It’s not too late to buy tickets to the M&G’s Literary Festival held at Johannesburg’s Market Theater August 28 to September 2, 2012. Some of the world’s finest literature hails from SA, so now’s the time to get caught up in the currents of literary awesome-ness going on in that country: “From its opening session, No Time like the Present: Gordimer and Serote in Conversation, to its final panel discussion, Stories of Exile, the festival aims to survey what is being written in and about South Africa, its society and people (M&G).” I hope someone makes podcasts of the panel discussions, especially Saturday’s sessions 6 (Joburg: City of Extremes), 7 (One Country, Many Literatures: Looking at South African Writing), 9 (Joburg in Fiction), and 1 (Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordiner and Mongane Wally Serote), and Sunday’s sessions 12 (War, Peace, and Transformation in South African Fiction), and 13 (Stories of Exile). An event not to be missed, if you’re in the vicinity! Update: Still looking for podcasts, but here’s an account of some “intellectual fisticuffs” that broke out during the War, Peace, and Transformation panel (!) between UCT ’s Imraan Coovadia and audience member Sue Kriege. Scroll down to the comments section to read Kriege’s takedown account. In addition, here you can see a short M&G clip of Session 5 (Satire and the Limits of Freedom of Expression), with Zapiro, Diane Victor, Glenda Daniels, and Chris Wadman, moderated by Sandile Memela.
