Don’t Frack With Our Karoo™

Booktown Richmond’s 9th Anniversary

A Richmond Community Development Foundation Project

BookBedonnerd 2014 Report back

I know this is becoming a bit of a cliché – but really, it was our best festival to date. The glowing praise

we received all round was phenomenal. People who “just happened to be driving through” said they

would stay for a session to see what the fuss was all about and ended up staying the entire 3 days.

Numbers in the streets did seem to be somewhat down, but then again I think that lots of folks were

just happy to stoep sit and enjoy the pleasantries of the day. Booktown Richmond Headquarters were

however consistently full.

It was as always a pleasure to meet up with many of our long standing and unfailing supporters over the

years…the Vermaaks, Siertsemas, Honiballs, van der Westhuizens, Oliviers, Menaches, Luscombes,

Jacksons, Ackermans, Welhams and Borries….. and all the others now becoming too numerous to

mention. We greatly appreciate your continued support and interest in Booktown Richmond.

What people most liked about the festival, I believe was the camaraderie – writers said they had never

experienced anything like it. Much of the credit must go to you the writers. But to Peter Baker as well.

Always with a glass of wine in hand or a bottle of beer – with his wife Beth not far behind telling him to

make himself useful in the restaurant – the Supper Klub must be the most literary restaurant / pub in

SA. And here we must really mention in more than passing the young chefs from Capsicum Chef School

in Centurion, who have become an integral part of Booktown Richmond. Apparently there is a battle

royal for the honour to come to cook for the mad readers and writers who make the trek to Richmond in

May and October. From BTR’s perspective we would be a pale shadow without them….so we heartily

thank Chef Jovan, his young charges and Deon Roets from Capsicum for their support.

In keeping with the theme of camaraderie- up the road comes Jan van der Merwe in a bakkie full of

books; he is the author of Free State Dorps, and he has boxes of beautiful books from the wife of famous

photographer Paul Alberts, which he says he wants to give for free to the writers at BookBedonnerd.

Totally unplanned; unrehearsed, but totally in the spirit of Booktown Richmond! But what a book to

receive as a present, it was Paul Alberts’ wife’s wish that the books must be given to people who would

appreciate her husband’s work. And I can assure her – they will enjoy pride of place on at least 50

bibliophiles’ bookshelves. So we all are very thankful for Jan for thinking of us.

SOUTH AFRICAN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS AWARD

Booktown Richmond is proud to announce another first - awards that recognize excellence in the

burgeoning field of self -published books in SA. In Booktown Richmond, we pride ourselves on finding the

best self -published books to invite to BookBedonnerd, our literary festival held every October. Thus when

I met writers such as Grant Leversha, author of Within an African Eden, which I consider to be the

greatest book I have ever seen as far as craftsmanship is concerned and Maritza Breytenbach, author of

The Cookie Book, both of whom have won in overseas competitions for best self -published book, I

realized it was time to launch such an award in SA.

But it took another surprise visit from Grant Leversha at this year’s BookBedonnerd, and the comments

of another participant Dawn Garisch, who praised us for the amount of self -published books at this

year’s festival, to motivate me to "just do it"

It therefore gives me great pleasure to call upon all self -published authors to enter their books in the

inaugural 2015 SOUTH AFRICAN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS AWARD. Closing dates for all

entries is the 28 February 2015. Like with all the overseas awards for self -published books, there will be

no prize money.

These awards are meant to be about recognition.

And with recognition comes, hopefully more sales. However I would like to assure all finalists- the

commissioned sculptures you will receive will enjoy pride of place on your mantelpiece.

For the inaugural prize, books published in the years 2010-2014 will be considered in the following

categories. (From 2016, only books published in the preceding year will be eligible for consideration.)

1) Biography/ Autobiography

2) Fiction

3) Fine Art

4) Photography/ Coffee Table Books

5) Architecture

6) Short Stories

7) Children’s Literature

8) Animals/Pets

9) Cookbooks

10) Environment

11) Health/ Medicine

12) Humour/ Cartoon

13) History

14) Home + Garden

15) Poetry

16) Travel

17) Best Independent Book/Author/Publisher Website

18) Award Winning Independent Bookstore

The Prize Giving Ceremony will be held at the JM Coetzee/Athol Fugard Festival which we host in the

last full weekend of May 2015 in Booktown Richmond. All shortlisted authors will be invited to the

festival. Judges will be announced at the end of January 2015.

