The country’s major literary events the Weekly Mail Book Week, will open in Cape Town on Monday and Johannesburg on November 7 with a keynote address on censorship by Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie.
A fortnight of discussions will follow among leading authors, artists, photographers, academics, poets, playwrights and publishers on subjects including literature and politics, art and the “struggle” and influences exerted on the writing of history.
The Essential Gesture by Nadine Gordimer, co-published, in South Africa by Taurus and David Philip, will be launched at the Book Week.
Justified Press will launch three books of poetry — At the End of the Day by Andries Oliphant; Collecting Darkness by Don MacLennan; and Images from Africa by Lola Watter.
Justified will also introduce the Vita Anthology of New South African Short Fiction edited by Marcia Leveson.
All five books will be launched at the final session of the Book Week on Saturday, November 7 in Johannesburg.
The Weekly Mail Book Week is sponsored by the Netherlands Embassy, the French Embassy, the British Council and Exclusive Books.
Wine has been provided by Zonnebloem.
Sessions in Cape Town will be held at the Baxter Concert Hall and in Johannesburg at the Market Theatre Warehouse.