Dont Frack With Our Karoo

JM Coetzee Nobel Laureates & Athol Fugard May 22, 23, 24 2014
A Richmond Community Development Foundation Project December 5, 2013. BOOKBEDONNERD 2103 REPORTBACK It was a festival of firsts: it was the first festival where not a single speaker let us down. I was smiling all the way back home, thinking it was the festival with the least organisational glitches in history! And then a first for Booktown Richmond a damning article in the Mail & Guardian. Our first negative press in 7 years; and it was by one of our speakers, Boris Gorelik, author of Incredible Tretchikoff. You can go onto the Mail & Guardian website to see his article, as well as our response. ( http://mg.co.za/article/2013-10-31-richmonds-poor-fest-beggars-belief#comment_thread ) But lets not dwell on the negative. By all accounts, it was another great festival. Numbers were somewhat down from last year, however we had significantly larger numbers in the audience than in previous years. The economic down turn is starting to have an impact on the way we live and are able to travel. But across the board our visitors were in awe of the quality of our speakers and their talks. The good turnouts and support for all of the speakers however did not put any damper on the other activities which were on offer during BookBedonnerd. The stoeps was always abuzz with conversation and coffee drinking and the evening wining and dining in the eateries was a most

Richmond in the springtime..oh so lekker pleasurable experience for all participants. Everyone in the dorp was thankful for the support of every aspect of the weekend which is certainly one of the highlights on the local calendar. As BookBedonnerd coincided with Cancer awareness month, the dorp was festooned with pink draping on every pole, stoep, and tree. It was really marvellous to see how the village had rallied around this very important cause .which has affected every one of us.

Future Karoo literary figures As the Booktown phenomenon has grown so has the Off Broadway and on The Fringe participation. Harrie Siertsema, well know patron of the art organised a fantastic array of art exhibits the length of Loop Street. There was a fine exhibition of Minette van Rooyens sketches at the BTRHQ and other fantastic exhibits at some of the dorp house / galleries along the main drag. In addition there were superb exhibits at the MAP HQ; these included the works of Willem Boshoff, Jacques Coetzer, Happy Dhlame, Abrie Fourie, Gordon Froud, Neville Gaby, Cecile Heystek, Aryan Kaganof, Titus Matinya, Seretse Moletsane, Andrew Munnik, Thabo Pitso, Johan Thom, Jan van der Merwe, Claude van Lingen, Diane Victor, Jeremy Wafer, and Sue Williamson.

Harrie Siertsema & Minette van Rooyen

and Andrew Munnikthe man who painted with words The village put on some wonderful performances of local talent including an operatic performance by local lass Louise Connolly as well as an organ recital by Craddock Dominee and maestro Attie van Wyk. The very handsome and talented Dominee had the Kerk crown foot tapping and on occasion even bopping to the notes blowing from the pipe organ. The resident pigeon was blown away!

In fact we had two maestros!!

The Young maestro and his fan..

A very important aspect of Booktown Richmond is the bringing to the people of Richmond, in particular the children, the wonder of the written word, as well as the expression which a paint brush or crayon offers kids with very limited exposure to anything creative. The William Humphrey Art Gallery in Kimberley is a gem of an organisation which has become a regular participant of Bookbedonnerd , holding reading sessions with the kids as well as well tutored art classes. In addition they put on a really fantastic Richmond Filum screenings with a truly world class range of shows.

Just to confirm what you already kneweveryone in Richmond is complete crazy.here is Gordon Froud and MAP building a fully operational VW from coat hangers... no pollution..

Sadly we learned in 2013 that we would not be receiving any further funding, modest as it was , from the Northern Cape Department of Sports, Art and Culture as we learned that they needed all available funds for a skate boarding venue in Kimberley.such is the sense of values of this present provincial administration. We are though very grateful for the financial support of the Library Services Department, which support enables Booktown Richmond to modestly continue.

Suffer the little children deprived of any mental stimulationcontinue to suffer..but still have a smile! Prof Wally Peters from UFS put on a delightful walking tour of the village; this is always an interesting fringe activity as Karoo architecture is really what makes the Karoo so special. Sadly in the past houses were demolished for the timber, but with the increasing interest in Karoo real estate, we are seeing fewer houses being torn down.

