Writers’ festival in full swing

THE Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) is proud to announce the programme for the 17th Time of The Writer: International Festival of Writers – a week long showcase set to provoke, inform and inspire interesting debates and panel discussions.

The festival, which brings together some of the world’s finest novelists, authors and storytellers to Durban, features participants from India, Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana, Togo, and Guinea takes place from 17-22 March at the UKZN Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.

Twenty writers will be gathering for a week of literary dialogue, exchange of ideas and stimulating discussion under the theme Freeing Our Imagination in solidarity with Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina’s clarion call for Africans to use their creativity to imagine and create a continent free of the existential burdens of colonialism.

Opening night, 17 March will feature all participating writers as they make brief presentations at the UKZN Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, with the first night of the festival dedicated to the late great South African thinker, academic and prolific writer, Professor Mbulelo Mzamane, a past participant of Time of the Writer.

Prof Mzamane passed away on 15 February, having made his mark through his writing and scholarship with titles including The Children of Soweto, The Children of the Diaspora and other stories of Exile and Where there is no vision the people will perish: Reflections on the African Renaissance among others. Nelson Mandela described him as “visionary leader, [and] one of South Africa’s greatest intellectuals.”

The rest of the week’s evening presentations will be panel discussions with writers talking about their writing and the issues dealt with in their work.

For more information on this year’s programme visit the Centre for Creative Arts website.