (poetry)
   72. Marguerite Poland: A sin of omission
   73. Natalie Conyer: Sisters in crime – three Sydney crime writers
   74. AM Kamaal: Nigeria / Nome Patrick Emeka: Nigerian poets (tbc)
   75. Nathan Trantraal: Oolog (poetry)
   76. James Daschuk: Clearing the plains
   77. Pieter-Louis Myburgh: Gangster state (tbc)
   78. Chris Marais & Julienne du Toit: Karoo roads
   79. Bronwyn Davids: Lansdowne dearest: My family’s story of forced removals
   80. Zirk van den Bergh: Ek wens, ek wens
   81. Erns Grundlingh: Sushi en Shosholoza: Rugbyreise en pelgrimstogte in Japan
   82. Antjie Krog: Poetry
   83. Petrovna Metelerkamp: Jeanne Goosen: ’n Lewe vol sinne
   84. Lynn Joffe: The gospel according to Wanda B Lazarus
   85. Mike Nicol: Espionage fiction
   86. Obie Oberholzer: Photography
   87. Christy Lefteri: The beekeeper of Aleppo
   88. Zanele Dlamini: Wounds of ignorance
   89. Landa Mabenge: Becoming him: A trans memoir of triumph
   90. Audrey Schulman: Theory of bastards
   91. Cherry Lewis: The enlightened Mr Parkinson
   92. Chris Mann: Troubadour
   93. Irene Fisher: I am still here
   94. Clinton du Plessis: Poetry
   95. Cameron McNeish: Scotland’s 100 best walks / There’s always the hills
   96. John T Edge: The Potlikker papers: A food history of the modern South
   97. Kobus Moolman
   98. Gerbrand Bakker: Boven is het stil (The twin) / De omweg (The detour)
   99. Sjón: The whispering muse (author an Academy Award-nominated singer)
   100. Deborah Rodriguez: The little coffee shop of Kabul
   101. Amy McDaid: Fake baby
   102. John Matisonn: Cyril’s choices
   103. Sharon Gosling: The house of hidden wonders – in conversation with Hugh David
   104. Chigozie Obioma: The fishermen / An orchestra of minorities
   105. Gaireyah Fredericks / Jaja Binks: Kaaps oppie Richterskaal
   106. Johan Jack Smith: Zola
   107. Colleen Higgs: My mother, my madness
   108.  Ria Winters: Reise met Schoeman
   109. Thomas Mollett: The Anni Dewani murder
   110. Christine Barkhuizen-le Roux: My naam is Prins
   111. Anel Heydenrych: Die afloerder
   112. Carla van der Spuy: Plaasmoorde (tbc)
   113. In memoriam: Session dedicated to all writers who lay down their pen in 2020
   114. Anton Harber: Southern African muckraking: 300 years of investigative journalism (tbc)
   115. Andisiwa Kawa: Enough
   116. John Costello: The Wild Coast
   117. Raks Seakhoa: Halala Madiba (poetry)
   118. Daniel Hugo: Die verdriet van België / Oorlog en terpentyn
   119. Lize Albertyn-du Toit: Die kinders van spookwerwe
   120. Paul Weinberg: On common ground – an exhibition of Peter Magubane and David Goldblatt
   121. Bridget Krone: Small mercies
   122. Marita van der Vyver: Borderline (Grensgeval)
   123. Hector Kunene: Poetry
   124. Sindiswa Seakhoa: Songs for Madiba (music)
   125. Irna van Zyl: Bloedsteen (Blood stone)
   126. Barbara Boswell: Black South African women’s novels as feminism
   127. Deena Padayachee: Poetry / short story
   128. Rajie Tudge: Teaching the canna bush

For further queries, please contact Darryl Earl David at [email protected] or on WhatsApp on 066 455 8822; website: www.richmondnc.co.za.