Centre for the Book setting up children’s literature network blog.

The Centre for the Book is setting up a Children’s Literature Network Blog. The categories for the blog are listed below. If you would like to be on the blog, or to have a link to your website or blog on it, please send information to mairefisher@gmail.com

If you think we have missed a category or subcategory, please let us know and we will add it.


NEWS AND INTERVIEWS

WRITERS
Calls for submission
Marketing
Opportunities
Prizes
Writing teachers and courses

ILLUSTRATORS
Illustrators’ Project Centre for the Book

PUBLISHERS
Awards/Prizes
Find writers
List of children's book publishers
- In South Africa
- Internationally
The children's book market

CHILDREN'S BOOK SHOPS

PARENTS AND CHILDREN

LIBRARIES
- Public libraries
- School libraries

NEWS AND EVENTS
Announcements
Book Fairs
Celebrations
Conferences
Prizegivings
Talks

ORGANISATIONS
Academic organisations
International organisations
Partnerships
South African organisations

RESOURCES
NELM
NALN
UCT special collections
OF GENERAL INTEREST

The latest from McSweeney's

After several months of secret labor in our mountaintop dojo, we're emerging from summer with four glorious items in hand (that's one item in each hand--we are built like Vitruvian Man). As of today, on our website and nowhere else, you can secure your copies of Bowl of Cherries, Millard Kaufman's stunning novel of young love and unorthodox acoustics and Iraqi imprisonment (Millard's ninety, by the way, and this is his first novel); McSweeney's 24, our two-in-one, Siamese-twin issue with six superb stories of troublesome times on one side and many gorgeous essays about running with Donald Barthelme on the other (along with two rare stories by the man himself); One Hundred and Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box, which features the very short, very sharp work of Sarah Manguso, Dave Eggers, and Deb Olin Unferth, with a small hardcover book for each of them and a gold-sprinkled slipcase for all of them; and Wholphin No. 4, our DVD quarterly's newest issue, and the first one to encompass Maggie Gyllenhaal, chimpanzees, and the chilling third installment of The Power of Nightmares. You can hear more about all of these at www.mcsweeneys.com

Rose Moss at Centre for the Book in Cape Town

Rose Moss will be reading from her collection of short stories 'In Court' published by Penguin and talking about her writing life on Thursday 30th August at lunch time at the Centre for the Book in Cape Town. 62 Queen Victoria Street. 13h00 to 14h00.

RSVP
Gaynor Young
cfbadmin@nlsa.ac.za
021 4232669

Looking for writer for 2008 Cutting Edge series

Peter Lancett, the series and commissioning editor for Ransom Publishing in the UK, is looking for a SOUTH AFRICAN writer to contribute a novella (30 - 35,000 words) to the 2008 Cutting Edge series. This series is aimed at teenagers and deals with hard-hitting issues - drugs, alienation, violence, death, crime etc. He is particularly looking for a writer who can contribute a work told from the perspective of a township kid. All works in this series are told in the first person.

If you are a SOUTH AFRICAN writer, interested in contributing to this series, please contact peter@xlitherfilms.com

Jacana Media invite you to the launch of Pregs Govender's Love & Courage

Guest Speakers: Amina Mama & Baleka Mbete
Poetry by Malika Ndlovu

Tuesday 21 August 5:30 for 6pm
Centre for the Book, 52 Queen Victoria Str, Cape Town
RSVP: Karin Iten 011 628 3200 karin@jacana.co.za

Finalists for sixth annual Bastiat Prize for Journalism announced

International Policy Network today announced the six finalists for the sixth annual Bastiat Prize for Journalism. The Prize – named in honour of the great 19th Century French philosopher and essayist Frédéric Bastiat – celebrates writers whose work cleverly and wittily promotes the institutions of the free society.

Commenting on the announcement, IPN Executive Director Julian Morris, said, “This year, we received over 280 submissions from writers in more than 60 countries, the overwhelming majority of them very high calibre.

The final decision is now in the hands of our eminent panel of judges, which comprises two former winners, Brian Carney (Wall Street Journal) and Amity Shlaes (syndicated Bloomberg columnist), two world-renowned economists, Professors Bibek Debroy and Wolfgang Kasper, and the Chief Judge of the DC Court of Appeals, Douglas Ginsburg. We look forward to announcing this year’s winners at the Bastiat Prize dinner on October 24th.”