For further enquiries, and for details on how to enterkindly contact

Darryl David - davidd@ukzn.ac.za or 0825764489

Peter Baker - pcbaker@mweb.co.za or 011- 4472517

Forever BookBedonnerd

Darryl + Peter

And Roger Webster…..what a character! When he left too early because his wife had to fly out from

Bloemfontein hours after he had spoken, he dropped off a box books for us to sell, the proceeds to help

keep BTR on an even keel. We are very grateful Roger. Well I don’t know about Peter but I certainly did

not collect a cent for those books – but they were all gone the last time I looked longingly behind me

when I closed the door on BookBedonnerd 2014. But we are happy that they will be on the bookshelves

of book lovers. As if that wasn’t good enough, he then dedicated his By the Fireside show to Booktown

Richmond the next day. We don’t pay people to do these kinds of things. I think it is because they realize

they are in the midst of something special.

Dominique Botha sadly could not spend a lot of time with us, but we must have made an impression on

her in the short time she was with us as she has agreed to bring one of the greatest South African

writers to Booktown Richmond in 2015. We have had to change our dates somewhat for 2015 to

accommodate this writer. Instead of the last full weekend in the month we are holding BookBedonnerds

VIII on the 29-31 October. So an advanced warning is to pick up the phone and make your booking for

next year. There’s big, and there’s Big!! My advice to you is book in Hanover; Victoria West or even

Graaff- Reinet. But you will have to wait till 2015 before I reveal the identity of the speaker. So a very big

BoekBedonnerd thanks to Dominique. As I told Dominique, I will literally kiss her toes at the

Headquarters in 2015. Get your cameras out for that one.

But back to the festival proper, Tuan Marais, with his book Painted Devils and the Land of Ordinary Men

kicked off proceedings. I immediately fell in love with Tuan’s mother whom he said told him: promise

me you will never buy a Merc! (Only a R1 000 000 sponsorship for the Booktown from Mercedes Benz

will persuade me otherwise). But Tuan regaled us with stories of his childhood in Tanganyika and

Zanzibar and with an eccentric mother. And by the time he got to read from his book, I understood why

Marguerite Poland and Christopher Hope had spoken so highly of this book. Eloquent prose is the

adjective that best describes Tuan’s writing style.

By now, the SABC crew were readying themselves for Nico Moolman, author of The Boer Whore. I mean,

I sprayed extra deodorant, I made sure my shoes were polished and that my hair was combed. But no,

they only had eyes for this extraordinary author whom I first heard about at the greatest farm stall in

the Karoo – Karoobos Farm stall in Hofmeyr. It was a book that was first launched in Booktown

Richmond Nico told the audience. And Peter and I beamed with pride like first time fathers. But it

grabbed the public imagination because of the Afrikaans novel Kamphoer by Francois Smith which was

based on Nico’s The Boer Whore. Such are “die kronkelpaaie” of books. But by the time this journey

ends, I think Francois will bag a literary award or two, and Nico will see his labour of love on the silver

screen. I hope this comes to fruition, because this gentle giant of a man has a heart of gold.

Next up was Matilda Burden. Wow!!! Who knew that furniture could be so interesting? Why didn’t I

have lecturers like this when I was young? This was truly a stunning book. It really is a tome! It is

wonderful to meet people who are so knowledgeable and passionate about furniture. To see the world

with new eyes is what many claim is the function of literature. Matilda proved this with a book that

belongs on many a bookshelf. And a 1000 thank you’s to Matilda’s son who helped us out with his

technological finesse throughout their stay.

The talk by Wally Peters on the Architectural Heritage of Richmond and Hanover was special. Especially

if you are an admirer of Karoo towns. But this was a talk that helped the uninitiated to truly understand

the layout of Karoo towns and the different architectural styles - simplicity personified. And the slides on

the fanlights – we will look more closely at Karoo architecture after this talk, that’s for sure.

After lunch, Di Smith from my home town of Pietermaritzburg spoke movingly about her book, You’re

Awesome. Di is the founder of an organization called Awesome SA that celebrates the role of ordinary

South Africans trying to make a change in this country, and this theme shines through in her book.

Stunning photographs by photographer Terrence Mtola make this, in my opinion, an inspirational book.

Hope to see you next year Di. With your special Grahamstown cargo Just in case you forgot!

Peter Cleary – this is what Booktown is all about – the sheer joy of discovering a good writer you had

never met before. Peter is living proof that there is a book (or four!) within each one of us. No literary

background, a businessman, who like me got tired of writing out cheques and tried his hand out at

novels. Peter Cleary is living proof that it can be done. I have already invited him to my Midlands Literary

Festival because I believe his next book will hit the sweet spot.

The Banana Boys are in town….in Mtunzini formal

attire!

