Books, words, literature and Franschhoek — a heady mix from 14 — 16 May

Literary Festival

I don't need an excuse to head out to Franschhoek. The simply gor­geous little wine­lands' vil­lage eas­ily adapts its streets into the site of a party for writers and book lov­ers from around the world, and 2010, the Franschhoek lit­er­ary festival's fourth year, looks like it's set to be even more of a words and wine treat than ever before!

If you're any­thing like me, the chance to rub shoulders with authors, edit­ors, and poets while enjoy­ing debates, fas­cin­at­ing con­ver­sa­tions, talks by authors that range from dis­cus­sions about writ­ing tech­niques to more polit­ic­ally charged debates, leaves you slightly agit­ated. The thrill of being so close to a myriad South African authors, and to hear about the ins and outs of their books and writ­ing tech­niques gives me goose bumps. It's the closest I can get to exper­i­en­cing the artist hub of Paris, but one bet­ter, as it's only an hour from home, and I don't have to do pub­lic trans­port (shame­less bour­geois that I am).

So, as I rub my hands excitedly in anti­cip­a­tion, let me share a couple of the line-up high­lights that, if I didn't have a four-year-old, I would be rush­ing off to hear. Instead, I will live the exper­i­ence vicari­ously by writ­ing and think­ing about it (sigh).

Friday's lit­er­ary frenzy

In typ­ical fash­ion for Franschhoek, one of the very first talks on Friday is about food. Food books sell. And incase you choose to dif­fer, stop off at your local book­store and cast your eye over the 'let's cook' sec­tion. Even my home has a bounteous food book shelf, and we're not food fun­dis by any man­ner of means. But in the church hall (all the events are within walk­ing dis­tance of the Town Hall in the vil­lage centre) at 11.30am sharp,  Mark Dendy-Young of La Petite Ferme, and two well known foodie writers, Marlene van der Westhuizen and Myrna Robins, talk to Donald Paul of Big Issue fame (I'd go just to hear Donald Paul, as I'm quite a fan) in The Chefs Who Played with Fire.

But I have to say that my high­lights for Friday would be Doing it Weekly – on at 14.30 in the School Hall, in which one of my favour­ite colum­nists, Marianne Thamm, gets together with Ndumiso Ngcobo, Jacob Dlamini and Tyrone August, three other colum­nists, to dis­cuss their weekly angsts, and Writing by Numbers (at the same time as the former talk) in the Hospice Hall – where Jenny Crwys-Williams quizzes three recently pub­lished female authors – Marida Fitzpatrick, Angela Makholwa and Paige Nick about their first nov­els. Were they easy to write? (gawd, surely a first novel is some­thing like giv­ing birth?)

Other high­lights for Friday include: the book launch of Mike van Graan's Play Scripts in the Screening Room at 17.15, Flashbacks in a Strange Room where Damon Galgut (I'm a fan) and Ivan Vladislavic talk to Uk pub­lisher Toby Mundy.

For fans of Off the Wall Poetry, which hap­pens reg­u­larly in Cape Town, an open mic even­ing offer­ing local and Cape Town poets the chance to per­form is on at BICCCS Café at 18.30.

Saturday's heady whirl

Without a doubt, I would front a stam­pede to hear Who's Afraid of the ANC? Taking place in the School Hall at 13.00. Zapiro, Allan Boesak, who wrote Running with Horses, and Kader Asmal exchange views with Rhoda Kadalie (human rights act­iv­ist, fem­in­ist and former anti-apartheid act­iv­ist). On at the same time, unfor­tu­nately, is A Writer's Best Friend, which looks at the bond between author and editor and the art of get­ting the best out of manuscripts.

I'm a Novelist – Get Me Out of Here, also at 13.00 in the Hospice Hall, looks like fun, with Niq Mhlongo, John van de Ruit and Imraan Coovadia talk­ing about the unex­pec­ted aspects of being a nov­el­ist. Whilst Debutants' Ball allows three new authors – Aher Arop Bol, Marida Fitzpatrick and Adam Schwartzman to unbur­den them­selves of the dif­fi­culties of get­ting their work accep­ted, pub­lished and reviewed.

Other high­lights include hear­ing Marita van der Vyver (one of my favour­ite authors) in con­ver­sa­tion with Muriel Barbery, who appears to be bring­ing out a new book called Gourmet Rhapsody, in Of hedge­hogs and Gourmets in the Church Hall. And then of interest is Secret Agents at 11.30 in the Hospice Hall – what lit­er­ary agents and scouts do for the sys­tem, and why they're so import­ant. That's chaired by Karabo Kgoleng (SAFM presenter).

Sunday's wordy debates

At 10.00 there is Flying High (aptly in the School Hall) where John van de Ruit of Spud fame, talks about the highs, and lows, of being a best­selling author and about work­ing on the film ver­sion of Spud. At the same time, Isobel Dixon reads from her recent col­lec­tion of poetry, A Fold in the Map, in the Screening Room.

Other talks for Sunday include We don't Need No Education at 11.30 in the School Hall, where authors Mandla Langa, Deborah Posel and Graeme Bloch dis­cuss the state of the SA edu­ca­tion sys­tem and what should be done to cre­ate schools we could be proud of. Word of Mouth in the Church Hall at 14.30 looks at the impact of per­sonal recom­mend­a­tions and book club dis­cus­sions on the world of book mar­ket­ing, and includes

Ebook How to Avoid Disappoinment takes an inter­est­ing look at where the eBook has come in the last eight­een months and what this means, at 11.30 in the Council Chamber. And The Beautiful Game at the School Hall at 13.00 sees insiders of sport in this coun­try, Tom Watt and John Carlin, chat to Chris Thurman about the biggest show on earth that is about to roll into town. Also don't miss Laughing at Ourselves, in the School Hall at 14.30, and Who Do You Think You Are? in the Hospice hall at the same timel.

Writers of the lit­er­ary fest­ival will be avail­able for sign­ings from Wordsworth Bookshop in the Town Hall, whilst Treasure House will have a table of out-of-print South African authors' books.

Ticket prices are R60 each (R20 for students).

Look out too for the Sunday Times Dinners in aid of the Storybook Campaign, one at La Brasserie on Friday, and the other on Saturday at Reubens. Enjoy the cel­eb­ra­tion of books and writers at this year's lit­er­ary fest­ival in Franschhoek!

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