The 2007 finalists (in alphabetical order followed by the publication(s) in which their entries appeared):

* Clive Crook

The Atlantic Monthly, USA; National Journal, USA

* Jonah Goldberg

LA Times, USA; Orlando Sentinel/syndicated, USA; National Review, USA

* A. Barton Hinkle

Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA

* Dominic Lawson

The Independent, UK

* Patrick McIlheran

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, USA

* Amit Varma

Mint, India
The winners will be announced at the Bastiat Prize Dinner in New York on 24th October 2007. The first prize winner will receive US$10,000 and an engraved candlestick. Second and third prize winners will receive $4000 and $1000 respectively, as well as an engraved candlestick.

The Bastiat Prize was first awarded in 2002 and judges have included Lady Thatcher and Nobel-Prize-winners James Buchanan and Milton Friedman.

This year’s panel of judges is:

* Brian Carney

(Editorial Board member, Wall Street Journal)

* Professor Bibek Debroy

(International Management Institute, India)

* Judge Douglas Ginsburg

(Chief Judge, Washington DC Court of Appeals)

* Professor Wolfgang Kasper

(Emeritus Professor, University of New South Wales, Australia)

* Amity Shlaes

(syndicated Bloomberg columnist; visiting senior fellow, Council on

Foreign Relations)

Last year’s joint first prize winners were Tim Harford of the Financial Times and Jamie Whyte for his articles in The Times of London. Rakesh Wadhwa took third prize for his articles in the Himalayan Times. Previous winners include Mary Anastasia O’Grady of the Wall Street Journal, Amity Shlaes (then with the Financial Times), Robert Guest (The Economist), Sauvik Chakraverti (Economic Times of India) and Brian Carney (then with the Wall Street Journal Europe). Entries for the Bastiat Prize are judged on intellectual content, persuasiveness of language used, and type and location of publication. The Prize is open to all writers, anywhere in the world; writers need not be associated with any specific publication. The Prize was developed to encourage and reward writers whose published works promote the institutions of a free society: property rights, the rule of law and limited government.

The Bastiat Prize is sponsored by International Policy Network (IPN), which comprises two sister organisations: a charity based in London and a non-profit 501(c) 3 corporation in the US. For more on IPN and the Bastiat Prize, please browse: www.policynetwork.net and www.bastiatprize.org

*New* commentary: Thoughts on African Writing in the New Century

I have been watching the publishing scene carefully and I have noticed that this era (the eve of the 21st century) might be the time for the African writer or artist. There have been numerous international awards given to African writers lately, for instance, Mann Booker, Caine, and others; and Nigeria, it seems, is once again leading in this explosion of African writing in English. Remember, in the 1950s Nigerian authors were leading the African scene, that is, in the arena of African writing in English. Of course, much was also happening in Francophone Africa, but my focus here is African writing in English. This writing has matured.

Thoughts on African Writing in the New Century - Emmanuel Sigauke

*New* poetry: Three poems by Abbey Khambule

Abbey Khambule is a Johannesburg resident, born in 1981 in Warmbath North West, raised and schooled in Cyverskuil, Atteridgeville, Pretoria and later Alexandra Township. He grew up aspiring to be a well known painter but in recent years has lost himself to poetry. He is studying towards a BA in Creative Writing and makes a living working for a law firm in Sandton.

Three poems - Abbey Khambule

Final edition of Crossing Borders magazine

Issue Twelve, the final edition of the Crossing Borders magazine

http://www.crossingborders-africanwriting.org/magazine/issuetwelve/
series is now available online. The magazine is edited by Becky Clarke, publishing the creative work, short stories and poetry of around 36 Crossing Borders participants over a year.

This edition includes:

Introduction by Becky Ayebia Clarke
'The Role of the Writer as a Social/Political Commentator' by Delia Jarrett - Macauley
'Goat's Feet' by Stanley Gazemba from Kenya
'True Warriors' by Ken Kamoche from Kenya
'The Other Cheek' by Hazel Couvaras from Zambia
Poetry by Zvisinei C. Sandi from Zimbabwe
'Broken Wings' by Batsirai Easther Chigama from Zimbabwe

British Council launches new writing website

The British Council's New Writing website http://newwriting.britishcouncil.org is now live. The theme for this month's focus is Writers on Writing, which examines the inner workings of a writer's mind as two authors discuss the highs and lows of what it takes to be a writer.