Andy Capostagno got the ball rolling with his book Ystervarkrivier and perhaps another first for Richmond, Andy fielded a phone call from his wife at the beginning of his talk. Something about moving the cows from one paddock to another.and Peter Baker did not even flinch!!! I tell you, this Andy Capostagno is one smooth customer! He had all of us eating out of his hand; his stories were a delight, and a light hearted way to turn the first page, so to speak.

Mr Rugby on a completely different pitch Boris Gorelik was next up, with his book on Tretchikoff. It was an amazing insight into the advertising background of Tretchikoff that shaped his unique artistic style. It was a well illustrated talk coupled with a compelling motivation of the influences behind an artist who has seldom been out of the news over the last 5 years.

Literally. Darryl David was up next, trying to persuade the audience why Johannesburg should be SAs UNESCO City of Literature. Despite a compelling argument, the Capetonians seemed unhappy. I mean.. they have Table Mountain, they have the sea, they have the beautiful wine lands, and much much more. .and they have a fairly decent rugby teamon a good day that is. One would think they would graciously let the land without a mountain, sea or rolling wine farms at least have this honour! Like the choice of a town for SAs Booktown, which was questioned by most early on, the choice of UNESCO City of Literature is also bound to stir debate. But we know that it will happen and Joey will sit up there with the Dublins of this planet. Peet Coetzee had waited 3 years to get a spot on our programme. His books on the Border Wars, and the role of dogs in the Border Wars sells like soetkoek. But as much as Peet tried to de-politicise his book, the bottom line is that such a book is always bound to be politically charged! But I think we pride ourselves on respecting speakers for their literary endeavours, irrespective of whether we agree with their political persuasions, or why naked men were photographed with a lion cub!!!

Peet in HIS more comfortable stoep environment in conversation with Grant Tiki Kyte flew out all the way from London to talk on her book Your Hand and Mine. This, in my opinion, epitomises what Booktown Richmond is all about. Writers who are passionate about their work, and will pay a sizeable sum of money to share their stories with others. And what a story Tiki had to share. An emotional story, a memoir of a family chauffeur/butler who was like family to Tiki and her family during the height of apartheid. Tiki will be remembered for ensuring that BookBedonnerd VI was the first festival of TEARS! At no other festival thus far have so many speakers cried, joined by the audience! More about the tear brigade later!

Tiki Kytewhat a lovely story Des Armstrong drove from far off Howick, my hometown, to talk about the role of the Irish in the Anglo-Boer War. He started with some Irish music, then proceeded to ask us to join him in an Irish jig! At this point, I was beginning to worry that Des had misunderstood my brief. But these Irishmen are a different lot. The biggest lot of drama queens if you ask me. But Des talk that followed was just as good as the Irish music. I am sure we all learnt something after the 30 minutes were up! But in the spirit of neighbourliness Des, I think you must work on your jig!!!

Des Armstrong and the Irish Brigade After a sumptuous lunch, the hall started filling for Antony Osler. Antonys first book Stoep Zen took the literary world by storm. I was worried Zen Dust might not live up to the high expectations people would have. Thats why sequels are so difficult! But something inside of me told me Antony was different on his second visit to Richmond. There was this fizz about the man and from the time he recited his poem Ode to BookBedonnerd, he had us all spellbound. Humour, raw emotion, poets

Zen Master Antony Osler

ODE TO BOEKBEDONNERD.doc

(Double click to open) voice, tears of compassion. No, this had to be the talk of BoekBedonnerd 2013! What a pity so many only arrived on Thursday afternoon. You missed one of the great talks in the history of BookBedonnerd. And I would have said this even if he had not written a praise poem to me!!! Poor Louise Heckl. She had been a bundle of nerves ever since I invited her. After hearing Antony speak, she must have thought : how do I follow this up??? But Louise had a great book about iconic landscapes in the Karoo region, and the possibility of Geo-Parks. This is the kind of thinking I like to hear and interestingly Louise may have given us the most valuable piece of advice thus far in our fight against fracking. If we create a Geo-Park, we might just be able to stop the likes of Shell. GeoParks are protected areas and are thus off bounds to fracking! And for those of you who dont know, Louise is a guru in self-publishing with untold of expertise in high-end publishing.