Jan van der Merwe – an imposing man. A man who

feels no shame to point a camera right up your face

for this is a man on a mission. First Free State Dorps;

undoubtedly the heaviest book I have had to lift up,

but worth every strained muscle. I learnt so much

from this book. For a person like me who loves

architecture and literary history, this was pure

manna from heaven. And you should know that I never invite writers to two consecutive

BookBedonnerd’s, but Jan’s next book is going to be a winner. And rules are meant to be broken. See

you in 2015 Jan. And thanks once more for donating those wonderful books by Paul Alberts to writers at

BookBedonnerd.

We ended the day on a somber note. Kate Baxter, wife of

Edwin Jackson, who passed away a few months earlier,

paid tribute to a great supporter of Booktown Richmond.

As she read from Flight of the Moth, Edwin’s travelogue

about his journeys after discovering he had a terminal

illness, I could not help but fondly remember the most

surreal moment in the history of Booktown Richmond _

when Edwin, hands shaking so badly that he could not

read, asked his blind editor/poet/singer Jacques Coetzee

to continue with the reading. I hope that Kate will see to

it that Edwin’s next book will be published posthumously.

The next morning started with one of the books of BookBedonnerd 2014 – Dennis Walters and his book

on Old Bridges of the Eastern Cape. Boy, what a talk. You’ve heard the phrase wax lyrically. Well Dennis

took this phrase to new levels. I had to physically man handle him off the stage. Even though he claims

he uses that walking-stick-like contraption to point to images on the PowerPoint, something tells me he

uses it to intimidate people into letting him speak for more than his allotted time. But it was a pleasure

to have Dennis in Richmond – he personifies the kind of spirit that has made BookBedonnerd what it is –

a must do item on the bucket list of those brave enough to call themselves authors.

Elmer Fudd! Right off the top shelf…

Derick van der Walt was next. Derick is a famous man, being the author of the critically acclaimed Lien se

langstaanskoene. He also has the persona of a writer – one of those chain-smoking types . But today,

he was in Richmond to talk about his book Hoopvol – a book ostensibly set in Richmond. Yes, Richmond

formed the blueprint for this novel. Although like all good novelists, he borrows liberally from the

features of other Karoo towns. I can safely say that this is a great book – because my Department of

Afrikaans at UKZN is one of the few departments that prescribe this book in our course on Children’s

Literature. But before this brings out another bout of chain smoking from Derick, let me say that his

books can be enjoyed by both adults and teenagers alike.

Clinton V. du Plessis. What a performance! What poetry. One of the finest we have had to privilege to

listen to in the history of Booktown Richmond. What a transformation this man has undergone since I

first met him in Cradock. It tells you something about the caliber of his poetry when I tell you Clinton

sold the most books at BookBedonnerd 2014. I will never forget an old man, with tears rolling down his

cheeks and snot hanging from his nose buying a book from Clinton. That my dear friends, is the power of

words. Long may it continue Clinton – Afrikaans would be much poorer without your passionate voice.

After tea, Mike Lowry had us all enchanted with his Memoirs of a Vet, which best sums up the thrust of

his talk. I am sure it got the ink flowing in Peter Baker’s veins and hopefully Peter will feature on our

programme sooner rather than later. But Mike made us realize how special animals are – especially the

large animals like elephant, lion, and crocodile. Mike really had us spellbound for 30 minutes – and I got

a fright when I realized I had not been watching the clock – such was the quality of Mike’s talk. And once

again, I will break my own rule and invite Mike in 2015 again – because he has, I believe, a book that will

take SA by storm next year.

Vet to vet…like a tête à tête….sort of

Next up was Warren Siebrits, a man that Peter had fortuitously met at his veterinary practice in Jo’burg.

When Peter told me about Warren, I immediately knew the gods had smiled upon Booktown Richmond.

And by the time Warren had finished his talk on Walter Battiss, I knew that we had heard one of the

greatest talks delivered at Booktown Richmond – probably the talk of BookBedonnerd 2014. Wow, what

a knowledgeable man Warren is. No pages to refer to – from the heart – expertise garnered from a

lifetime of researching Battiss. By the time Warren had finished, I was more impressed with him than

Walter Battiss. Thank you Warren. For half an hour, you took us on a journey we will never forget.

A man with a mission and on a march….what an interesting talk!

Next up was Elizabeth van Heyningen with a subject that is close to my heart – Olive Schreiner. Elizabeth

had been invited to talk about the Letters of Olive Schreiner, published by the Van Riebeeck Society,

dealing primarily with her Hanover years. By the time everyone sauntered off, lead by their noses to the

lunch on offer by the townspeople, I am sure everyone had a newfound appreciation for Olive Schreiner,

a woman who was ahead of her time, and deep admiration for Elizabeth who spoke so passionately on

the topic.

