The Open Book Festival 2023 is set to run at The Homecoming Centre, Cape Town, South Africa from September 8 – 10, 2023.
The Open Book Festival is a literary festival held annually in Cape Town, South Africa since 2011. It was initiated by Mervyn Sloman of The Book Lounge (a Cape Town-based bookshop) and Ben Williams then of ‘Books Live,’ now a literary-focused subsidiary of the South African newspaper Times Live.
The second edition of the festival after a two-year Covid-19 break, is set to return to the most Southern city on the continent this September. Organisers hosted a dedicated festival event for young readers in March before bringing together a six-day workshop in early June. The workshop week was made possible thanks to the support of the South African Department of Sports, Arts, and Culture, and the Heinrich Boll Foundation.
“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,” festival curator Frankie Murrey said to LitNet.
Unlike in the previous year, the plan is not to have just South Africa-based writers but incorporate those from across the continent as well.
The program and the festival guests are not known at the moment. What we can expect is readings, panel discussions with knowledgeable moderators and turned-on panelists, screenings, exhibitions, and loads more you would expect at a literary festival.
My suggestion is to prepare your September for this event which has in the past featured some of the coolest writers and poets on the continent. You can keep up with happenings through the website, www.openbookfestival.co.za. or come back here every once in a while. We’ll do our best to keep you in the loop. Like we always do.
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