Happy #ReadingAfrica week, everyone! We’re so excited to celebrate with you this week – but if you’re anything like us, you’re #ReadingAfrica all year long! That’s especially true here in South Africa, so here’s a few of my favorite South African book events, bookstores, and literary organizations who, like Catalyst Press, are always finding new ways to share African authors and their stories.
This list definitely is not exhaustive. I’ve been in Cape Town almost two years, and I’m still discovering new literary treasures every single day. So for everyone involved in the book world here in SA, thank you for all you do to bring African stories to readers country—and world—wide. This #ReadingAfrica week, we’re celebrating YOU!
Bookstores
Clarke’s Bookshop. The concept behind this shop on Cape Town’s lively Long Street is local, local, local. The bookstore foregrounds South African and African authors in a laid-back, no-frills atmosphere. André, longtime bookseller at Clarke’s, is a total delight and knows his stuff.
Book Lounge. It’s no secret that I love the Book Lounge. The classic wooden feel, the café downstairs, the young and diligent staff, and an impressive stock of bestsellers makes this a must-stop on my Cape Town literary to-do list.
Paper Moon Books. This secondhand bookshop just up the road from my house in Woodstock is the second Paper Moon, with the flagship store in Cape Town’s surfing suburb Muizenberg. Both are run by a couple named Chris and Dianne, who, between the two of them, are a literal encyclopedia of book recommendations. And their 20 Rand (about $1!) bookshelves are packed with new fiction and old classics. Perfect guilt-free perusing for booklovers on a budget – myself included!
Festivals
Open Book Festival. Hosted in the Fugard Theatre in downtown Cape Town, the Open Book Festival boasts incredible panels, a pop-up bookshop with all the year’s best titles, and plenty of opportunities to socialize with your favorite authors and publishers over coffees and samosas. Shameless Book Lounge plug: Mervyn Sloman, the Book Lounge’s owner, is a co-founder of the event alongside Johannesburg Review of Books founder Ben Williams. Jessica and I attended the 2019 OBF and had the opportunity to hear Catalyst author Yewande Omotoso speak on a panel alongside her fellow New Daughters of Africa contributors.
South African Book Fair. This annual book festival is hosted in Johannesburg and features a multi-day panel lineup, a kids’ tent, a bookstore tent, and plenty of food trucks, read-a-thons, and traditional song and dance performances. Jessica and I also attended SABF last year, where Jessica was a panelist discussing her novel This Thing Called the Future and sequel Under Water. I also had the opportunity to meet award-winning Catalyst author Sifiso Mzobe, author of Young Blood (out in 2021).
Prince Albert Leesfees. I haven’t attended this festival yet, but man, am I excited to! I’ve heard such wonderful things about this small literary festival in Prince Albert, South Africa, at the southern end of the Karoo Desert. It’s attended by the SA book world’s most devoted members, many of whom carpool together from Cape Town and elsewhere, and as a result the festival has quite a homey, community feel to it.
Literacy Organizations
There are far too many amazing literacy organizations to mention on this list (Nal’ibali, Puku, FunDza, oh my!), all of whom are dedicated to encouraging reading and writing culture in South Africa. If I had the space, I’d include them all. But alas, word count!
Book Dash: Book Dash was founded in 2014 with the mission to supply South African children with high quality, representative storybooks – and just last week, the org celebrated the donation of its 1 millionth book! Book Dash focuses on children under the age of 5, helping them grow their at-home libraries and discover a passion for reading with books that are inclusive, locally relevant, and completely theirs!
Woman Zone: This book club (but it’s so much more than a book club!) is specifically geared at women readers and writers. With monthly book clubs, author talks, virtual meet-ups, and a permanent (and free!) rental library filled with women’s interest books, Woman Zone is beloved by its community, respected by the industry, and offers a safe space for so many of my friends and colleagues here in Cape Town. They also host free walking tours around Cape Town geared towards women’s history and female-run businesses. Sign me up!
READ Educational Trust: In 2019, we partnered up with READ to donate free copies of our graphic novel Shaka Rising and sequel King Shaka: Zulu Legend to a library in the Alexandra township in Johannesburg. READ is a wonderful organization dedicated to school literacy projects, but they also do programming to train educators and provide resources for teachers in rural schools across the country.
