A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings by authors, as well as other events, delivered over a period of several days, with the primary objectives of promoting the authors' books and fostering a love of literature and writing.
John Maxwell Coetzee is a South African-Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in the English language. He has won the Booker Prize (twice), the CNA Prize (thrice), the Jerusalem Prize, the Prix Femina étranger, and The Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and holds a number of other awards and honorary doctorates.
The poetry of South Africa covers a broad range of themes, forms and styles. This article discusses the context that contemporary poets have come from and identifies the major poets of South Africa, their works and influence.
The Cape Town Stadium is an association football (soccer) and rugby union stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, that was built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. During the planning stage, it was known as the Green Point Stadium, which was the name of the older stadium on an adjacent site, and this name was also used frequently during World Cup media coverage. It is the home ground of Premier Soccer League clubs Cape Town Spurs and Cape Town City. It has also hosted the South Africa Sevens rugby tournament since 2015.
Damon Galgut is a South African novelist and playwright. He was awarded the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel The Promise. He was previously shortlisted in 2003 and 2010 for the Booker Prize.
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc., the foundation is the administrator and sponsor of the National Book Awards, a changing set of literary awards inaugurated 1936 and continuous from 1950. It also organizes and sponsors public and educational programs.
Chimurenga is a publication of arts, culture and politics from and about Africa and its diasporas, founded and edited by Ntone Edjabe. Both the magazine's name and the content capture the connection between African cultures and politics on the continent and beyond.
The Miami Book Fair is an annual literary festival event realized in Miami by Miami Dade College.
Lauren Beukes is a South African novelist, short story writer, journalist and television scriptwriter.
The Cape Town Book Fair is an international book fair in Sub-Saharan Africa that started through a joint venture between the Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA) and the Frankfurt Book Fair. It was established in 2006 to harness the momentum created by the Harare Book Fair and fill the gap left by the discontinuation of that book fair. The Cape Town Book Fair has since proved hugely popular with the general public.
The Handspring Puppet Company is a puppetry performance and design company established in 1981 by Adrian Kohler, Basil Jones, Jon Weinberg and Jill Joubert. It is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Zukiswa Wanner is a South African journalist, novelist and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary Awards (SALA) and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. In 2015, she won the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for London Cape Town Joburg (2014). In 2014 Wanner was named on the Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature. In 2020 she was awarded the Goethe Medal alongside Ian McEwan and Elvira Espejo Ayca, making Wanner the first African woman to win the award.
The Media24 Books Literary Awards are a group of five South African literary prizes awarded annually by Media24, the print-media arm of the South African media company Naspers. They are open to authors whose books are published within the Media24 Books stable, which includes NB Publishers, Jonathan Ball Publishers, LuxVerbi-BM, NVA, and Van Schaik Publishers. Each award is worth R35 000. The awards comprise:
A South African comic is a book or periodical published in South Africa that contains sequential art stories.
The Port Harcourt Book Festival is an annual literary event in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, organised by the Rainbow Book Club and endorsed by the Rivers State Government since 2008. The Garden City Literary Festival, which is currently known as the Port Harcourt Book Festival was founded by Governor Amaechi of Rivers State, Hundreds of literary fans flock to the Garden City every year for this six-day event, which includes a book fair, writers' workshops, and a variety of other activities. In the past the Festival has been attended by recognized authors and has hosted a number of celebrities.
Fish Hoek Library is a public library in the seaside suburb of Fish Hoek in Cape Town, South Africa. It was ranked 5th in the City of Cape Town's top circulating libraries in 2015
The Bookworm is a China-based literary organization with three bookstores by the same name in Beijing, Chengdu and Suzhou. As of November 2019 all locations have closed. In addition to selling books, The Bookworm is a restaurant, cafe, event space and library with more than 50,000 English and Chinese titles. Lonely Planet called it one of the “world’s greatest bookshops.”
The Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF) is an annual literary festival which takes place in the Indian coastal state of Goa, each December. It was founded in 2010.
Yewande Omotoso is a South African-based novelist, architect and designer, who was born in Barbados and grew up in Nigeria. She is the daughter of Nigerian writer Kole Omotoso, and the sister of filmmaker Akin Omotoso. She currently lives in Johannesburg. Her two published novels have earned her considerable attention, including winning the South African Literary Award for First-Time Published Author, being shortlisted for the South African Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the M-Net Literary Awards 2012, and the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Literature, and being longlisted for the 2017 Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction.
Book fairs and literary festivals are held throughout South Africa each year to promote literacy among children and adults. A country's literacy rate is often a key social indicator of development. In 2005, UNESCO Institute for Statistics reported a literacy rate of 94.37% among the population aged 15 years and older. The literacy rate among the male population in this age group was 95.4% and 93.41 for female counterparts. According to Statistics South Africa, functional illiteracy among those aged 20 years or older, was recorded at 15.4% in 2005. This has improved from 2002's 27.3%. Women are more likely to be functionally illiterate across all age groups, apart from those aged between 20 and 39 years old.
