A message from Christopher Hope, director of the Franschhoek Literary Festival

The Franschhoek Literary Festival is something very special for me. I have spent, over the years, many days at literary and writers’ festivals in Britain, Europe, the US and Canada. And it began to seem to me that there was room for something similar in South Africa, a get-together quite different from other arts festivals that take place in this country. The aim of the FLF is to put writers in the front rank, to give them the space, and the means, to come to Franschhoek, to stay in the town, to be paid a small fee and, above all, to be appreciated. I wanted to make a place where writers, who often have to struggle hard to be published, to be read, to be heard, can meet and mix with colleagues from across South Africa and from around the world.

In short, the Festival I wanted to see would be the intimate, interesting, friendly meeting place for those who enjoy the shapes of words and the magic they make – readers, publishers, journalists; for all who wrote, read and loved books. I had in mind a lively and literate street party, in a convivial town, where everyone can fi nd a seat, a meal, a glass of wine and a good book or three. That is what Franschhoek does best and that is what this Literary Festival is about.

Our ultimate aim is to use whatever we may raise in the Festival towards establishing a new community library in Franschhoek. But what I wish most is for the Franschhoek Literary Festival to back up our writers, most particularly young writers, by making them the heart of the matter. Writers give us pictures of ourselves, which we may love or hate – but without our poets, novelists and dramatists how will we know who we are?

Welcome to the very fi rst Franschhoek Literary Festival.

Christopher Hope

Director

Download the programme here