Ursula Holden's account of her writing career is inspirational and a homage to her strength and determination. She sent her first novel to over 40 publishers without finding a home for it; her second novel was accepted by Carcanet Press but lack of money prevented publication and it was only when her work was finally picked up by the late Alan Ross of London Magazine that she was finally published. 'Write at Your Own Peril' is an engaging and powerful piece of writing that combines personal memoir with the joys and pains of writing for a living.

Ma Jian left China, uncomfortable at the level of censorship he encountered there. He found Hong Kong to be a city in which he could write freely without losing the inspiration he gained in China. However, when Hong Kong was returned to the Chinese in 1997 his discomfort returned, forcing him to move to the West, far from the people, colours and smells that stimulated his work. His piece 'A Chinese Writer in London' describes the issues he has to confront to continue his work.

The website includes notes for teachers, notes for readers, author interviews and glossaries which we will be updating on a monthly basis, focusing on a wide selection of short stories, poems, novel extracts and essays.

An exhibition of photographs and poetry by 14 South African women

Botsotso and Constitution Hill are proud to present an exhibition of photographs and poetry reflecting and expressing the lives of women in our country as well as the wider world. The exhibition connects with the national month of women action.

The photographers: Neo Ntsoma, Suzy Bernstein, Riana Wiechers, Anna Varney The poets: elsbeth e, Sumeera Dawood, Lisemelo Tlale, Elizabeth Trew, Anet Kemp, Baitse Mokiti, Myesha Jenkins, Arja Salafranca, Makhosazana Xaba, Riana Wiechers, Bongekile Mbanjwa, Anna Varney The 50 photographs and poems are taken from the book ISIS X (Botsotso Publishing), of which Eva Kowalski commented:

“This anthology, edited by Allan Kolski Horwitz, combines contemporary photography and poetry by new South African female writers.

Such an openly women-only venture might attract projections of stereotyped feminism or effeminate style; neither are valid concerning this intelligent, varied, yet ultimately coherent anthology.

“Ostensibly the biggest challenge in putting together an anthology of such size is attempting to create a sense of unity and congruency while maintaining the clarity and strength of each unique voice, and Isis X manages this very well. The compiled texts range from humorous personal insights to poignant social observations to spirited expressions of anger and hope. That said, it is clear that certain themes and experiences are shared between works and authors; and these are noteworthy from both the point of view of poetry and photography connoisseurship and those interested in gender issues and other such subjects inevitably dealt with when women make art.” Exhibition opening will take place at 6pm for 6.30pm on Thursday, 2 August 2007 in the atrium of the Womens Jail Exhibition Space, the Womens Jail, Constitution Hill complex, Kotze St, Hillbrow The guest speakers will be Keketso Semoko (actress and womens activist)and Odette Geldenhuys (legal rights activist and documentary film maker). A reading by several of the poets (Myesha Jenkins, Arja Salafranca, Elizabeth Trew, Bongekile Mbanjwa and Anna Varney) will follow.

During August two further activities focusing on women will take place at the exhibition site:

1. Walkabout with the photographers and poets - 11am Saturday 11 August 2007
2. Evening of Women's Poetry (featuring Makhosazana Xaba, Uhuru Mahlodi, Donna Smith, and others as well as having an Open Mike component) * 6pm, Friday, 24 August 2007

Winner of the Caine Prize 2007 announced

Uganda’s Monica Arac de Nyeko has won the 2007 Caine Prize for African Writing, described as Africa’s leading literary award, for Jambula Tree from ‘African Love Stories’, Ayebia Clarke Publishing 2006. The Chair of Judges, Jamal Mahjoub from Sudan, announced Monica as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a dinner held this evening (Monday, 9 July) in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Jamal Mahjoub described her story as “a witty and touching portrait of a community which is affected forever by a love which blossoms between two adolescents”.

