A look at recent literary events

The past six months have been filled with festivals and fairs all promoting and celebrating the literary industry. In general it seems like interest in these festivals are growing by the day, with more and more events every year. Here is an update on what’s been happening in 2015 so far.

World Read Aloud day (4 March)
This event was celebrated across the world in different ways, but South Africa really impressed with a new read-aloud record. The campaign in South Africa was organised by Nal’ibali, who made a story available for download for free. The organisation hoped to have the story read to more than 50 000 children across South Africa this year, but instead broke the record with 166 360 children being read to on the 4th of March. Nal’ibali hopes to build on this record and that the event will raise greater awareness under people to read aloud to children every day.
www.nalibali.org

Indie Book Fair (20–21 March)
The mood of optimism and renewed enthusiasm of many of those attending the Fair suggested that the time is ripe for a radical transformation of the local publishing and distribution terrain. Individual authors as well as publishers and service organisations filled the exhibition stands erected at the venue. Interesting exhibiters included the National English Literary Museum from Grahamstown, the Professional Editors Group and the Academic and Non-fiction Authors Association of South Africa. Several hundred visitors attended the programme of talks and panel discussions. African Narratives (AfNa), a notfor-profit company, was officially launched during the Fair. Writers and small publishers were urged to become members and help AfNa to support the development of a thriving local literature in South Africa.
www.africannarratives.org.za

US Woordfees (6 – 15 March)
This predominately Afrikaans festival hosted by Stellenbosch University had another successful year. The theme was “Sestien onse” (Sixteen groups of me). As always the coordinators lined up a very diverse programme featuring not only some of the country’s top artists but also up-and-coming ones.
www.sun.ac.za/english/woordfees

Knysna Literary Festival (18 – 22 March)
The festival that started off as a small, intimate event has in the past six years grown to be a well-known event throughout South Africa receiving support from some of the country’s top publishers. Festival Manager, Sasha Campbell described the programme as quirky and exciting in terms of the topics and the speakers. “This year we had the highest festival attendance ever of more than 2000 people. The most exciting part is that most of the events were sold out long before the festival.”
www.knysnaliteraryfestival.co.za

Bologna Children’s Book Fair (30 March – 2 April)
The event reserved for professionals from the children’s publishing sector was again a great success. This year the fair was preceded by the Weekend for Young Readers, which attracted more than 22 000 partaking visitors over two days. Foreign visitors were clearly represented at the children’s fair with a 10% increase from 98 countries. In total the festival saw a 15% increase in attendance on 2014. Attendees seem to agree that at this year’s fair the focus wasn’t on the big books but rather the special books.
www.bookfair.bolognafiere.it

London Book Fair (14 – 16 April)
A few South Africans were able to attend the London Book Fair this year, thanks to a sponsorship from PASA. We mark the event with some comments from the attendees.

Clare-Rose Julius, Porcupine Press
The size of the venue was quite overwhelming for someone not used to the magnitude of the international book fairs. It took me the entire day to walk around and meet with fellow publishers. There was so much to discover at the fair, and business and networking opportunities were great. Overall I think my trip to the London Book Fair has been successful. In particular, I was able to:
• Enhance my relationship with one of the best independent publishers operating in Britain;
• Collect invaluable information on the computerised systems available to small independent publishing businesses like Porcupine Press;
• Form partnerships with agencies able to distribute our books in the United Kingdom;
• And form partnerships with publishers anxious to use our distribution services to market their books in South Africa. I do, however, regret that I had too little time to visit some of the many interesting talks and panel discussions.

Andrea Vermaak, BK Publishing
The London Book Fair 2015 proved to be a great success for BK Publishing. I learnt much regarding the international publishing industry from digital development and solutions, to rights buying. The conference sessions were most informative, especially those regarding online marketing. Much of that which I learnt will definitely be implemented to improve our business.

Colleen Higgs, Modjaji Books
I find myself in London in Spring, walking along Kensington High Street from our hotel, to the Book Fair, a huge hub of publishing deals, well-groomed agents and publishing wheelers and dealers, and still there is space for a small feminist press from South Africa, space for our unsettling stories to find new ears.