Call for speakers and events at SABF 2015

For the first-time ever, The South African Book Fair 2015 (SABF) will be held in Johannesburg,  South Africa’s industrial and cultural centre. It promises to bring to Jozi a literary festival like no other, and will be held at the beautiful and historic Turbine Hall in Newtown on 31 July – 2 August 2015. We would like to invite you to submit ideas and suggestions for the events programme.

SOUTH AFRICAN

BOOK FAIR

CALL FOR SPEAKERS AND EVENTS

THE SOUTH AFRICAN BOOK FAIR 2015 – A FIRST FOR JOBURG

For the first-time ever, The South African Book Fair 2015 (SABF) will be held in Johannesburg,  South Africa’s industrial and cultural centre. It promises to bring to Jozi a literary festival like no other, and will be held at the beautiful and historic Turbine Hall in Newtown, 31 July – 2 August 2015. A big bookfair in South Africa’s big city is big news, and we are excited for this inaugural event!

The focus of this fair will be a celebration of books, reading, writing and authors, with special attention given to current issues as well as the breadth and depth of South African and African publishing. The focus is mainly on being a literary festival, rather than a trade Fair. We are expecting around 6000 people. Friday is a day dedicated to learners, school groups, educators and librarians, whilst Saturday and Sunday will be aimed at the general public.

We would like to invite you to submit ideas and suggestions for the events programme.

Venues:

There are a number of spaces at Turbine Hall that would make ideal venues:

• Three rooms, perfect for panel discussions or presentations, 40, 60 and 80 pax. Each has a projector and screen.
• A launch room – capacity 80 pax
• Gourmet kitchen demo area – for cookbook authors to do demos  – capacity
• An elegant auditorium – capacity 120 pax
• A children’s event zone – capacity 60 with parents
• A children storytelling corner

Costs

In an effort to keep things simple, there is a flat R1500 publisher fee per event.

If the event is shared, for example an event with a panel of authors from different publishers, this R1500 fee will be split equally between the participating publishers

Please bear in mind that the travel arrangements surrounding your author would be for your account.

All rooms are fitted with a sound system and the cost is included in your flat fee.

A nominal fee (probably R10 per event) will be charged to Fair visitors, in order to manage numbers and rsvp’s. Once an event is sold out, ticket-issue for that event will close.

Process

All your suggestions and submissions are welcome. Be creative – we want to have lots of fun!

Please email your suggestions and submissions to Batya@batyabricker.co.za, by Friday 6 March 2015.

IMPORTANT: Only exhibiting publishers will be allowed to put forward authors for the events programme.   If SABF would like to invite a particular author, regardless of whether the publisher is exhibiting, we reserve the right to invite that author directly.

The venues and capacity at Turbine Hall are limited, and it is unlikely that we will be able to accommodate everyone’s requests. Once all submissions are received, a sub-committee will assist me in creating the final list of events and respective venues. Through events, exhibits, readings, launches, demos and debates, we hope to make books and words come to life, and we hope you will join us.

Looking forward to a positive response soonest!

Best regards,

Batya Bricker

Programme Director for the South African Book Fair 2015