From shy to shining performance Louise Heckl

Keith BritzBooktown regular Andries Bezuidenhout, an audaciously talented writer, musician, academic and artist; when he sings he almost kisses the microphone. When he writes, his words caress your soul. I rate one of his unpublished short stories as one of the greatest I have had the privilege to read. It was a pleasure seeing his warm, smiling face in the audience.

Andries Bezuidenhout on stage Wessel Ebersohn is not a man you want to engage with in light-hearted banter. Because he is a master in the genre of documentary fiction and will pounce on a throw-away line of yours and craft a novel out of it. Little wonder then that he is well respected in the genre of detective fiction. It was wonderful to listen to the role his wife has played in his fiction, it was straight out of a tale of espionage. We look forward to his next book.

Wessel Ebersohn.really was taller than life On Thursday evening we did something a little different and out of the box when we hosted the launch of a brand new cook book by Graff Reinet restaurateur, Gordon Wright. He presented several of the delicious recipes from this Karoo cookery book From Veld to Fork at the Supper Klub in conjunction with a beautiful range of Cape Wines from Mark Borries Hawksmoor estate. It was a fully packed out and grand Richmond evening .which I later learned lasted until the dawn of the next day!

The Kids @ DRSK Day 2 started in ominous fashion. Although the rain is always welcome in the Karoo, I like my blue skies. Finuala Dowling was first up and did she really set the bar for the remainder of the festival. What a wonderful 30 minutes. Certainly one of the top poetry sessions in the history of Booktown Richmond! I have always liked Finualas work, but now I am a fan. I will never miss a single book of hers going forward. I do not normally wish this on anyone, but may you go through a period of immense misery if such beautiful literature follows.

Finuala .what a honey Randolph Vigne was up next and I must admit that I was a bit worried that he would soon tire from the long trip to Richmond and the fact that he had attended virtually every one of the talks before his presentation. He showed remarkable fortitude and gave us wonderful insights into the life of Thomas Pringle. In fact I suspect people will in time refer to his biography on Pringle as a tome! And it showed. I had to be quite strict and rein Randolph in. Not even a scratchy throat could stop the man!

Gordon Froud rounded off an excellent first session on Day 2. For those of us who were there, his talk on the various illustrations of Alice in Wonderland was spellbinding. Gordon has to be the foremost authority on Alice. This is what makes BookBedonnerd so unique. These mad hatters who are so passionate about their subjects that it borders on obsession and this certainly infected the enraptured audience!

Gordon Froudthe Master of Alice After tea on day 2, Barbara Lindop thrilled us with her talk on Gerard Sekoto. I know I sometimes say all talks were special, but this one was special! What a privilege it was to hear Sekotos music. I could have lived till 80 and never known of this side of this great artist if it were not for Barbara, is another person who is so passionate about her magnificent obsession. The slides show of Sekotos was wonderful, especially for those of us who dont live in Joburg or Cape Town, as we would never have had the privilege to see such a wide variety of Sekotos paintings in our lifetime!

Very enlightening Barbara Lindop Craig MacKenzie, an authority on Herman Charles Bosman, then followed up with a riveting talk; and in a very unique way in Bosmans own words, he proceeded to give us a glimpse into the life of a man who has captured the literary imagination of South Africans for decades.

Craig introduced many to the unknown side of HCB

By now the smell of delicious food was wafting into our venue. The urge got so great that I considered cutting Craig short by five minutes!!! But the meals that the church puts on are becoming something of an institution at BookBedonnerd. Yes, visitors do have to drive very long distances, but accommodation in the dorp is very reasonable and the lunches were unbelievable value. As you will gauge, food and books are my weaknesses in life!

The Kerk choppies were tops With a bulging belly, we readied ourselves after lunch for Grant Leversha. In the build-up to BookBedonnerd, I waxed lyrical about this book that would leave you breathless. And I am glad to brag I was right!!! What a book this book was a piece of art! Yes, your average reader can never afford it, but this was a book that proved the BOOK will never die! And as Grant told us in his talk, his experiences at major international book festivals have shown him that the book is alive and kicking!!! I doubt we will ever see a book of this quality ever again at Booktown Richmond. Little wonder then that it scooped every award before it at international book awards. And may I add what a privilege it was to have Grant and his wife Lynda at the festival. These are the kind of bibliophiles we love to see in Richmond!

