There is a long-standing connection between Jews and words. This year, the debut Jewish Literary Festival will explore the rich tradition of written disputation, debate and dialogue with over 45 events that span Sunday May 22 in the many venues at the Gardens Community Centre in Cape Town.
With a string of awards for her previous book, The Rowing Lesson, the organisers are delighted to announce that South African-born novelist Anne Landsman (now based in the USA) will be speaking on her upcoming novel. A rare treat for lovers of her books will be the opportunity to explore her rationale behind her departure from beautifully-crafted adult novels to, in her own words, “a historical fantasy intended for younger audiences but which hopefully appeals to their parents.”
Landsman sees this new book as a”crossover” book appealing to both young and old. At its core, this is the most Jewish-themed of her previous books. She will be speaking as part of a panel on What Makes a Book Jewish? featuring a novelist, bookseller, librarian and academic. Noteworthy panel discussions will cover subjects such as WRITING TABOO, FOOD, FICTION, MEMORY, JEWS WRITE HUMOUR and POETRY.
The day will be packed with panel discussions, conversations and individual speakers and noted authors have already confirmed their involvement: Milton Shain (long listed for 2016 Alan Paton Award,) Adam Mendelsohn (2014 National Jewish Book Award Winner), Steven Robins, John Matisonn, RahlaXenopolous, Joanne Jowell, Marilyn Cohen de Villiers, Rachel Zadok, Diane Awerbuck, Greg Lazarus, Tony Leon, Patricia Schonstein, Aviva Laskov, Gus Silber, Philippa Cheifitz and more are all part of the line-up.
Showcasing authors, poets, illustrators, journalists, writers and educators who have a Jewish connection or are engaged with subjects of Jewish interest, the Jewish Literary Festival is a day for mingling with fellow book lovers interested in Jewish Literature and lifestyle, making new friends, gathering ideas and purchasing some great reads..
The event is sponsored by Exclusive Books, in association with the Jacob Gitlin library and with Cape Jewish Chronicle and Fine Music Radio as media partners. It also forms part of the Cape Town Jewry’s 175th anniversary celebrations and the SA Jewish Museum and Holocaust Centre have generously donated their venues
Bookings: www.quicket.co.za
Enquiries:
Programme: www.jewishliteraryfestival.co.za
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ALTHOUGH I grew up in Worcester, a small South African town in the shadow of the Brandwacht mountains, that wasn’t the real me. The real me was best friends with Petunia, the North American goose who left her goose prints in deep snow; Scuffy, the tugboat, who bumped up against logs and loggers as he floated down an East Coast river; and Madeleine, the little girl who lived right near the amazing Eiffel Tower. The South African skies, the mountains, the endless varieties of indigenous plants – all these things were intensely present in my life as a child and also entirely absent from the world of my imagination, where I lived.
Most of the children I went to school with were Afrikaans, had blonde hair and shockingly blue eyes. I was Jewish, my black hair curled in every direction and my nose was long. It added another layer of not belonging. And then there was apartheid, which was invented and established while I was growing up. I knew it was wrong, my parents knew it was wrong, but that’s where we lived, that’s where we had a house with a brass plaque on the front wall which read – Dr. G.B. Landsman, M.B.Ch.B., M.R.C.P. (Edin.) That’s where we had loquat trees, and guava trees, a silver tree and a kumquat tree. I was always passionate about leaving. When I was very young, I believed London, Paris and New York were on the other side of the Brandwacht mountains because that’s where I wanted them to be. I got the idea of leaving from my mother, who took me to the public library on hot afternoons. The idea of staying came from my father, whose plaque remained affixed to the wall in front of the house until the day he died.
I switched hemispheres when I was 21. I had just finished my undergraduate degree at the University of Cape Town. I wanted to see London and Paris and New York, finally. New York stole my soul. It was everything South Africa was not. There was no Nature to miss in the tangle of buildings and the experience of a thousand cultures rubbing up against each other. I went to Columbia University and graduated with an M.F.A. in screenwriting and directing. My writing career started with the writing of screenplays, under the eye of the late Frank Daniel, the best teacher I have ever had. That’s where I began to think of writing about South Africa, the place I never read about as a child.
A short story I wrote which was published in the American Poetry Review became the prologue to my first novel, The Devil’s Chimney. I then went on to adapt the novel for the screen, as well as teach writing myself. I also published essays, reviews and interviews and wrote a second novel, The Rowing Lesson, once again learning that some portion of my heart will always beat in that opposite hemisphere, in the shadow of the Brandwacht mountains, not far from the house with the loquat trees. Some part of me stayed down there.
I belong where I am not.