Cape Libr., Nov/Dec 2005
14
‘South Africa is experiencing a renaissance of the arts.
With the end of apartheid, writers and artists of all kinds
seem to have lost the inhibitions that came from orion
and are now writing more fiction, biography and history
than ever before.’
BERYL EICHENBERGER
Project Manager, Mother City
Book Festival
The Mother City Book Festival
from 30 August to 4 September
2005, offered a wide range of
events for book lovers and featured
more than 75 speakers over
the six days. More than 2 000
people took advantage of the
abundance of activities that cel-
ebrated the written word.
Having spread its wings following the success of the in-
augural Celebrate Women Book Festival of 2004, the event
was no longer gender specific but adamant about the need
to showcase South African talent. The theme Escape with a
good read… dwelt on the use of imagination that reading and
story-telling offers and the involvement of top South African
authors, poets and publishers offered the public a taste of
what is available. In association with the Victoria & Alfred
(V&A) Waterfront venues in and around this popular venue
were used as well as around the Peninsula. Objectives were
to engender a culture of reading with both children and
adults, showcase our South African talent, offer opportuni-
ties for the public to interact with writers and explore the
world of writing, offer schoolchildren creative story-telling
workshops and to raise funds for Love to Read.
The opening event at the Nedbank Board of Executives
(BoE) Auditorium at the Clock Tower gave guests a taste
of the direction of the festival and featured story-telling as
the vital link that gave children the love of stories and using
their imagination, thus creating a desire to read and explore
the world contained in books. Poetry, in each of the three
major languages of the Cape, showed the audience what
rich talent we have on our doorstep and how this genre has
gained in popularity.
Keynote speaker Premier Ebrahi