Cape Town Book Fair the Place to be This Weekend

If you are a book lover and not in Cape town this weekend, then you are surely going to miss out. I only get there on Saturday afternoon and already feel like I’ve missed out big time!

For starters, there’s the Book Fair (16 – 19 June) – hundreds of events. Then there’s the Sunday Times Literary Awards on the evening of June 16, followed by the M-Net awards and the launch of the South African Book Development Council (SABDC) on June 17.

Here’s a list of stands and events I will be visiting before returning to Jozi:

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VC Netwox Up for BASA Award!

I hardly know how to write about this, but it’s also too brilliant to just leave sitting in my inbox. Maybe I should just let the letter speak for itself (and include a pic of moi to make it look extra-sharp):

From:

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Mmatshilo Motsei Braves All Comers at Vulindlela House

It was the year’s first crazy week. Couldn’t breathe – that time of the year when everybody is doing an annual report and everyone is chasing the end-June deadline when they have to present to Parliament. It is simply hectic for communications people like myself – but that doesn’t mean we don’t carry on with the after-hours things we love, like book readings!

I forgot to bring the camera, but I can assure you the The Kanga and the Kangaroo Court reading was a blast. We had almost 70 people – and judging from the turnout, Vulindlela House might need an extension or a complete move to accommodate the surging numbers.

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Reading: Mmatshilo Motsei at VC House

Four days to the year after Jacob Zuma was acquitted of rape, the VC Netwox Book Club welcomes Mmatshilo Motsei for a reading at VC House this Friday.

Motsei is the author of the controversial book, The Kanga and the Kangaroo Court, which focuses on the experiences of Zuma’s accuser during the trial.

RSVP details below – see you there!

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Vulindlela to the Kanga, to the Kangaroo Court

Nothing could have catapulted a garment into the public eye as much as what the Jacob Zuma rape trial did for the kanga. From some obscure fashion corner, the kanga suddenly blasted its way into newspaper headlines and was, for the period of the trial and shortly thereafter, the latest fad – not worn though, just talked about.

Until this trial, “kanga” was a foreign word – and I’m not talking about it being alien to whites only, even most Africans didn’t know what this garment, if it is a garment at all, was. I recall a heated debate at one of VC Netwox sessions on what it is.

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Typecast: the Triple BEE

For those who missed it – got an article in the Sunday Times this weekend, about that loveable character who haunts our chichi pubs and bars, waiting to be identified as a Big Man of BEE, but whose moment passed many years ago…

You know him – the Triple BEE! Here’s my “Typecast”:

There is a nuisance marauding the nightclubs these days and he is irritating the day lights out of young women. Known as the BBBEE (pronounced Triple BEE), he is often found at pubs in Rosebank, sporting his stomach-out (unintentionally) striped shirt, which he bought with his last salary sometime around the first democratic election.

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Book Discussion: Africans in America: America's Journey through Slavery

The American Consulate in Johannesburg celebrates American Women History month with a discussion of the book, Africans in America: America’s Journey through Slavery, by Charles Johnson and co-authored by Patricia Smith.

The American Political Attaché, Minister Counselor Dr. Ray Brown, will moderate a panel discussion comprising, amongst others, yours truly (Pinky Kgoabane), David Monyae (Department of International Relations—Wits), Francis Kanegay (Center for Policy Studies) and Prof. Shadrack Gutto (Africa Institute). The discussion will be followed by a talk with one of the authors via digital video conference. All are welcome. For catering purposes, Selaelo needs those interested to confirm by 28th March – please note RSVP and event details below.

Hope to see you there!

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The Straight Mgosi on Khumalo’s New Zuma Book

There’s never a dull moment at book sessions, no matter how unresponsive the audience may be, as was the case at the VC Netwox Bryanston Library reading with Fred Khumalo and Ronald Suresh Roberts. The library is patronised by – how else to say it? – extremely mature white citizens, and it was perfectly understandable why they couldn’t relate to these two black blokes and their books.

After all, the books deal with apartheid-era South Africa – which most whites would rather forget. It was therefore to the after-session that we looked for rejuvenation. It turns out Fred is on leave from the Sunday Times in order to spend some time working on his next book – a biography of Jacob Zuma. (I’d wondered why we missed his column last week.) Rumours are flying as to whether or not Zuma’s camp has given the nod of approval to the project – but we can be sure Fred will keep a steady head in either case.

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Khumalo and Roberts: Round 11 at Bryanston Library

Fred Khumalo and Suresh Roberts are at it again! Yes, these two “rivals” will be reading together at the Bryanston Library in two days’ time, fuelling speculation that a truce is on the cards. The event, hosted by Vulindlela Communications, through its social responsibility programme, VC Netwox Book Club, will take place at 12.30 pm and is free and open to the public.

Roberts will read from his biography of Nadine Gordimer, No Cold Kitchen, whilst Khumalo will read from his memoir, Touch My Blood. Both men will sign their books which will be on sale on the day at a 10% discount off the retail price.

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Edwin Cameron Bares All at VC Netwox

So often, our picture of AIDS is that of an emaciated and de-humanised being on the verge of dying. That picture pales against the frame of this hunk, Judge Edwin Cameron, who apart from his tireless fight for human rights, gained prominence when he publicly announced that he was HIV positive in 1999 – making him the only South African in high office to declare his status.

Unlike the “normal” portrayal of AIDS, Judge Cameron is very much alive. With the exception of “small traces of the virus in his glands and his testicles”, as Edwin explained during his reading at VC Netwox on Saturday 3 February, he lives a normal life. Flanked by the largest number of readers we have ever had at the sessions, Edwin took us through the myriad issues that surround AIDS today – the mystery that is AIDS, the stigma and shame that are so central to the disease and the moral and legal dilemmas that often confront those who have it.

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