Pam Golding Properties is delighted to be one of the venue sponsors of the 2023 Franschhoek Literary Festival, which celebrates its 16th year with a bumper line-up of more than 100 authors.
The historic town of Franschhoek will be abuzz with writers, thought leaders, literary enthusiasts and bibliophiles from Friday 19 May to Sunday 21 May 2023.
A highlight on the national literary calendar, the Franschhoek Literary Festival was established in 2007 to encourage a culture of reading in the Franschhoek Valley and to raise funds for the local school libraries. With the support of festival goers and sponsors, the festival’s CSI (corporate social investment) initiative, Franschhoek Reading, has invested in four primary school libraries over the years.
They also plan to expand the school libraries project to high schools in the area, says Festival Director Elitha van der Sandt. “The Franschhoek Reading programme has donated over R1.7 million and put more than 7 500 books into local primary schools, established regular weekly library lessons for 65 classes, and continues to positively influence the reading experience of at least 3 000 learners each year.
“Education has long been a focus of Pam Golding Properties’ CSI initiatives, we therefore welcome the opportunity to sponsor the Hospice Hall sessions of this much-loved literary festival,” says Surina du Toit, area manager of Pam Golding Properties Franschhoek.
“A recent study revealed that a worrying 82% of South African children are unable to read for meaning. Our country is facing a deepening literacy crisis and unless we instil a love for reading from an early age, the situation will continue to worsen. This festival enables communities in the area to have access to reading resources.”
The three-day programme is packed with informal discussions, lively debates, insightful conversations and inspired talks by a plethora of South African and international authors. These include Johnny Steinberg, whose Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage, is one of the most anticipated reads of 2023; Zimbabwe’s critically acclaimed Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu; Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase who writes of his escape from Rwanda to South Africa; international award-winning author, Rachel Joyce and popular crime writer Margie Orford.
Pam Golding Properties has sponsored all the events in Hospice Hall for the duration of the festival. Highlights include writer C.A. Davids in conversation with Vernon R.L Head about his new novel, On The Wave of Gulls. Also on the programme in this venue is Melinda Ferguson talking to Robert Gentle about his memoir Scholarship Kids. Lawyer and land restitution expert Bulelwa Mabasa will share more about her memoir. My Land Obsession, with journalist and broadcaster, Koketso Sachane.
The festival has been curated with a focus on books published in the past year and will feature several writers who won literary awards in the past 12 months. These include Joanne Joseph, whose Children of Sugarcane won the Adult Fiction Prize at the SA Book Awards 2022; Mignonne Breier, who won the 2022 Sunday Times Literary Award for non-fiction for Bloody Sunday; Tshidiso Moletsane, whose Junx won the 2022 Sunday Times Fiction Award, and Maddie Mortimer who won the Desmond Elliott Prize 2022 for Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies.
To view the full programme, visit www.flf.co.za.
Tickets can be purchased through webtickets: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/EventCategories.aspx?itemid%3D1526669265&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1681383484090425&usg=AOvVaw1ZlNDVBhO-fahs5n5EL49m