Monica Arac de Nyeko was born in Uganda . She studied at Makerere and Groningen universities for a degree in Education and an MA in Humanitarian Assistance. She is a member of the Uganda Women Writers Association (FEMRITE), was a literature and English language teacher at St Mary College, Kisubi, an Early Warning Consultant in Rome and later a Reports Officer in Khartoum. She has been a Fellow on the British Council’s Crossing Borders programme and was also shortlisted for the Caine Prize in 2004 for Strange Fruit. Her short stories Jazz, Miracles and Dreams and City Link are soon to be published.

Also on this year’s shortlist were:

Uwem Akpan (Nigeria), ‘My Parents Bedroom’ The New Yorker June 12, 2006

E.C Osondu (Nigeria) ‘Jimmy Carter’s Eyes’, AGNI Fiction Online 2006

Henrietta Rose-Innes (South Africa) ‘Bad Places’, New Contrast vol 31 no4 Spring 2003

Ada Udechukwu (Nigeria) ‘Night Bus’, The Atlantic Monthly, August 2006

Kenyan Billy Kahora’s ‘Treadmill Love’ from ‘The Obituary Tango’ Jacana/New Internationalist 2006, came in as highly commended by this year’s judges.

This year the winner of the £10,000 Caine Prize will take up a month’s residence at Georgetown University, Washington DC , as a ‘Caine Prize/Georgetown University Writer-in-Residence’. The award will cover all travel and living expenses.

Margie Orford, Michelle Matthews @ 20 Dunkley Mews, Cape Town

Top SA crime writer, Margie Orford, has developed what most writers dream of - an engaging protagonist who will develop into a series.

Orford is an award winning journalist, writer, photographer and film director. Michelle Matthews is the publishing manager of Oshun Books (Struik). Michelle will be talking about how to make your book as publishable as possible and answering all your questions on how to submit to a publisher.

Date: Thursday 26 July, Time: 6pm for 6.30pm.
Cost: R100 for wine and delicious snacks.
Venue: 20 Dunkley Mews, Dunkley Square, Gardens
RSVP: capetown@thewriteco.co.za

The Write Co short story competition 2007

The Write Co has announced that it will run this competition for the second time. The theme is "Paint it Black!".
"We introduced the competition due to an increasing interest in the short story last year," says Amanda Patterson, owner of The Write Co. The contest drew over 500 entries from all over the world. “We're hoping to double that number this year,” she adds.

Fiction writing courses run by The Write Co have turned 27 graduates into published authors. One of these is Harry Cronje author of the short story collection, Fanyana Talks to the Animals (Struik).

Another is Writers Write graduate and Write Co facilitator and editor, Morné Malan. Morné was one of the winners of the SA Pen Award for his short story - Jason's Kiss. Nobel Laureate JM Coetzee was the judge.

Morné went on to win Tafelberg's Great Novel Competition, in the Debut Novel Category. The judges were Prof. Andre P. Brink, Jakes Gerwel and Louise Viljoen. This novelist, playwright, copywriter and editor, facilitates Skrywers Skryf for The Write Co.

KISS is The Write Co's classic short story workshop. Mail info@thewriteco.co.za to find out more.

The Write Co's aim is to get as many South African popular fiction authors published as possible. Sarah Bullen opened the first Write Co franchise in Cape Town in June 2007.

PRIZES

1st Prize: Writers Write course - valued at R3 500, 00, or gift vouchers for The Write Co valued at R3 500, 00, your story published in The Write Co Newsletter, The Citizen Vibe and on The Write Co Website

2nd Prize: 1 year's subscription to The Write Club, worth R1 800.00

3rd Prize: 4 hours with one of our personal writing coaches, worth R1 400.00

Judges:
Amanda Patterson – The Write Co Founder and author of I See the Moon, Writers Write 1, Writers Write 2 and Rewrite your future
Morné Malan – Winner of The Best Debut Novel 2007 and a winner in the short story SA Pen short story award
Sarah Bullen – Cape Town's Write Co principal, author of Hey Baby! And Make Money Freelancing, publisher editor, and life coach

Entries will be accepted from 1 July 2007 until end September 2007.

Penguin launches another UCT MA graduate work

Blood Kin is a shocking exploration of how banal evil can be and how every one of us, at some stage in our lives, could be accused of being complicit. Drawing her readers masterfully towards the novel’s devastating climax, Ceridwen Dovey reveals how humanity’s most atavistic impulses – vanity, obsession and vengeance – seethe relentlessly, just beneath the veneer of civilisation.

