Photo: Mary Alexander, MediaClubSouthAfrica.com
BookBedonnerd
Thursday 27 to Saturday 29 October 2011
25 Guest Speakers
including Roger Ballan, Antjie Krog, Deon Meyer, Sandile Ngidi,
Chris Nicholson, Obie Obeholzer, Albie Sachs, Dana Snyman
and Ivan Vladislavac
Book Launches and Publishers’ Exhibits
Well over 50 000 books on sale
covering every imaginable subject in English, Afrikaans, Dutch and German, and housed in eight buildings
Generous Dealers’ Discounts
Art Exhibitions and Sales
Craft Stalls
Historical Walks
Bowls, Golf, Tennis and Squash (by arrangement)
Four Restaurants
- three with pubs and live Saturday-afternoon sports coverage
Kids’ Activities
Live Music
Fast-food Kiosks and Braai Facilities
BOOKS :
Darrel: 053 693 0665
ACCOMMODATION :
Good Morning Karoosters....
It’s coming down to the business end of our 5th anniversary as South Africa’s national booktown. And let me take this opportunity to take a trip down memory lane before the temperamental writers start!!!
This is really a thank you to all those who have made the forgotten town of Richmond the most talked about dorp in all of the Karoo. Just the other day, I had a student ask me how I coined the name BoekBedonnerd. I told her I had heard Chris Chameleon talk of being Jonker- Bedonnerd. But my memory is as poor as my cheque account. I forgot it was Engemi Ferreira who gave me the idea in her inimitable style. She used it in those early e- mails to me, and I knew there and then – this was the name I wanted for the festival. True, it has divided people more than the inclusion of John Smit in the Springbok World Cup squad, but boy, it has worked a charm for us. So aan Engemi, wil ek baie dankie se. En hierdie is ‘n persoonlike uitnodiging na Richmond. Want ek vergeet nie die mense wat by my gestaan het in daardie eensame jare!!!
I also think back to Wium van Zyl, who opened the floodgates to Richmond. Once he had coaxed John Kannemeyer and Braam de Vries along, the rest, as they say, is history. And Denis Beckett – probably the only person to have been with us for every festival. A great ambassador! Thank you, all of you.
Projects like this also need publicity. Willem de Vries was the first journalist, along with Chris Marais & Julie du Toit, who put us on the map in the Afrikaans and English press respectively. Willem is also the first literary editor of an Afrikaans newspaper to invite me to write for Die Burger. I sometimes feel embarrassed at how ‘green’ I was in the early days. When Willem interviewed me, I was going on about Wium, John and Braam, not realising that Braam de Vries was Willem’s Dad. Luckily, I said all good things. But he must have thought I was ‘brown-nosing', when in fact, that is who I was then! A boy from the Kingdom of the Zulu who had to find his way in the Karoo.
Etienne van Heerden has also been very good to us. I always say– you can’t fault Etienne for enthusiasm. At the Schreiner Festival, he was one of the few people who attended every talk, no matter how small or big the reputation of the writer. Etienne, through LITNET, has ensured we reached the ears of the intended audience.
The
Witness, the newspaper in my hometown has also been very kind to us,
having supported the booktown when others were sceptical. Their
placement of Denis Beckett’s article went a long way to increasing
the popularity of our Karoo Richmond in KZN.
And then there is one Ben Williams, head honcho of BooksLIVE. He first called our booktown a bookdorpetjie!!! But he has been a pillar of strength
over the years.
Then, off course, there are the writers. Where would we be without you? Ye of small bank balances but infinite generosity of spirit. Thank you! Because of all of you, we can today boast that the Karoo is indeed the literary heartland of SA. Since we began, we’ve seen the start of the Schreiner Festival in Cradock and the Athol Fugard Festival in Nieu- Bethesda and the J.M.Coetzee Festival in Richmond as well. Throw in the KKNK into the mix and few will quibble with us.
... and BoekBedonnerd is not just about books eh!!
And lastly, to the Minister of Finance of Booktown Richmond, Peter Baker. I work with many others on literary festivals, and they are great people, Nikki Tilley and Lisa Antrobus Ker. But it has been a joy to work with Peter Baker. For a man who is old enough to be my father, he has that playful youthfulness about him that endears him to all and sundry. Just the other day I was asking if we had a projector that could use a memory stick without a laptop.........can’t repeat what he actually said but I laughed for days. So to Peter – and indeed the thousands who will make their way to Booktown Richmond, I say: let’s enjoy this one! As an after party to the Boks bringing home the World Cup!!!
Please print a copy of the programme just in case as they tend to be in short supply. Last year we were a little stressed out in the scheduling department....the old amateur thing coming to the fore...we’ll be better this year.
This year we are pleased to be able to have some of the presentations at the beautiful Modern Art Projects Gallery which is down the road from Booktown Richmond HQ, opposite the village square and the Town Hall. It will offer a lovely change and an opportunity to stretch the old legs. In addition we are very chuffed that Richmond Filums will be once again presented by the William Humphrey’s Museum and by Gail & David Robbins also at MAP.
It
is all well and dandy that we have this wonderful little dorp in the
middle of the vast Karoo and that a few times a year we are inundated
with literary people; readers and writers and even a few wannabees,
but in between times the reality of the Karoo at its harshest once
again sets in and life isn’t all that great. Employment or the lack
of it is at the heart of the problem. Granted that during the
festivals there are a few people who pick up some temporary work but
nothing permanent. We are a Booktown so we believe we must create
real work in this little industry.
Photo: Mary Alexander, MediaClubSouthAfrica.com
