The Open Book Cape Town literary festival takes place over the Heritage Day long weekend from 20-24 September. The Fugard Theatre will be the hub, with other venues hosting events nearby, such as The Book Lounge and Central Library.

The objectives of the festival, simply put, are:

1. To put on a festival that attracts top international authors and audiences from around the world.

2. To showcase and promote South African authors to local and international audiences at this festival and through exchange programmes with such events as the Edinburgh Literary Festival.

3. To promote a love of reading and books amongst the youth of Cape Town.

Authors:

While the bulk of authors will be local to South Africa, you also get to hobnob with international authors the likes of, Joanne Harris, Lionel Shriver, Mark Kurlansky, Justine Picardie, Michela Wrong, Esi Edugyan, Alan Hollinghurst, Noo Saro-Wiwa, Kiran Desai, Lola Shoneyin, Kathryn Scholz, Mark Forsyth, James Gleick, Eliane Glaser.

Programme:

There’s so much going on so we have selected a few events to give a sense of the variety, but for the whole programme you should look at the Open Book Festival website.

Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference: Censorship Today
• Date: 20 September 2012
• Venue: The Fugard Theatre
• Time: 15.30 – 17.30
• Price: Free Event
Keynote address by Keith Gray, followed by an open discussion with the audience. Chaired by Mervyn Sloman. In partnership with the British Council and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Open Book will host the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference Satellite event

Book Club Morning 1
• Date: 20 September 2012
• Venue: The Book Lounge
• Time: 10.00 – 11.00
• Price: Free Event
Lola Shoneyin, Alan Hollinghurst and Patrick Flanery chat about their writing and give you a glimpse of how it’s done. Chaired by Megan Hitchens.

Anjali Joseph
• Date: 20 September 2012
• Venue: The Book Lounge
• Time: 12.00 – 13.00
• Price: Free Event
Anjali Joseph, author of Another Country, discusses her novel with Nicole Strauss.

Nigeria Writes
• Date: 24 September 2012
• Venue: Fugard Studio
• Time: 16.00 – 17.00
• Price: R30
Lola Shoneyin, Ifeanyi Ajaegbo, Noo Saro-Wiwa and Rotimi Babatunde discuss Nigerian writing with Yewande Omotoso.