Ceridwen Dovey grew up between South Africa and Australia. She received a scholarship to study Anthropology at Harvard University as an undergraduate, then moved to Cape Town for a few years to write her first novel, Blood Kin. She is now doing a PhD in Anthropology at NYU in New York.

Click here to read an extract

BOTSOTSO will be launching six new titles at Xarra Bookshop

BOTSOTSO will be launching six new titles at Xarra Bookshop, Mary
Fitzgerald Square, Newtown: 6pm, Thursday 19 July, 2007

Collections of poetry

FALLING FROM SLEEPby Mark Espin, a non-dogmatic, activist poet whose
exercises in the philosophical evocation of life in Cape Town are
emotional and intellectual

BELLA, the collected poems of Isabella Motadinyane who died in 2003,
and was one of the founder members of the Botsotso Jesters poetry
performance group; her surreal and multi-lingual work offers a sharp
female perspective on South Africa

POETIC LICENSEby Mike Alfred, the septuagenarian poet of Troyville,
Johannesburgwhose wry exposures of the human and the natural are
sophisticated and humorous yet down to earth and cutting

A PRIVATE PART,poems and drawings by Lionel Murcott, is the interplay
between word and image, Lionel being equally proficient with both; a
teacher at the National School for the Arts in Johannesburg, he is well
placed to push multimedia collaboration to the limit

Fiction

TOTEM AND CANDIDATE/SING BABYLON,two novellas by Marcelle du Toit,
offering contrasting southern African scenarios: one set in Hillbrow,
being a tale of Rastas, Jewish neurosis, jazz fiends, hallucination and
the contradictions African patriarchy creates for independent black
women; the second set in a 'mythical' African state in the
post-liberation period when the corruptiveness of power shows its dirty
hand and forces different elements to reconsider their allegiances

Drama

BLIND VOICESa collection of four radio plays by Kobus Moolman, who is
also a poet and creative writing teacher from Pietermaritzburg; the main
play, SOLDIER BOY, about the effect of the Total Onslaught wars fought
by White South Africa, was broadcast by the BBC in 2003. A CD recording
of that production is attached to the book. The other three plays are
more abstract, almost Becketian, and have yet to be recorded.

The launch will feature readings from the books and a discussion on the
role and status of independent, non-commercial publishers.

Chimurenga Magazine launches new issue with appearances at two of world's biggest contemporary art events

Cape Town based publication of arts, culture and politics, from and about Africa and its Diasporas, Chimurenga Magazine launches its new issue, Chimurenga 11 - Conversations With Poets Who Refuse To Speak with live appearances at two of the world's biggest contemporary art events.

On Sunday 24 June 2007 the magazine will provide the incendiary musical mix at the Africa Remix opening at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Joubert Park, Johannesburg. Expect a renegade audio "Felasophy" session featuring Abrahamse's Jafrobeat Ensemble along with spoken word ranthologist Lesego Rampolokeng; powerhouse polyrhythmic drummer Kesivan Naidoo, Nigerian Afro-soul fusion trumpeter Olufemi Ogunkoya and urban conscious treknology, tricknology and tracknology courtesy of DJ Khenzero. From 20h30 till late.

Chimurenga will also be spreading its word at documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany this July. Taking place every 5 years, documenta is one of the world's most important exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Chimurenga is one of 90 international magazines selected to contribute to this year's "documenta 12 magazines". Moreover Chimurenga will be in-house at documenta from 2 until 8 July with "House of Truth", an open-house autonomous zone that takes its name from the drinking pit where the makers of the infamous Drum magazine gathered nightly for informal seminars with Can Themba as resident deconstructor. At "House of Truth" fluids, bodies and burning minds coalesce to burning grooves courtesy of DJ Ntone.

Visitors to both events will be able to grab copies of the new Chimurenga. Titled Conversations With Poets Who Refuse To Speak, the latest instalment features a heady mix of words and images that give voice to silence. "So much has been said about speech: speaking up, speaking for oneself, not being allowed to speak, speaking for the other who'd rather speak for self, but very little is said about the virtue of silence," says editor Ntone Edjabe. "So much said about making oneself visible, but little said about mining the rich depths of absence. This issue is about silence, disappearing oneself as act. Though it's often one of abdication, could it be defiance, resistance even? - a challenging idea, in a culture where struggle about seeking exposure, giving voice, making visible and all that stuff..."

