Franschhoek Literary Festival kicks off, bringing a plethora of reading interests to book lovers
The festival runs from Friday 16 May to Sunday 18 May 2025.
702 & CapeTalk's Africa Melane speaks to Jennifer Ball, Programme Director for The Franschhoek Literary Festival.
Listen below:
The Franschhoek Literary Festival (FLF) provides a platform for open and progressive discourse, with participation from renowned local and international authors and thought leaders.
Informal discussions are the hallmark of the event, with spirited debates on a variety of topical issues. Not forgetting the lighter, inspirational and fun sessions guaranteed to stimulate the senses.
For book lovers, "everything will be a highlight", says Ball.
This year's festival includes international authors Kate Mosse, John Boyne, David McWilliams, Tony Park, and Marina Cantacuzino - while locals such as Deon Meyer, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Antjie Krog, Margie Orford and Pippa Skotnes... with lots of debut voices, will feature too.
Many of the festival's authors are also discussing their work and engaging in dialogue with other authors and thought leaders.
"It's such a varied programme, so people can expect that there's something for every reading interest... but we are really looking forward to some of the international authors joining us this year."
- Jennifer Ball, Programme Director - Franschhoek Literary Festival
"It's important to give this platform to writers so they can find their audience, and it's a powerful thing to attend literary festivals and be active on the literary scene... so we're very aware of that when we are doing our selections for the programme and then showing that we spotlight debut voices."
- Jennifer Ball, Programme Director - Franschhoek Literary Festival
Politics will also be in discussion such as, 'has Africa been Trumped?' Along with conversations about the GNU...
"There's a huge appetite for political discussions at the festival and I think that reflects appetite for political analysis in South Africa, because we are very tuned in to what is happening and we want to be able to think forward to what will happen... that's why we bring in writers, journalists, political minds to our panels and that's why it's such a highlight on the programme every year."
- Jennifer Ball, Programme Director - Franschhoek Literary Festival
Another hot topic in conversation at the festival will be artificial intelligence (AI).
Mark Nasila, a leading expert in AI with a book on 'African Artificial Intelligence' will be joined by Dion Chang, a trends analyst, to discuss whether AI is a 'friend or foe.'
"I think, in a lot of creative industries... it's a very unknown territory because there's been books published written completely by AI. This and more will be unpacked in this session."
- Jennifer Ball, Programme Director - Franschhoek Literary Festival
While the majority of the tickets for sessions are booked out, you can still find what's left for some panel discussions and the festival at Webtickets.
Part of the festival's proceeds raises funds for its Franschhoek Reading programme, a school library support initiative, through various events and donations.
The programme aims to provide books and reading resources to under-resourced schools in the Franschhoek valley.
The festival also has also collaborated with Exclusive Books on a campaign called 'Buy a Book, Give a Book.'
At the festival hub, go to the Exclusive Books to buy a book and donate it in the bins available, which will go toward the very many schools that the organisation helps.
If you can't attend the event, you can still make a donation, here.
Or you can stay tuned to CapeTalk, as Pippa Hudson (1pm to 3pm) and John Maytham (3pm to 6pm) will broadcast their shows live from the event today.
The festival runs from Friday 16 May to Sunday 18 May 2025.
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.