The annual Time of the Writer International Festival opens on March 18 and runs until March 23 featuring a smorgasbord of South Africa’s top writers, thinkers and academics.
The Festival, an annual literature event hosted by the Centre of Creative Arts at UKZN, will be presented in and around Durban with several events being held online to enable broad participation.
Award-winning authors, cultural critics and public intellectuals Siphiwo Mahala, Sandile Memela, and Khaya Dlanga are expected to provide entertaining insights into the current state of the country and the nation which promise to spark interesting debates.
Curator of this year’s festival, South African author and sociologist Professor Shafinaaz Hassim, said she was delighted the trio were on the programme.
‘Mahala’s focus on the late iconic South African short story writer Can Themba and the cultural landscape of the era in which he worked provide a rich background to Mahala’s discussions,’ said Hassim. ‘Memela’s cutting critique, always laser-sharp, is often hilarious and never disappoints while Dlanga’s humorous take on the world affords a biting international commentary.
‘The trio are highly sought after on the festival circuit.’
Hassim said the success of festivals being held online continued in the aftermath of COVID-19 providing opportunities for individuals to participate in panels online.
Internationally acclaimed writer and award-winning journalist Ms Margie Orford will be online from London. While she is well known for her novels, journalism and fiction writing, it is her memoir, Love and Fury, that she will discuss. Another writer and former BBC producer Ms Arjumand Wajid will share insights into the life of Fatima Meer, putting the spotlight on the memoir Wajid wrote, Born to Struggle.
Wajid met Meer in 1992 after winning a BBC bursary, which allowed her to study aspects of the role of Indian women in South Africa’s liberation struggle. The two women remained friends, and in 2005, after Meer had agreed to Wajid writing her biography, she embarked on the project of recording the remarkable life of one of South Africa’s heroes. The book has been described as a ‘fascinating account of a fiercely independent and principled woman and a reminder of the sacrifices so many gave to end apartheid.’
No stranger to sacrifice, another icon of the struggle featured is Mr Ronnie Kasrils, who was Chief of Military Intelligence for Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the ANC’s military wing, and served in the portfolios of Deputy Minister of Defence, Minister of Water and Forestry, and Minister of Intelligence Services in the democratic government. His memoir, Armed & Dangerous, has been translated into German, Russian and Spanish. A staged adaptation of The Unlikely Secret Agentran in London after a successful South African stint. In addition to writing about his own life, Kasrils has co-edited Comrade and Commander: The Life and Times of Joe Modise.
Said Hassim: ‘COVID also introduced the public to unsung medical heroes in South Africa, including UKZN’s Professor Salim Abdool Karim. A clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist widely recognised for his scientific contributions and leadership during the pandemic, he is taking time out of his busy schedule to share his wisdom with us at the festival.’
Abdool Karim is the Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA); a Professor of Global Health at Columbia University in New York; an Adjunct Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University, an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Cornell University, and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at UKZN.
The University is incredibly proud to announce his attendance at the festival.
Full programme details are available on the festival’s website and on the festival’s social media platforms on Instagram and Facebook.