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Lovers of books and of meaningful conversations can get ready for the next edition of the Open Book Festival. This much beloved item on Cape Town’s literary calendar returns in early September.
“We cannot wait to see everyone at the festival. It will take place from 8 – 10 September at the Homecoming Centre again, and we are hard at work putting together three days of conversations that matter,” says Frankie Murrey, curator for the Open Book Festival.
Open Book Festival sees authors, publishers, and members of the public engage in discussions around the topics that matter to everyone in the country. The Homecoming Centre provides a safe space for these conversations to take place.
“Our focus last year was on inviting writers based in South Africa and this time around we are broadening that to include writers who are based on the African continent. We’re always excited by the debut writers we are able to programme and this year is no different. Audiences have some powerful voices to meet at OBF 2023,” says Murrey.
The Open Book Festival has been in existence since 2011. The Fugard Theatre (as it was known then, later to be renamed the HCC: Homecoming Centre) has always been the hub for the event. The pandemic forced organisers to reformat the event into two podcast series editions, but there was a return to a live, in-person format in 2022.
As part of the Open Book series of events for 2023, the OBF team recently wrapped up a successful Workshop Week. The six-days of workshops was hosted at Bertha House in Mowbray. It was preceded by a dedicated festival event for young readers, in March this year.
“This was our second Workshop Week. We learned a lot from the pilot in 2022 and put those lessons into practice this year. We grew the number of workshops we ran and also ran several full day workshops and 2 multi-day sessions. We’re very happy with how it went and are certain this will become a permanent fixture on our calendar,” she says.
An Open Mic night on Friday night was very well attended, with three headline poets supported by several first-time performers sharing their talents with the audience. Another item this week was a three-day workshop designed to encourage creative writing against gender-based violence.
Author and editor Karina Szczurek presented two sessions during the week, on the basics of writing a short story, as well as on the steps to prepare your short story for a competition. She says she wanted to share with her audience how they can take their written words to the next level by looking at a short story critically and then possibly submitting it for a competition.
“I have seen how often very simple things can go wrong. Somebody may have a voice and a story, yet it fails to reach the reader because of very simple technicalities. I have been on both sides – as a writer submitting my work, but also as an editor or a judge, looking at someone’s submission. My goal was to show people what happens behind the curtain, after they submitted their work for consideration.”
Murrey says the programme and the topics for the Open Book Festival will be announced in coming weeks, and she invites fans of the event to keep an eye on their social media channels for updates.
“We have a strong history of curating events that allow robust conversation to take place exploring some of the challenges we face as South African and global citizens. We are also invested in building a love of books, reading and storytelling amongst all.
“We believe that through our stories we better understand and empathise with each other and as such festivals such as Open Book are of fundamental and ongoing importance,” she says.
For updates and more information, go to www.openbookfestival.co.za.
The Workshop Week 2023 was made possible thanks to the support of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, and the Heinrich Boll foundation.