The Franschhoek Literary Festival will take place on 13, 14 and 15 May 2016. Festival highlights include:
Witnessing the past
How we remember the past depends on who is writing the histories.
In a number of events at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in May this year, books by those who have lived through historical events or have researched them, will open the discussion into how the past is recorded and remembered.
Friday 13 May
[23] 13h00 Union Men
Labour columnist and journalist Terry Bell in conversation with union organiser-turned-businessman Johnny Copelyn about his memoir, The Maverick Insider, which covers the important years of building trade unions in South Africa from 1970s onwards.
[30] 14h30 Crossing Boundaries
Redi Tlhabi leads a discussion with Anemari Jansen (Eugene de Kock: Assassin for the State) and
If We Must Die author Stanley Manong (a former Commander of uMkhonto we Sizwe) about their books that deal with transgressions made by individuals in the name of politics.
Saturday 14 May
[82] 14h30 Life in exile
Amin Cajee (Fordsburg Fighter: The Journey of an MK Volunteer) and Stanley Manong share their stories of the turbulence of life in political exile and how this influences who and what they are today. With Justice Malala in the chair.
Sunday 15 May
[125] 13h00 The past is never past
Richard Steyn (Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness), Anemari Jansen (Eugene de Kock: Assassin for the State) and John Matisonn (God, Spies and Lies) explore how the acts of famous, notorious, and significant people from the recent past reverberate today.
2016 Lecture series presented by Sindiwe Magona and Bill Nasson
In 2015, the inaugural André Brink Memorial Lecture was presented by Harry Garuba.
This year, South African writer Sindiwe Magona will do the honours.
She will offer an outsider’s take on this giant of South African letters in a talk titled André Brink: enigma, betrayer, villain or hero?
This lecture will be presented on Saturday 14 May at 13h00 in the Congregational Church.
Also this year, we are offering a second lecture to those who welcome the opportunity to listen to experts in their fields.
Bill Nasson, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at Stellenbosch University, will deliver a lecture first presented in Dublin, marking the centenary of the 1916 Easter Uprising in Ireland:
Unbalanced emotionalism or republican romance:
The 1916 Easter Rising in South African Eyes.
It is not uncommon for historians of Ireland to point to the symbolic importance of South Africa’s Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 for Irish history.
The lecture will be given on Sunday 15 May at 11h30 in the Congregational Church.
For the full programme, visit www.flf.co.za
Tickets can be bought at www.webtickets.co.za
Student tickets are available at R20 a ticket – valid student ID required.
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