Grant neednt gym..carrying his book is exercise enoughbut what a book! When Francois Griebenow had to take the stage, I panicked. I could not spot him anywhere in his biker outfit that I had seen him earlier. But that was because he was in costume -la Oom Schalk Lourens! Francois is the man on a mission to bring Bosman to an Afrikaans audience. But his was not so much a talk; it was a performance similar to what Patrick Mynhardt put on to open Booktown Richmond. Only this time it was in Afrikaans. My only advice to Francois is you need to work on your Mampoer drinking skills!!!

Oom Schalk in full flight Day 2 was a real high. There just was not a low-intensity talk the entire day. No one personified this more than John Costello. He gave a mouth-watering talk on the Wild Coast which made everyone in the audience want to stake out a little plot of land on the sea side. What photographs!!What a view from his front door!!! Images that made you cry. Images that made you realise this region has to be one of the best kept secrets in South Africa. This is what makes BookBedonnerd special. If theres magic out there, we find it for you. Free of charge nogal! And John Costello was sheer magic on the day.

The Secret of our Wild Coast is out Archie Dick closed proceedings on Friday and jolted us out of our dreamy slumber with a reminder of our absurd past and the role of censorship under Apartheid SA. How undesirable books were burned. How offensive text in letters to political prisoners were cut out. To think that someones job description was to read these letters and cut out text. Bizarre! Archie really struck a chord with festival goers because two people asked for his details in order to invite him to speak at other events.

Archie Dick revealed the secret of the snippers Elsabe Brits kicked off day 3 with a talk that was long overdue a talk on Emily Hobhouse. After Elsabes talk, there can be no doubt Emily Hobhouse was a great woman. Yes, she has been mythologised and romanticised but there is a critical mass of good deeds that place her in a special realm of people who were ahead of their time. What was also nice was to see just how strongly Afrikaans Elsabie is. She tried to accommodate the monolinguals but as long as you have speakers like Elsabe, Afrikaans will never die. Thanks for a wonderful talk on Emily and your research on her life outside of SA

Elsabe Brits casting light on Emily Hobhouse Sonja Loots: I have to say all nice things about Sonja because she has some rather incriminating pictures of me watching the Sharks game! Ive always admired Sirkusboere. Imagine Boer generals who then become a part of a circus after the Anglo-Boer War. A fertile imagination you would think, not so? All truth is stranger than fiction.. Sonja showed us that she has perfected the art of striptease with her talk. She showed us just enough, but left enough to the imagination. Spare a thought though for husband Pieter who had to hear constantly how Sonja fancied one of her characters in the novel. But seriously, thanks a million to Sonja who penned a great article about the closure of Afrikaans at UKZN that galvanised a linguistic community into activism. If Afrikaans survives, it will be thanks to that article. If not, a Sharks supporter of note will be applying for the next vacancy in Afrikaans at UCT!!!

Thoroughly enrapturing Sonja Poor Alwyn Roux. He asked me where he should pitch his talk on Marlene van Niekerks Memorandum. I told him Look at our festival name and you will know. But he prepared a talk that would have been well received at an academic conference but had the audience flummoxed. But I will never forget this talk because it was really insightful. And for the water-swigging antics of the man.

Alwyn and that blasted tickly throat! After tea, Petra Muller showed everyone why she is such a highly regarded and loved poet. It was another of the wonderful poetry sessions in Booktown Richmond. People always talk about a poets eye. Petra Muller has a poets eye, that ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Make no mistake, for 30 minutes, we were in the presence of greatness.

and now class. Following Petra was another poet who I admire greatly Kobus Moolman. Kobus also has that poets eye. Ever since I read Kobus Creative PhD entitled Biography of Bone, I knew that Kobus was certainly a special poetic voice. I suppose the audience might have been taken aback by Kobus style of simply reading his poetry, rather than explaining his poetry. But as Kobus so eloquently stated : one of the great losses of becoming an adult is that people stop reading to us. Now that is what I call a profound insight.

