Heritage heart warmers for Glenwood Book Fair - IOL
Zimbabwean author Sue Nyathi is the featured author at the Glenwood Book Fair. She will be speaking next Saturday.
The Glenwood Book Fair is one of the city’s highlights over the Heritage Day weekend, featuring almost 60 authors over four days from September 24-27. It is being held across four venues in the suburb; the Umbilo Library at Bulwer Park, the KZNSA Gallery, the Mazisi Kunene Museum and the Phansi Museum. All sessions are free.
This not-for-profit community event celebrates Durban as a UNESCO City of Literature, and aims to drive a culture of writing and reading in Durban and to promote writing and publishing, especially in indigenous languages.
The fair starts on Thursday September 24 with a programme for children featuring children’s authors, dancers, musicians and storytelling at Bulwer Park in partnership with the Umbilo Library and the Glenwood Urban Improvement Precinct.
On Friday September 25 it moves to Mazisi Kunene Museum where the focus shifts to examining and celebrating the work of South Africa’s first poet laureate Mazisi Kunene and the promotion of indigenous languages. The afternoon programme shifts to the arts at the KZNSA. Here a panel will examine the intersection of art and storytelling before we welcome best-selling local authors for a panel called The Durban Voice.
On Saturday and Sunday the fair moves to the Phansi Museum. Here people can meet dozens of authors - from bestselling novelists to historians, from poets to sociologists - all steered in their conversations by prominent Durban citizens. In addition a craft market will feature at the museum from 9am to 5pm on both days.
Architect Paul Mikula will welcome visitors at 10am, followed by New Voices facilitated by Kiru Nadoo at 10.15am. This features new authors Anira Pather, Babes Moodley, Sue Naidoo and Dr Khaya Nzimande. At 11.30 am Illa Thompson and the Street Lit vendors will talk on Denis Hurley’s Street Lit programme.
At noon, journalist Lee Rondganger facilitates Being South African, a conversation with authors Nathi Olifant, Nivashni Nair Sukdhev, Irene Fynn and Elana Bregin.
At 1:15pm Zimbabwean author Sue Nyathi will speak. This year’s featured writer, her debut bestseller The Polygamist (2012) and her second book The Gold Diggers (2018) have received critical acclaim worldwide.
At 2.30pm Thulile Zama will facilitate The Inner Voice featuring Dhipika Seopursat, Siyabonga Zondi, Glynis Horning and Dr Fathima Deedat. At 4pm Dr Michael Sutcliffe engages with panellists Tholsi Mudly, Jerald Vedan, Ashwin Desai, Monique Marks and Lorraine Richards in a session titled A Sense of Space.
On Saturday September 26 at 6.30pm, a special food and wine dinner will be served at The Poke Box at the Phansi Museum. The four-course meal with wines by Matt Draper consists of shime saba, salmon consomme, nam tok beef and mesquite ice cream. Cost is R590 a head. To book call 063 470 1800.
At 10.15am Keyuran Maharaj facilitates another New Voices panel featuring Alvin Gulzar, Kuvera Chetty and Jose Dos Santos, while at 11am Sociologist and author Dr Ashwin Desai gives a talk titled Uncomfortable Truths.
At 1.45pm Viroshen Chetty leads The Speculative Voice with Khaya Maseko, Ziyaad Ally Khan and Terisha Govender, while at 2:45pm is the launch of the book Sinikithemba: The Labour of Hope and Science at McCord Hospital in the Era of HIV. Here Kiru Naidoo speaks to its authors Jennifer Upton, Janet Giddy and Catherine Burns.
At 3.45pm Dr Kira Erwin hosts a session on Book Clubs of Durban featuring Venilla Yoganathan from Durban Book Club, Nana Vezi from Not Just For Bookworms and Lameez Patel from Silent Book Club in the Upper Highway.
