Eastern Cape Book Festival

From as little as 30 attendees and almost no funds in 2014, the Eastern Cape Book Festival (ECBF) has grown to 200 literary-hungry attendees in 2015 with the promise of big things still to come. We spoke to Selome Payne, festival co curator and owner of Poetree Publications about what the buzz is all about and what the future holds.

Literary events are increasing by the day in South Africa, what was the reason behind starting a festival in the Eastern Cape?

The Eastern Cape (EC) has never really had a literary platform of its own, and as writers/artists from the region, we are very passionate about creating spaces that develop and promote our people – a platform that is nationally and globally recognized, not just as a small, unknown event. There is an abundance of writers in the EC that do not have the access to events like these, who cannot travel to outside festivals to showcase their writing or participate in programmes that cater for writers. That’s why we felt it necessary to bring these facilities to our EC artists, and create that space right in their surroundings.

What is the main goal of the festival?

First and foremost, to promote reading and writing in our communities – our vision and mission is to revitalize literature within the EC, combatting illiteracy, and contribute to the preservation of our indigenous languages. Our goal is also centered around providing sustainable programmes and events for our writers where they can network with key industry stakeholders and exhibit their books and talents on a greater scale.

The festival is only in its second year, but shows a lot of potential. Do you have any specific goals for the future?

Definitely! We want to be recognized as one of Africa’s leading literature festivals and expand this platform to such an extent that we host more and more writers every year. This year we launched our first poetry anthology and the interest has been phenomenal. We envision future anthologies to be distributed within our schools and also make it possible that more of our writers’ books find their way onto major bookshelves. We’re in the planning phases of incorporating an ECBF Kids programme as well – this will specifically cater for children’s literature – but it’s still an idea we’re toying with. We’d love to eventually establish fixed headquarters with an ECBF library, workshop centre and book donation facility.

There seems to be a great focus on poetry at the festival. Will you be focusing on different genres every year?

In the first year we had more poets showing interest in the event. The 2015 festival surprised even us as a team, where more writers of all genres came forward to launch their books and exhibit at the festival. We now have an even larger database, a wider variety of genres, and even greater interest from writers (even well-known internationally acclaimed authors) who wish to participate and contribute in the coming years. We definitely welcome all genres; this is an event where writers are able to learn from each other and encourage the youth to tell their own stories.

Were there any international participants this year?

Oh yes! We were privileged to host Jowhari Trahan this year. She is the owner/ editor of Urban Tymes International magazine in California, and Zarif Soulye Artist Management. She came all the way to address our writers and participants on marketing yourself as n international writer. This is the kind of opportunity we strive to create, so that writers and artists from the EC can expand their scope, gain the necessary knowledge and have access to facilities that would not generally be made available to them.

The Chain Poem at the ECBF sounds like a great initiative and we can’t wait to see the final poem. Can you tell us more on how this worked?

The Chain Poem was such a fun aspect. It came from an idea loosely based on a “so you think you can write” concept, where anyone could contribute one line that embodied or gave voice to their idea of ‘Revitalising SA Literature’ – our theme for the 2015 festival. There were some quirky thoughts, really hilarious lines, and ones that left you with a deep sense of introspection. I think the guests simply enjoyed having an opportunity to actively participate in the festival and add their own little literary mark, even if they are not writers/poets. It’s quite a jumble, and I’m still unscrambling it, but we hope to publish it in the 2016 anthology as a ‘special’.

Who is featured in the anthology and what is the purpose of it?

The ECBF poetry anthology is specifically open to poets from the EC: current residents as well as those who have moved to other regions but are originally from EC. We want to feature mostly young poets, to give their voices a platform and a platform to publish that’s their very own. With this annual anthology, we hope to publish as many EC poets as possible, and have the book distributed in our schools so that students can learn poetry written by their peers. For the coming publications, we will host workshops with hopeful poets and this will be a mandatory criterion to be considered for submission so that we can deliver high-quality poems in the publications and also develop the skills and talents of our youth.

Overall, would you say the ECBF reached its goal this year?

Oh, of course! We do not sell tickets; the festival is free to attend by anyone and everyone. We do ask that guests to sign a register on arrival or at any time during their visit. This way we have an indication of how many people attend over the two days and also get to contact guests after the event for their feedback. From starting off in 2014 with only about 30 visitors, and growing this year to nearly 200 people, we were pleasantly surprised and extremely satisfied with how this year’s festival turned out. We had 15 authors on exhibition, more than 20 writers and poets who shared their writing through readings, book launches and panel discussions and so many book lovers who enjoyed a fantastic two-day festival on their doorstep.