By now, the hall was starting to pack up for Dana Snyman, who was in conversation with Francois Griebenow about a book that was not their own Eenkantland. These were stories by Oom Theunis Uys, stories that made an indelible influence on both Dana and Francois. It was a difficult task, but one that was close to their hearts, and it was a book that sold well as we went into yet another sumptuous lunch hosted by the Church community. R20 for 3 Karoo lamb chops proved to be too irresistible for my palate and my sparsely populated wallet!

Larger than life characters.. Booktown Richmond is famous for ending proceedings on a high and this year was no different. First up was Sindiwe Magona. Sindiwe really began to enjoy the festival after a shaky start. She sat in her room the whole of day 1 because she did not know how to get to the town of Richmond. I suppose being at a guesthouse on the fringe of the N1 can be confusing!!! But what a life story Sindiwe has to share; from being a humble maid to a writer who has graced international stages. Now that is the stuff of dreams. Her Amy Biehl story might not have been the best route to showcase her talents, because of the political detours she was forced to take. Sindiwe though did not mince her words? As I was driving back home to Howick I received several calls from Sindiwe's children. They were frantic that they could not get in touch with her. After many calls back and forth I managed to locate a few

speakers who confirmed they had seen her get on the bus. She phoned to say that she had forgotten to charge her phone. If you ask me, she partied too hard the night before, and I have the photo's to prove it!

What a darlin Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit were next up. Karoo Keepsakes II was my Karoo Book of the year, alongside Antony Osler's Zen Dust. Chris and Jules have really put together here a hymn to the Karoo. It is remarkable that they uncovered such gems for book 2, after most would have thought they had covered everything on the Karoo in book 1. Academics would call their book 'deep knowledge' of the Karoo - stories that were extracted from the depths of this wonderful land! Compulsory reading for lovers of the Karoo!!!

Karoosters of note Booktown Richmond is proud to say we have had our fair share of international writers. Julie Davidson was our first writer from Scotland. Her book on Mary Moffatt, wife of David Livingstone, was one of the highlights of the festival. In hindsight I should have allowed her 45 minutes. This was a riveting talk that in one foul swoop ressurrects Mary Moffatt from the shadow of David Livingstone, while at the same time presenting a more nuanced view of David Livingstone the family man. This is a beautiful book, meticulously researched through many journeys to Africa and the Northern Cape. Thank you Julie for making the journey to Booktown Richmond.

The life of Mary Moffatt a most interesting story Closing off the festival was Diana Ferrus. I had waited 7 years to hear Diana. And may I say - it was worth the wait! What a way to end the festival. With a poet whose poem was the catalyst for the return of Saartjie Baartman! Who said literature was a frivolous enterprise? But it was the sheer emotion of the words surrounding the return of Saartjie Baartman to her beloved South Africa. I mean, Diana has told this story so many times, yet we could see that this story comes from a special place, from a special person!! By the time Diana had finished there was not a dry eye in the room. I could not give my customary closing speech. I left it to Peter and he cried his way through it!

The story of bringing Saartjie home to finish her sleepOMG! So, what a way to end BookBedonnerd! Well, actually for me it was about to get better. Because I watched my beloved Sharks trounce Western Province to lift the Currie Cup. In Province's own back yard. The telling moment for me was when the Province supporters starting leaving the stadium en masse. That surely was an admission Province were completely outplayed and stood no chance of coming back in the last ten minutes! And then Luna Paige mesmerised us with a concert that matched David Kramer! What a voice. What silky keyboard skills! What a fitting way to end the festival. My abiding memory was of Luna singing 'My ouma se hande', a song inspired by Dana Snyman's short story. I will never forget Dana sitting in the audience, head bowed. And as I listened to Luna, I knew that this was something of a very special South African balladeer and it was a very intimate performance which we all shall remember with huge pride. She is a wonderful songstress, composer, poet, and personality. All the more so it was all done in the presence of my favourite short story writer in Afrikaans. Greater than Dana you will struggle to find. He is like a stonemason who chisels away at rock until something beautiful emerges.

That's it folks. Have a truly wonderful Christmas and a healthy happy 2014. . And thank you to all the writers who are helping put Booktown Richmond on the map. I said in my opening how I cried and waved to the Gariep on my way to Richmond. Maybe its because I see so many familiar faces in the water!!! See you all we hope in May DED&PCB