Inside you'll find everything from Iranian scholar Asef Bayat writing on the quiet encroachment of the ordinary, to an unsolicited rant from Cape Town-based writer Gael Reagon, serious Melodifius thunkish funk from acclaimed British writer Geoff Dyer, sharp travel discourse from South African poet, journalist, radio producer and activist Sandile Dikeni and American criminal and author, Jack Henri Abbott's words about life in the hole.

Also: Christopher Wise's search for African literary provocateur Yambo Oulogeum; Liesl Jobson on bad breasts; Anthony Joseph on the African origins of UFO; Che via Jay Cantor on el comandante's punitive silence; Achille Mbembe on the death of Um Nyobe; Suren Pillay on making pictures; Nwando Mbanugo to the little red hat of power; Eric Darton on what to say when its time to speak; Stacy Hardy on Julius Eastman's caged negratas; Conceição Evaristo on strange fruits; Neelika Jayawardane on Gitmo and Ed Pavlic on unannounced winners.

Images include Ralph Lemon's spaceship drawings, Mario Benjamin's unnamed ghosts, Goniwe minutes before he was gunned down, the Black Ark, drawings from the Ramallah Underground, and "Declensions in Blue", an essay on what silence looks like featuring images by David Hammons, Gordon Parks, Herve Youmbi and Moustapha Dime. The cover is "Sarkozy, Fanon and the jazz baroness", a remix of the cover art of Monk's Underground.

Chimurenga is available from book stores (such as Exclusive Books, South Africa), used-book dealers, cultural events, organisations, collectives and university campuses in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Swaziland, Botswana and Ghana, as well as Germany, the US, Britain and France. The magazine can also be ordered directly online from www.chimurenga.co.za

Highlights of 2007 Cape Town Book Fair

Catch some highlights of the Fair (courtesy of Zoopy.com) with streaming video of:

- Wilbur Smith
- Tertia Albertyn
- John van der Ruit
- The Giggling Gourmet
- Richard Calland and Max du Preez; and many others

http://www.capetownbookfair.com/press-and-media/videos

Attendance figures at the 2007 Cape Town Book Fair (CTBF) were close to double those of the inaugural event last year. Over 49 000 visitors attended the four-day fair at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, which ended on Tuesday. This figure doesn't include the many thousands of children who also attended the event, which was one of the largest to be held at the CTICC ever. [June 19] In 2006, 26 000 visitors attended the fair.

"We are extremely pleased with the figures," said Vanessa Badroodien, Director of the CTBF. "The fair was a huge success, attracting a huge and diverse range of people."
Evidence of the large numbers attending the event was reflected in the convention centre parking garages, which were full for the four days. Even all the overflow parking was taken. CTICC Catering services battled to keep up with the demand for meals and beverages, with queues forming at most refreshment points. Autobank terminals ran out of money on several occasions.

Over 260 journalists, including an international contingent, covered the event. More than 200 authors and 354 exhibitors participated in the fair, with representatives from countries including the United States, Ghana, Germany, India, China and France. Directors from the Beijing and Frankfurt Book Fairs were in attendance, as well as the heads of the British and Caribbean Publishers' Associations.

Iris Klose, Project Manager/International Department for the Frankfurt Book Fair, which is a partner of the CTBF, said that she had been "extremely impressed" with the fair.

"It has been very lively. We combined our visit here to include both a presentation and a stand presence, and they have worked well. Overall, I would say the fair has been a striking success for everybody involved," she said.

Several new features at the book fair proved very popular, noted Badroodien.
"The magazine stands by Caxton and Media 24 were really well supported and pulled large crowds. And our book collections (on Mandela, wine and science fiction/fantasy) were also well supported," she said.

Virtually all of the 470 activities on the CTBF programme were full, whether they covered political issues, literary topics or more entertaining subjects.

"One thing we have realised is that author interactions are a highlight of the fair. Whether we had George Bizos talking about his autobiography, Anthony Horowitz explaining how he writes, or Marion Keyes being hilarious, the public just couldn't get enough," said Badroodien.

