The Gaborone Book Festival releases their star studded lineup
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
The highly anticipated Gaborone Book Festival slated for 21st until the 22nd of September in Gaborone, recently released the event’s lineup of featured writers which dominated by local authors. The literary arts celebration features acclaimed regional and national authors including Lauri Kubuitsile’s “The Scattering”, Modirwa Kekwaletswe’s “Ratsie Setlhako”, Donald Molosi with “We Are All Blue”, Thabo Katlholo with “Blameless”, Kgomotso Jongman’s “Legacy”, Thalefang Charles with “Botswana’s Top 50 Ultimate Experiences”, Andrew Sesinyi’s “Love on the rocks”, Esinako Ndabeni and Sihle Mthembu’s “Born to Kwaito”, Lola Shoneyi with “The secret lives of Baba Segi’s wives”, Victor Kgomoetshwaana with “Africa is Open for Business”, Margaret Raymond with “Everyday Matters” aa well as publisher at Black Bird Books, Thabiso Mahlape among others.
In an interview, co-founder of the Gaborone Book Festival, Kenanao Phele said they were bringing back all the authors who were featured in previous Book nights, new authors to look out for and authors who penned important books. “We have featured authors such as Modirwa Kekwaletswe who has written an important book that talks about Botswana’s folklore music legend who has inspired a generation of local musicians and his music continues to be played to this day. Bongani Malunga and Munirul Bhuiyan are new authors that people should look out for. Therefore, our lineup is a healthy mix that will cater for different types of readers,” she said.
Phele went on to add that the released lineup was not finalized and the complete schedule will be announced leading up to the festival. “We really want to attract a diversified pool of authors. We are still chasing six more Batswana authors who will be confirmed before the end of this month. This will hopefully be a big event featuring panel discussions, conversations, book launches, a lot of book sales, and book signings,” she adds.
Celebrated author Lauri Kubuitsile whose book “The Scattering” is set in Namibia, South Africa and Botswana is one of the event’s highlights . Inspired by the Herero Genocide and the Boer war in the Transvaal, the books narrative celebrates the resilience of the human spirit without focus on the event of the actual genocide. Tomeletso Sereetsi’s “The Four String Guitar” explores the four string guitar and the unique music that still leads a precarious existence on the further fringes of mainstream society. “The Solo Four String Guitar of Botswana” project has produced a book and CD on this previously undocumented solo guitar style that is unique to Botswana. The package is largely a player’s manual carrying a history of the style, brief biographies of the style’s most seminal guitarists, the commonly used chords and chord progressions as well as examples of basic four string guitar grooves in staff notation and audio.
Tickets for the festival are on sale at www.webtickets.co.bw and at all Web tickets outlets.