The Bookseller.com

30th August 2008

Gary Cummiskey is founder, editor, and publisher of independent South African publisher Dye Hard Press.

Cape Town Book Fair - Day 1

14.06.08

On arriving at the book fair at about 10am, my initial impression was that it was quiet with not too many visitors compared to previous years. After about two hours, however, the masses had flocked in and come lunch time I once again ended up sitting on a staircase with my tray balanced on my lap. And the trend is that the fair will become even busier on Sunday and Monday (a public holiday in South Africa).

The logistics around the fair are a lot better this year. Visitors have to book to attend discussion forums taking place in the meeting rooms of the centre (as opposed to those taking place in the exhibition hall). This was necessitated by the severe overcrowding of rooms that took place last year, which raised concerns for safety. Another helpful value-add this year that was the programme guide included an alphabetical floor plan, so one could see at a glance exactly what stands were located where, without having to search through the labyrinth of aisles.  

 Inside the hall, all the big guns of publishing were once again present: Random House, Jonathan Ball, Maskew Miller Longman, Penguin SA, MacMillan and Heinemann. It was also good to see medium-sized publishers such as Jacana Media looking more impressive than ever, as well as the various university publishers such as University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Wits University Press and Oxford. The government departments of arts and culture and education were there, as well as the National Library of South Africa.

Considering that children’s literature is one of the focuses of the fair this year, it was not surprising that there were many stands devoted to children’s books, and it was encouraging to see a group of schoolchildren visiting on the first day.

There was also an increase in the number of religious publishers – Christian and Moslem – represented. There also seemed an increase in the number of technical and educational publishers.   

Booksellers were once again cashing in, with national chain Exclusive Book and Cape-based Wordsworth making merry.  It was also good to see national newsagent and bookseller CNA’s stand well stocked. It doesn’t seem like too long ago, when in fact it was the mid-1990s, when the group lost focus and went through a severe wobble.

For reasons mentioned in my previous blog, a notable absence at the fair was that of the growing number of independent publishers. The only independents present were Snailpress, Modjaji Books, Botsotso, and – to my surprise – Pan-African literary journal Chimurenga.

At its stand, Chimurenga officially launched its online library of African independently published books. The library, which contains titles dating back to the 1960s, has about 20 books archived to date but will continue growing. The library, as Chimurenga says, provides a much-needed and long overdue profile for Pan-African writing at the book fair.

Botsotso also managed to organise space in the hall to host literary events, which on the first day included readings by various women poets such as Arja Salafranca and Elizabeth Trew, as well as a panel discussion on local literary journals.   

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