International scholars and storytellers will come together in Cradock to enlighten and entertain attendees of the 13th annual Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival.
The four-day festival, a favourite among book worms of all ages, will see the quiet Karoo come to life from June 15 with a host of workshops, shows and exhibitions to explore.
Regarded by many as the first South African literary superstar, Olive Schreiner’s most famous work is The Story of an African Farm.
Her home where she lived as a child in Cradock is now curated as The Schreiner Museum, where much of the festival’s activities will be based, as well as at the Victoria Manor and Fish River Museum, among other venues.
One of the highlights will be insights on Schreiner’s work by researchers Jade Munslow Ong (University of Salford, UK), Sanja Nivesjo (University of Salford, UK) and Andrew van der Vlies (University of Adelaide, Australia) who will be joined by local scholars Paul Walters, Jeremy Fogg, Dan Wylie and Bev Thomas.
The event opens on June 15 with visits to the Schreiner House Museum, a Cradock Writers’ Exhibition at the Fish River Museum and a Karoo Artwork Exhibition at the Victoria Manor.
On June 16, All that is buried, a movie partly shot in Cradock, will be screened with directors Simon Stanton-Sharma and Maire Tracey on hand to discuss their film and run a workshop for young filmmakers thereafter.
The workshop, like many others at the festival, is sponsored by The AVBOB Poetry Project which aims to create immersive training sessions for groups of creative arts and languages educators in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa.
Other big names will also be in attendance and host sessions on everything from creating a children’s book to understanding coding as well as tips on writing and publishing stories.
Among them are Janet Kingwell and Zongile Matshoba who will host the Karoo Artwork Exhibition and an isiXhosa digital exhibition, while Chris and Julie du Toit will take attendees on a virtual Karoo travel show with their photographs and stories.
HeraldLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.