Highlights from the South African Book Fair 2015

on August 2 | in Featured, LIFESTYLE | by admin | with No Comments

For the first time in Johannesburg, The South African Book Fair 2015 was held from 31 July to 2 August at the Forum, Turbine Hall, Newtown. Over 100 authors, writers, poets, publishers and playwrights shared their experience, talent and industry knowledge with the book loving audience in a three-day jam-packed programme. We have selected a few highlights we enjoyed over the weekend.

The Publishers Exhibition featured well-known publishers like Jonathan Ball Publishers and Penguin Random House, as well as a section of small publishers exhibition sponsored by SETA and African publishers from the continent.

Get Published! Author Mark Winkler talked about breaking through the publishing barrier and publishers shared a few tricks of the trade on the topic.

Publish Yourself. A guide to the complicated world of publishing and how can authors publish themselves.

Books, Blogs and Flieks. Craig Higginson, Fred Strydom and Harry Kalmer chated about storytelling for book, stage and film.

How Imagination Can Change the World. Blogger Uno de Waal and ad-men John Hunt, Mark Winkler and Khaya Dlanga discussed the power and magic of imagination in storytelling.

The Books You Read Say a Lot About Who You Are. A fascinating journey into self-discovery with novelists Niq Mhlongo, Finuala Dowling and Rehanna Rossouw.

Poetry Masterclass. Aspiring poets get introduced to what it tales to write good poetry by Finuala Dowling.

Scriptwriting Stories. Entrepreneur and author Ronnie Apteker discussed scriptwriting with legends Fred Strydom and Harry Kalmer.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. Fred Strydom, Melissa Delport and Lauren Beukes talked about speculative fiction and the rules of this new reality.

Children events. Kids were entertained with Jurassic Park stories at Dem Bones, and got the chance to become a detective for a day on a mystery solving adventure. Author Lauren Beukes read her Wonderwoman comic “The Trouble with Cats” and shared how comics are made, and creator David Melling of the Hugless Douglas series showed how his character came to life to the young audience.

Publishing in Africa. Sessions discussing the challenges and opportunities of trading books in Africa.

Editing Workshop. A 50 minute hands-on workshop about editing to try your hand at professional editing.

South African Fiction at 21 and The South African Novel at 21. Various local novelists discussed the meaningof democracy and what it means for the local publishing industry.

The Fair’s grand finale included a dress-up Mad Hatter’s Tea party moderated by Tina Bester (The Queen of Tarts in SA) with prizes and readings in English and indigenous languages, all in celebration of the 150th birthday of the unforgettable Alice in Wonderland epic tale.

To find out more about the event visit www.southafricanbookfair.com.