Another obvious highlight is the children's programme. "We expanded our zone for kids this year, but it still wasn't big enough," said Badroodien. "And on Monday and Tuesday we had an unexpected influx of children and their parents or teachers, possibly due to the public servants strike action and schools being closed. It called for fast re-organisation on our part."

Aside from the popularity of the events programme, reports from trade delegations and exhibitors were that the business side of the book fair was busy. Most commented on the efficient running of the event, and said they had made many useful connections. Printers, distributors, publishers, book-sellers, illustrators and more were represented on the exhibition floor.

While exhibitors enjoyed the exciting atmosphere created by the thousands of visitors, there was a common request for a business day that was closed to the public. Badroodien has said this will definitely happen next year.

"However, we must keep in mind that this is a part public, part trade event. And we want to encourage as many book-lovers as possible to attend, including young readers. After all, children are the next generation of book-buyers - and authors and publishers," said Badroodien.

In all, she had been "incredibly pleased" with the response to this year's book fair.

"We attracted a diverse and enthusiastic crowd, and they filled up all our events and activities. We had a wide range of exhibitors, with 4% from the continent and an international contingent of 26%. It's fair to say the 2007 CTBF has been a cultural and an economic success - especially considering the dramatic increase in visitor numbers," she said.

Badroodien said that plans were already being made for next year's event, including increasing the space booked for public lectures, establishing a booking system for certain events, creating an entirely separate zone for children and holding a business-only day.

"This year has been wonderful. And based on what we have seen, we feel entirely positive about the 2008 Cape Town Book Fair," she said.

The Cape Town Book Fair is a joint venture between the Publisher's Association of South Africa (PASA) and the Frankfurt Book Fair, in association with the Sunday Times.

Centre for the Book’s 'must read' South African Books for the 2007 Cape Town International Book Fair

In response to an informal poll run by the Centre for the Book, in collaboration with the Cape Town International Book Fair, the Centre for the Book has compiled a list of great books written by South Africans.

‘This is a great way to show that South Africans are reading books written by South Africans,’ said Vanessa Badroodien, Managing Director of the Cape Town Book Fair. ‘And not only that, but that South African books are equal to any book out there.’

There will be a display of the books selected at Stand Q3, the Centre for the Book’s stand at the book fair, and the publishers whose books were chosen for inclusion on this list have supplied copies to be used as prizes for the winners of Lucky draw competitions. There will be two draws per day for small packs of ‘must reads’ and on the last day of the fair there will be a draw for the bumper pack.

The final list of ‘Must Read’ books - 25 (& 5):

A change of tongue -- Antjie Krog, RANDOM HOUSE SA (also as 'n Ander Tongval -TAFELBERG )
African Salad - a portrait of South Africans at home -- Tamsen de Beer and Stan Engelbrecht, DAYONE PUBLISHERS
Agaat -- Marlene van Niekerk, JONATHAN BALL
Coldsleep Lullaby -- Andrew Brown, ZEBRA PRESS (STRUIK)
Confessions of a Gambler -- Rayda Jacobs, KWELA
Die Aandag Van Jou Oe: Gedigte Vir Die Liefde -- Petra Muller, TAFELBERG
Disgrace -- JM Coetzee, VINTAGE RANDOM HOUSE IMPRINT
Dog Eat Dog -- Niq Mhlongo, KWELA
Green-eyed Thieves -- Imraan Coovadia, UMUZI
I remember King Kong (The Boxer) -- Denis Hirson, JACANA
Jamela’s Dress -- Nicky Daly, TAFELBERG
Karoo Boy -- Troy Blacklaws, DOUBLE STOREY
Orion -- Deon Meyer, TAFELBERG
People who have stolen from me - David Cohen, PICADOR AFRICA (PAN MACMILLAN)
Portrait with Keys -- Ivan Vladislavic, UMUZI
Seasonal Fires -- Ingrid de Kok, UMUZI
Shirley, Goodness and Mercy -- Chris van Wyk, PICADOR AFRICA (PAN MACMILLAN)
Skyline -- Patricia Schonstein Pinnock, DAVID PHILLIP
Some Afrikaners Revisited -- David Goldblatt, UMUZI
Song Trials -- Mxolisi Nyezwa, UKNZ PRESS (THE UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL PRESS * originally a Gecko Press publication)
Spud -- John van der Ruit, PENGUIN
The Abundant Herd -- Marguerite Poland and Leigh Voight, FERNWOOD PRESS
The Children's Day Michiel Heyns JONATHAN BALL, (also as Verkeerdespruit HUMAN & ROUSSEAU)
The Good Cemetery Guide * Consuelo Roland, DOUBLE STOREY
The Native Commissioner -- Shaun Johnson, PENGUIN
The Quiet Violence of Dreams -- K Sello Duiker, KWELA
The Whale Caller -- Zakes Mda, PENGUIN
Touch my Blood --- Fred Khumalo, UMUZI
Welcome to my Hillbrow -- Phaswane Mpe, UKNZ PRESS (THE UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL PRESS)
ZAPIRO, The Zuma Code -- DOUBLE STOREY

