The Madibaland World Literary Festival, a proud University of the Western Cape (UWC) event, takes place from 1 to 4 November in the Northern Cape town of Richmond, popularly known as South Africa’s only Book Town.
The festival was established during the COVID-19 in 2020 and has since become a hybrid event, with live talks taking place in Richmond and an online component to allow international speakers to join.
In four short years, the festival has attracted winners of the prestigious Booker Prize, Damon Galgut and Ben Okri, as well as Irish Booker Prize winner, John Banville.
The Booker Prize is a literary award conferred each year to the best novel written in the English language and published in the United Kingdom and in Ireland.
Darryl David, author and lecturer in UWC’s Faculty of Education, commented about the festival: “I think not many people at UWC realise that the University probably has the best-balanced portfolio of literary festivals among any university in South Africa. “Besides Madibaland, the Faculty of Education also hosts the SA Festival of Children’s Literature and the Adam Small Festival in Pniel.”
For the Madibaland festival this year, writers can look forward to big names, such as Jonathan Eig, one of America's foremost biographers who will launch his biography of Martin Luther King. Eig is also behind the highly-acclaimed biography of Muhammad Ali.
Also allied to this session is Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, who will launch his memoir 'First, Best' at Madibaland. It is a book about leadership lessons and describes his journey in the civil rights movement during the time of Martin Luther King to eventually become the first Black Mayor of Montgomery in over 200 years.
Prominent local writers included at the festival are Ettienne van Heerden, Eben Venter, Justin Fox and Vernon Head.
David expressed his delight about adding Ukrainian authors, “We are proud to host two writers who will fly the Ukraine flag high at Madibaland@BookBedonnerd. Yuliya Musakovska and Lyuba Yakimchuk will read poetry and speak about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The latter is a Ukrainian poet, playwright and screenwriter who lives in Kyiv. She is best known for her 2015 poetry anthology, entitled Apricots of Donbas."
Musakovka writes poetry collections such as “Exhaling, Inhaling” (2020), “Masks” (2011) and “Hunting for Silence” (2014). Her poems have been translated into over 30 languages.
They will be joined by the great ambassador of the written word, Christopher Merrill, who will launch his anthology, On the Road to Lviv.
An interview with the organiser, Darryl David, has been published on the Afrikaans literary website Litnet and can be found here.
The festival was established during the COVID-19 in 2020 and has since become a hybrid event, with live talks taking place in Richmond and an online component to allow international speakers to join.
In four short years, the festival has attracted winners of the prestigious Booker Prize, Damon Galgut and Ben Okri, as well as Irish Booker Prize winner, John Banville.
The Booker Prize is a literary award conferred each year to the best novel written in the English language and published in the United Kingdom and in Ireland.
Darryl David, author and lecturer in UWC’s Faculty of Education, commented about the festival: “I think not many people at UWC realise that the University probably has the best-balanced portfolio of literary festivals among any university in South Africa. “Besides Madibaland, the Faculty of Education also hosts the SA Festival of Children’s Literature and the Adam Small Festival in Pniel.”
For the Madibaland festival this year, writers can look forward to big names, such as Jonathan Eig, one of America's foremost biographers who will launch his biography of Martin Luther King. Eig is also behind the highly-acclaimed biography of Muhammad Ali.
Also allied to this session is Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, who will launch his memoir 'First, Best' at Madibaland. It is a book about leadership lessons and describes his journey in the civil rights movement during the time of Martin Luther King to eventually become the first Black Mayor of Montgomery in over 200 years.
Prominent local writers included at the festival are Ettienne van Heerden, Eben Venter, Justin Fox and Vernon Head.
David expressed his delight about adding Ukrainian authors, “We are proud to host two writers who will fly the Ukraine flag high at Madibaland@BookBedonnerd. Yuliya Musakovska and Lyuba Yakimchuk will read poetry and speak about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The latter is a Ukrainian poet, playwright and screenwriter who lives in Kyiv. She is best known for her 2015 poetry anthology, entitled Apricots of Donbas."
Musakovka writes poetry collections such as “Exhaling, Inhaling” (2020), “Masks” (2011) and “Hunting for Silence” (2014). Her poems have been translated into over 30 languages.
They will be joined by the great ambassador of the written word, Christopher Merrill, who will launch his anthology, On the Road to Lviv.
An interview with the organiser, Darryl David, has been published on the Afrikaans literary website Litnet and can be found here.
