Photo: Clinton V du Plessis
Richmond’s BookBedonnerd XIV takes place from 27 to 31 October 2021. Darryl David discusses the festival, which was organised during his battle with Covid.
Darryl, lovely to hear from you! Especially great this year. You are known for all the book festivals you organise, but this time I could hardly believe your e-mail. I know that you had Covid, and yet here I’ve just received the programme for the BookBedonnerd Festival from you! How did you organise the festival this year?
Hi Naomi. My HOD asked me a few days ago if I had any highlights for the third term. I simply typed back: Staying alive.
Mind you, organising BookBedonnerd in such a short time must rank as a close second.
There were weeks when a paralysis enveloped me and I could not even read a newspaper, let alone a book. But I can’t take all the credit. There seems to be such a hunger among writers and bibliophiles to get out there. Covid can take credit for that. The town is packed. Guesthouses are full. For businesses that rely on tourism this festival must feel like rain in the Karoo after a long drought. This is our 15th year, so we’re ecstatic that we can celebrate in style with a full house.
Which authors are on the programme this year? Any authors you are especially looking forward to?
Well there are writers of the calibre of Helen Zille, Lien Botha, Ashwin Desai and Kirby van der Merwe. But the authors and books I am really looking forward to are Pat Kramer’s Hidden Karoo and Barbara Adair with her novel In Tangier we killed the parrot, which was published before my book festival days. Books like Alicia Sewdass Ramdharee’s heartbreaking memoir Orphaned by suicide. And husband and wife duo Max and Sue Hoppe’s book on windmills. What foresight to publish a book on windmills.
These last two books are by self-published authors taking part in our SA Independent Publishers Awards. I always maintain people describe our festivals as unique because of the uniqueness of books by our self-published authors. A case in point is a debut novel by my daughter’s friend Rhiannon Reid, who would patiently attend my Midlands Literary Festival in Howick as a child because she wanted to be a writer, and today she has produced a beautiful novel at 20 years of age. It is moments like these that keep me going.
Practicalities: Where is the festival taking place, what are the costs if you plan to attend and where can people stay?
The festival takes place in Richmond in the Karoo, the only book town on the African continent, this weekend.
No tickets needed!
All our talks are FREE. We believe our festivalgoers have to travel so far to join us, how can we saddle them with yet another cost. And how can we expect a town like Richmond with so much poverty to attend talks if we were to charge R100 a talk.
Accommodation: I think the town is booked out. But they tell me the Karoo night sky is something to behold and a few have said they are going to camp or stay in the neighbouring towns Hanover and Victoria West a mere 60 km in either direction.
Download the full programme here.
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