The latest edition of Durban International Book Fair started yesterday, celebrates the written words kept alive by authors during the pandemic

on Aug 02, 2022

The Durban International Book Fair started yesterday, promising a stellar line-up of authors, publishers, promoters of language and musicians from South Africa. The event is hosted by Durban Book Fair, a non-profit, civil-society initiative in support of Africa’s only UNESCO city of literature.

Under the theme “Unlocked & Unleashed”, the fair pays a tribute to the many local and international storytellers who kept “the word alive” during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Durban International Book Fair was launched in July 2018 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela and to promote reading among children and the youth. Since then, it has convened monthly fairs at Mitchell Park, in Durban townships and online. This year’s programme will see 46 sessions over a seven-day period, featuring more than 100 writers.

The Durban International Book Fair starts with the launch of Phoenix Buses by Zainul Aberdeen. It relates the rich history of the privately owned buses that provide communities with transport. Telling the stories of the bus drivers and other employees who have made the system a success, this is the first recorded history of this area since it was created in 1976.

The fair also features Bhekisisa Mncube, an award-winning journalist and the author of the bestselling memoir The Love Diary of a Zulu Boy, who will be launching his long-awaited book The Ramaphosa Chronicles. In the book, Mncube focuses on one of the most challenging periods in this country’s history – plagued by the Covid-19 pandemic, PPE corruption, Zuma’s legal woes, failed insurrection, and endless talk of the ANC renewal.

Also, hundreds of local authors have used the fair’s platform to launch and promote their books in the past and debut authors have not been left out at the book fair this time as well. Priscilla Maistry will be launching a children’s book called A Little Girl Named Kira, in which the protagonist can speak with animals and goes on adventures in the forest.

Poets also get their time to shine as Paul Falconer, Boitumelo Canady and Tilly Govender, as well as Ekta Somera, who is a South African youth ambassador, an author and the founder of the Paper Trail Literary Journal, will be featured. Somera will launch “twenty-two”, a collection of poetry and prose reflecting on a year in her life full of spiritual growth, in a transition from a caterpillar to a butterfly, with carefully articulated anecdotes and imagery of nature, love and healing.

The Durban International Book Fair takes place at Sibaya Casino & Entertainment Kingdom from 1 to 5 August) and at Pick n Pay Hyper Durban North from 6 and 7 August respectively.