The Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) within the College of Humanities will host the 26th edition of the Time of the Writer Festival.
The programme includes both live and online events and will take place from Thursday, 16 March to Tuesday, 21 March 2023. A supplementary programme of live events will be presented at various locations in Durban from Wednesday, 22 March to Friday, 25 March 2023.
The theme for the 2023 Time of the Writer festival is “Placemaking: Roots, Influence, Imagination and Expression”. The line-up for this edition includes, amongst several others, Fred Khumalo, Niq Mhlongo, Lebohang Masango, Makhosazana Xaba, Kumi Naidoo and Yewande Omotoso. Novelist and playwright, Dr Sindiwe Magona, has been selected as the 2023 Featured Author.
An all-women curatorial team is also behind this year’s festival and consists of Ms Nomthandazo Shandu (UKZN), Ms Sibahle Khwela (Durban University of Technology), Ms Nolwazi Nene (University of Cape Town), and Ms Scout Fynn (Market Theatre Laboratory). The four women are on a year-long Emerging Arts Managers internship programme at the CCA.
Partnering with the School of the Arts at UKZN, the festival will feature its third series of programmes for writers and stakeholders in isiZulu. The entire festival programme launched online on Wednesday, 1 March 2023.
This year’s edition has also invited submissions of short stories from unpublished writers. Niq Mhlongo, Shafinaaz Hassim, Phindile Dlamini and Themba Qwabe will select 30 short story writers for a mentoring programme that will culminate in the publication of two short stories anthologies in English and isiZulu. The books will be launched on Literacy Day on 8 September 2023.
The Time of Writer festival programme is presented with an array of partners including UKZN Press, Wits Writing Centre, African Centre for the Study of the United States, UJ Arts & Culture, Dante Foundation, Italian Institute of Culture, the Alliance Francais, Business Arts South Africa, Imbiza Journal for African Writing, and Ukraine Embassy.