One of the greatest appeals of Booktown Richmond to our visitors is the stoep sitting and slow strolls up

and down Loop Street visiting the Galleries, book shops and restaurants. This is where the real heart of

the event lies. Over cappuccinos, beers and wine the matters of the universe were solved and new

friendships made and old ones cemented.

After lunch Joanne Hichens spoke eloquently about her “baby” – Short Sharp Stories – a collaboration

with the Grahamstown Arts Festival where the country’s top emerging talent get included in an

anthology of short stories on a chosen topic. Joanne was wonderful over the weekend. She could be

seen with children of the town, be it over their karretjie race or at the Elvis Presley concert. And let me

not get started about the dinners...

Same girl…different day

Everybody loves a street party!

Next was Meg Vandermerwe, a lady with a most Afrikaans surname and THE most English accent. Now

to me, Meg always seems to be under pressure. I saw her poke her head in a few minutes before her

session on her book Zebra Crossing, looking decidedly flustered. By the time her talk was about to start,

there was no sign of her! Someone said they spotted her at the bar. Apparently she did not know she

had to speak on her book, thinking it was an interview format. Whatever the case, she gave a great talk,

even better than at the academic conference where I first met her, and I know why :)…. all great writers

have at some stage in their lives looked to that most noble of fruit, the grape, for a bit of inspiration.

Good on you, Meg!!!

Integral to Booktown Richmond and both the JMCoetzee / Athol Fugard and BookBedonnerd festivals

are the art works on exhibition organized and orchestrated by Harrie Siertsema and MAP Gallery. As

Booktown has grown so has the art wing of the weekend’s festivities. Harry had a wonderful line up of

exhibits by the likes of Andrew Munnik, Willem Boshoff, Francois du Plessis, Pitika Ntuli, Maja Marx,

Seretsi Moletsane, and a “GREAT” intervention by Guy du Toit. All of the exhibits were around the

theme of books and words and if you were in the dorp for BookBedonnerd I only can say that if you

didn’t take a stroll into the several galleries, you really missed something special. I have a few pix of the

material on show….great imagination and creativity all on show in the Karoo!

Scrunched Books

We ended the day with a couple of treats. Mark Borrie of Hawksmoor winery in Paarl put on a wine

tasting to accompany a screening of his documentary filum The Farm Workers of Matjieskuil, and what a

lovely filum it was, highlighting the plight of all grape farm workers in the Cape. The accompanying

splendid wines were the cherry on the top.

Whilst on the other side of the road……the maestro was at the keyboard……..

Dom. Attie van Wyk…wait till he turns around – the best looking organist in all of the Karoo!!!

But in a day with so many highlights, you could be forgiven for thinking we had an early night. But Elvis

had rocked up to liven things up a bit…and certainly did brighten the lives of the children of Richmond.

Someone told us we made a big mistake to get James Marais, one of the country's top Elvis

impersonators. They said the kids didn’t have a clue who Elvis was and we'd be lucky to get 20 kids to

the concert. I seem to recall the same things being said of prepubescent Booktown Richmond….

Well did the town rock ‘n roll and what a great evening? Elvis, just back from a tour of the US was a

superb performer and his wife to be, Monique Cassels was just about on a par with Bonnie Raitt….and

that is really up there!

The kids and Mrs. Elvis in full swing

But what a joy it was to see the children of Richmond. What natural rhythm. No, this was our finest

moment yet. And Peter knew it only too well. You should have seen the old timer rocking to Elvis. The

children were rolling over with laughter in the aisles.

And when the concert started, those who were there witnessed something special. And as a grande

finalé when it ended, one would have thought the kids would have gone home. Instead they waited for

Richmond's very own Afrika -Burn event as MAP Gallery artists set alight a sculpture of a Riverine Rabbit.

It was a great way to end one of the greatest nights in the history of Booktown Richmond.

I woke up on the last day, feeling surprisingly refreshed. Thankfully Louis Esterhuizen was visible early

on. You always worry that the first speaker of the day will be sleeping in, in the clean Karoo air. But a big

thanks to Louis who could only join us for the session because a family member was ill and he had to

return soon after. But not before he had us captivated with his poetry. This was not easy poetry by any

stretch of the imagination - made more difficult by the length of the reading. But if you were awake at

9am on this Saturday, you would have felt like me - poets are special people. And even if you were

slightly drowsy, you would have to agree that very few people can make Zulu sound like French the way

Louis can.

