Arts and Culture on Göteborg Book Fair Seminar Program of 2019

The Department of Arts and Culture as delegated by the South African Government is attending the Göteborg book fair taking place this last week of September 2019. The delegates from the department are attending as observes and to learn especially from South Korea, a country with a splendid culture and body of literature who is the 2019 focus country.

The learning and observation affords the South African country to pave a way for the 2020 book fair since South Africa will serve as the Guest of Honour in the coming year.

Göteborg Book Fair is one of the biggest book fairs in Europe, a four-day long celebration of literature and is the largest cultural event in the Nordic countries. It gives access to the Nordic market and provides a meeting place for publishers, literary agents, media, institutes, organisations, writers and readers. 1,000 accredited journalists cover Göteborg Book Fair, generating approximately 7,000 articles, TV and radio spots.

This year’s book fair puts additional focus on gender equality as well as media and information literacy (MIL). Each year at the end of September, Northern Europe’s largest cultural event takes place: Göteborg Book Fair. At the fair, over 300 seminars are offered, over 700 authors and commentators participate, over 100 international leading authors and over 800 exhibitors are on location.

The fair is a unique and the biggest opportunity it offers is the meeting between authors and readers. Over 80,000 visitors meet their favorite authors, buy books and discover new literature. Rights are negotiated and we honour the written word.

Book industries and general readers attend Göteborg Book Fair. Teachers attend too as well as librarians, fans of fantasy and feel-good books, alongside eminent agents and publishers, parents with children, poets, literary authors and the Swedish crime fiction elite. The highlight every year on subjects focuses on literature, reading and contemporary issues.

The Göteborg Book Fair welcomes a guest country every year which presents its literature and culture at the Fair and gives it a new face. Guest of Honour participation contributes to the establishment of international cultural relations and promotes cultural exchange, dialogue and tourism. This is an excellent opportunity to get to know new authorships from different parts of the world and it is also a great opportunity for buying and selling rights.

The Fair puts focus on themes that are current in our time. In 2019, light is being shed on gender equality, one of today’s key social justice issues, as well as media and information literacy (MIL), the competence needed to navigate the information landscape.

The Department of Arts and Culture sees literature as the foundation of life, as it has the potential to enable people to see through the eyes of others and build international cultural relationships.

The Department supports any initiatives that strive to promote reading and writing or any programme aimed at creating an environment in which communities and parents develop their children’s reading skills at an early age; encouraging young people in particular to read for pleasure and encouraging and supporting authors to stimulate readers’ minds; ensuring the availability of educated and talented individuals whose writings can contribute to society, and build the literary economy and cultivate a well informed and educated society characterized by a high degree of social cohesion.

Lliterature is seen as a journey that is inscribed in pages; one that empowers the reader’s imagination as it provides a gateway to understanding others’ life experiences. It touches hearts and sheds light on the issues that pose challenges to the survival of societies.

The Department realises that language is central to the writers’ ability to communicate and transmit their literary massages, cultural expressions, philosophies and ideas for present and future use. The government is aware of the significance of writing, reading and publishing in indigenous languages as a way to preserve that language for now and the future.

The 2020 book fair  and South Africa as a Guest of Honour will serve an important educational purpose by making South Africans aware of the key international book trends through seminars, panel discussions and presentations. The South African Government will bring together acclaimed African authors, scholars, writers and readers, who will have a platform to share their personal and professional experiences as a way of promoting African readership and supporting the growing book markets in South Africa and on the African continent.

The fair will be a celebration of South Africa’s remarkable talent, with a mix of iconic and upcoming writers, which will include those just embarking on their careers and voices that are yet to be published. South Africans will be encouraged to participate fully in the implementation of the fair’s programmes and read various types of books that might enrich their knowledge and deepen their understanding of many topics.

In addition, this might cultivate the habit of generating a culture that will facilitate better dialogue between individuals as well as creating a channel for continuous and harmonious negotiations between governments and their citizens. The fact that South Africa is the fair’s country of honour will raise the awareness of South African authors’ and publishers’ expectations of international audiences.

The book fair will bring together international writers and lovers of reading and will enable publishers and librarians to exhibit their works, especially books aimed at promoting literature, with the aim of establishing an African book readers’ movement for adult and children’s books.

South Africa being the Guest of Honour in 2020 will provide South African artists with a golden opportunity to connect with the world, initiate dialogue, celebrate their literary work and raise awareness for their cause.

South Africans will see this book fair as a melting pot of people from all walks of life that will promote literature and all art forms. The fair will provide a platform for skills development, social cohesion, tolerance and diversity through literature, art and culture.

As South Africa is the host country for 2020, the theme, Telling the South African story was chosen in advance to orientate and mobilise communities to deepen the culture of reading and writing. This theme will focus on South African stories that tell of the past and future of reading and writing.

It will reflect the significant variations in the way in which societies organise themselves according to their shared moral values; precolonial issues; colonial issues; post-colonial and current societal issues or themes; book business and interaction with literary challenges. Round table discussions will present an opportunity to address topics affecting society to which a number of authors have dedicated their books.

Reading is the most powerful means, if not the silver bullet, which one can use to change the world. The former South African President, Nelson Mandela, once said that “A winning nation is the reading nation”

The South African delegates to this book fair strongly believe that next year’s event will foster a love of reading and the pursuit of knowledge among South African participants. The hope is that given this opportunity to be the Guest of honour in 2020 will assist in developing literacy and introducing South African writers, librarians and academics to international markets.

The Department of Arts and Culture supports any initiative to develop and stimulate literary creation; to create a fiscal and financial environment favourable to writers and publishers and to promote the trade and distribution of books.

Enquiries:
Zimasa Velaphi, Head of Communications
Cell 072 172 8925
Email: zimasav@dac.gov.za

Petunia Lessing
Cell: 066 301 4645
Email: PetuniaL@dac.gov.za

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