Ros Haden, Christine Qunta, Jade Gibson and Dorothy Dyer.
Representatives from FunDza and its publishing partner, Cover2Cover, were at three events at the fabulous Blown Away by Books Festival hosted by libraries in the Southern Peninsula.
The first event was with the brilliant young writer Sicelo Kula who wrote his first novel Taking Chances as part of the Harmony High series. I chatted to him at Masi Library, and was so impressed to see how he engaged with his young audience as well as he had with the audience at the Book Lounge for his first book launch. He is an inspiring speaker with great integrity.
The next event was at Fish Hoek Library where I was chairing a session about writing for South African audiences. Jade Gibson talked very movingly about her novel which is based on her life story, and how although the story is set overseas, the theme of domestic violence resonates here too. Christine Qunta described the reasons behind setting up her new publishing house, Seriti sa Sechaba, which has just published Sindiwe Magona’s latest novel, Chasing the tails of my father’s cattle. And our very own Ros Haden chatted about FunDza and how our readers keep us on our toes with their feedback.
A later session included our Zimkhitha Mlanzeli, who talked about writing for young people with Sally Partridge and Cat Hellison. The three of them discussed the ins and outs of young adult fiction.
There were many other fascinating sessions – it was a fantastic festival and to be celebrated for its range of topics and audiences that it hosts.