Next up was Leslie Howard, speaking on her book Barrydale Unplugged. Isn't Barrydale a most beautiful

town? And the front cover of the book did it justice. A more beautiful cover you will struggle to find. I

could sense Leslie is a person who is motivated by the lyrical beauty of landscapes. Richmond must have

moved her too. Read her poem she penned soon after BookBedonnerd. I only wish that she had

presented a PowerPoint slide show of some of the sights in the dorp.

After the Richmond Bookfest

Cleaving vast Karoo plains The dusty road, like a runway, threaded to infinity.

Celestial clouds in tatters Curtained the sky and farflung hills,

The faint gap between earth and heaven On the vast horizon

Disturbingly mottled brown In the light of the sinking sun

Like the cliffs of a forgotten land – The earth a deep metallic grey,

A menacing sea The whole deceiving eye and brain.

The illusion gripped me so That another showed – God astride a mountain,

His arm stretching earthwards From this Sistine Chapel in the Karoo, His great grey locks streaming behind.

Then a small squat rainbow suddenly appeared – Hopeful, comforting, after my strange imaginings,

Like the many voices at the Bookfest Bringing hope, a common thread after all,

In this troubled, doleful land.

Leslie Howard

Dominique Botha came to Richmond with the reputation that Valsrivier might have been the book of the

year as far as Afrikaans fiction is concerned. What a beautiful book this is; such immense skill in

portraying the different voices at different stages of their lives. How beautiful the imagery of water in

the book. And never before have I heard someone swear so beautifully in a book I rate Dominique. I

always say Etienne van Heerden has an 8 speed gearbox in that brain of his. So effortlessly can he steer

an interviewer in the direction he wants. Dominique has that gift. A joy to interview

After grabbing a boerrie roll, a couple choppies and a melktert…as well as a koeksister or two, I was in

great shape for Roger Webster. In fact everyone was looking forward to Roger to close BookBedonnerd

2014, but as he had to catch a plane in Bloemfontein directly after his talk we had to play some musical

chairs. Well let me say he is the master storyteller: effortless. He had us wrapped around those fingers

of his and in the short space of 30 minutes I wrote down 6 ideas for great stories from his anecdotes.

Roger is really spellbinding. He would have been the ticket to close BookBedonnerd but it was not to be.

Next up was Christo Brand, one of the warders of Nelson Mandela. In the tradition of Booktown

Richmond, Christo broke down as he told us about his years with Mandela. I am sure he has told this

story so many times before, but like Diana Ferrus the previous year, Christo had us all reaching for our

handkerchiefs. In some mysterious way it allowed each one of us to say that we honestly had met with

and knew Nelson personally. Undoubtedly one of the talks of 2014, and a book and a man I will never

forget.

Jonty Driver drove us gently into lunch. What a giant of a man this was. If he was my principal I would

have peed in my pants at the sight of this man. And a man with a way with words. His reading style was

probably the best at BookBedonnerd 2014. And by the time he got to his poem on Breyten Breytenbach,

and he articulated the words: “Oh Breyten Breytenbach”, the hairs on my arms saluted a poetic voice I

had been privileged to hear.

Dawn Garisch - I was worried about Dawn Garisch when I first met her. She had that "what have I gotten

myself into" expression when I first met her. But I could tell the festival grew on her. Dawn's voice is a

lone voice in the wilderness - a doctor by profession who happens to be a writer, and a very good one at

that. Whilst what Dawn asked us to do during her talk may have been too difficult for some (yours truly

included) - Dawn is nonetheless a champion of what is referred to as the medical humanities. She

challenges us to break down the dichotomies that are our Cartesian inheritance and to let the body

speak.

I had the unenviable task of closing what had been a most memorable festival….in extra quick time…10

minutes, because the shouts of Prooovince could be already heard from the bar. Thank the Pope there

weren’t that many ardent Province supporters in town so we didn’t have to endure much heckling when

the Lions found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard 2 hours later.

But we were not done. We closed off with an Elvis Presley concert. Let me say that James Marais can

shake, rattle and roll. People thought I was mad when I got "Elvis" for Richmond. But they did not know

what I knew: Elvis is timeless. Elvis was the King and still is.

That’s it folks. Another festival, another year. To all our writers, and the many supporters of Booktown

Richmond, we wish each and every one of you a truly blessed and happy Christmas and a healthy, happy

New Year in 2015. We look forward to meeting many of you once more at our inaugural South African

Independent Publishers Award in May, which we are quietly confident will take the literary world by

storm in 2015.

Forever BookBedonnerd

Darryl & Peter