McSweeney's needs your help

Dave Eggers' brilliant indie publishing venture McSweeney's is in dire straits:

As you may know, it's been tough going for many independent publishers, McSweeney's included, since our distributor filed for bankruptcy last December 29. We lost about $130,000 -- actual earnings that were simply erased. Due to the intricacies of the settlement, the real hurt didn't hit right away, but it's hitting now. Like most small publishers, our business is basically a break-even proposition in the best of times, so there's really no way to absorb a loss that big.

We are committed to getting through and past this difficult time, and we're hoping you, the readers who have from the start made McSweeney's possible, will help us.

Over the next week or so, we'll be holding an inventory sell-off and rare-item auction, which we hope will make a dent in the losses we sustained. A few years ago, the indispensible comics publisher Fantagraphics, in similarly dire straits, held a similar sale, and it helped them greatly. We're hoping to do the same.

So if you've had your eye on anything we've produced, now would be a great time to take the plunge. For the next week or so, subscriptions are $5 off, new books are 30 percent off, and all backlist is 50 percent off. Please check out the store and enjoy the astounding savings, while knowing every purchase will help dig us out of a big hole.

Many of our contributors have stepped up and given us original artwork and limited editions to auction off. We've got original artwork from Chris Ware, Marcel Dzama, David Byrne, and Tony Millionaire; a limited-edition music mix from Nick Hornby; rare early issues of the quarterly, direct from Sean Wilsey's closet; and more. We're even auctioning off Dave Eggers's painting of George Bush as a double-amputee, from the cover of Issue 14.

This is the bulk of our groundbreaking business-saving plan: to continue to sell the things we've made, albeit at a greatly accelerated pace for a brief period of time. We are not business masterminds, but we are optimistic that this will work. If you've liked what we've done up to now, this is the time to ensure we'll be able to keep on doing more.

Plenty of excellent presses are in similar straits these days; two top-notch peers of ours, Soft Skull and Counterpoint, were just acquired by Winton, Shoemaker & Co. in the last few weeks. It's an unsteady time for everybody, and we know we don't have any special claim to your book-buying budget. We owe all of you a lot for everything you've allowed us to do over the last nine years, for all the time and freedom we've been given.

Once this calamity is averted, we'll get back to our bread and butter -- the now-legendary Believer music issue is already creeping into mailboxes everywhere; Issue 24 of our quarterly is in the midst of a really pretty silkscreening process; and in July the fourth issue of Wholphin, our DVD magazine, will slip over the border from Canada, bringing with it some very good footage of Maggie Gyllenhaal and a Moroccan drummer who messes up a wedding in an entertaining way. And then a couple of months after that, we'll publish a debut novel from a writer named Millard Kaufman. This book is exactly the kind of thing McSweeney's was created to do: The novel came through the mail, without an agent's imprimatur, and it was written by a first-time novelist. This first-time novelist is ninety years old. It was pulled from the submissions pile and it knocked the socks off of everyone who read it. Millard may well be the best extant epic-comedic writer of his generation, and he stands at equal height with the best of several generations since.

Whatever you can do to help in the coming days, we thank you a thousand times. We'll keep updating everybody on how this is going over the next few weeks; for now, pick up a few things for yourself, your friends, for Barack Obama. More news soon -- thanks for reading.

Yours warmly,
The folks at McSweeney's