Quite literally, the fair has more than doubled in space booked by exhibitors to more than 10 000m2 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. The numbers roll on, and up: whereas last year’s event boasted 313 events, this year will see 470. Last year there were 418 exhibitors from 36 countries, and 2Â 000 international trade visitors. International delegations for this year include the International Publishers Association, which represents more than 50 countries; the International Booksellers Federation, representing 90 booksellers; the British Publishers Association; and the African Publishers Network (Apnet).
It’s all very impressive, and will take place under the beguiling rubric ‘More than black on whiteâ€. Still, questions linger. The fair defines itself as ‘a joint venture between the Publishers’ Association of South Africa (Pasa) and the Frankfurt Book Fair, in association with the Sunday Timesâ€. But if it is truly to become a joint venture with Frankfurt, then Cape Town’s raison d’être must be upheld, and vigorously. Frankfurt is the Cannes Festival of the books world — the industry, and its wheeling and dealing, churning relentlessly beneath the distracting glamour, a very superior and cerebral sop to the public.
Given that, Cape Town’s success needs to be assessed — and ultimately appreciated — in relation to rights sold. Simply put, how many South African titles are snapped up by international publishers? How much business is conducted by visiting presses from England, North America, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Germany, France, China and India? What sort of forum for dealing in the business of books does Cape Town provide?
These questions did not much exercise many of the 26 000 visitors to last year’s fair. They were there because of the authors, the readings, the signings, the debates, the exhibitors and the cocooning milieu of books and the word. In that sense, Cape Town had an auspicious debut.
In its second coming, the fair will have both to retain the elements that made it a hit with the reading and book-buying public and augment its fledgling status as a place to do business. The fair’s director, Vanessa Badroodien, is well aware of the delicate balance required.
Officially, she is quoted as saying: ‘We have tried to strike a balance between literary and academic events, and more mainstream activities that will appeal to a wide range of readers. We received excellent feedback from visitors, trade delegations, booksellers and publishers after last year’s event.
‘Using this information, we have created a programme that should offer value to everybody who attends, whether they are wanting to engage in serious discussion about the quality of local literature or be entertained by food and wine writers, poets and humorists.â€
At a recent media event in Johannesburg, she spoke passionately and cogently to me about the challenges Cape Town faces, particularly as a rights fair. Her position was well informed by the criticism in that regard of last year’s event, and no one could accuse her of not taking much of it to heart.
If anyone can achieve the golden mean that will make the fair an unqualified success in the realms of the popular and the book industry, it is Badroodien. The potential and the pitfalls make her position both enviable and unenviable. She has an event that is immensely popular but that falls a little awkwardly between Frankfurt fairs. The question has been asked if Cape Town is a prelude to Frankfurt, or a postscript to the previous year’s. It is somewhat unfair, this burden of definition, but it is also crucial in the raison d’être for Cape Town.
There are other localised and national obligations too. Badroodien is reported as saying, ‘ — we want to determine how we can expand the fair so that it makes a more significant impact on the Western Cape, both economically and creatively. This is one of our exciting challenges for 2007 and beyond.â€
I would posit an extended agenda: that the Cape Town Book Fair draws more African publishers into its ambit. Why not look to the pan-African festival of film and television of Ouagadougou (Fespaco) as a continental inspiration? Fespaco provides a truly African forum for African cinema, and Cape Town could — and perhaps should — be doing the same.
The rewards of publishing in Africa are addressed elsewhere on this week’s books pages, as well as in the Comment & Analysis pages in the main body of the Mail & Guardian. Drawing those opinions and manifestos together could well provide a compelling and coherent way forward to the third Cape Town Book Fair in 2008, tempered by what happens over the four days from June 16 to 19 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.