As part of the exciting line up of the sixth Open Book Festival, celebrated authors Mama Sindiwe Magona and Bongani Kona speak to acclaimed writer Bongani Madondo, about his recently published Sigh the Beloved Country.
Open Book and Jazz in the Native Yards have collaborated on the event, Sigh The Beloved Country.
It takes place on Sunday 11 September at 14h00 at Guga S’thebe. Two ticket options are available, one of which includes admission and transport to and from the event. Transport will leave from the Book Lounge (71 Roeland Street) at 13.30. Tickets cost R30 (admission only) or R80 (admission and transport).
“Bongani’s writing is unique,” says Festival Director Mervyn Sloman. “Sigh the Beloved Country is a brilliant reflection on our society.”
Bongani Madondo is a non-fiction writer, biographer and amateur film-maker. His books include Hot Type (2007) and I’m Not Your Weekend Special: Portraits on the Life+Style & Politics of Brenda Fassie (2014). Madondo has contributed monographs and lectures on the politics of style, film and rock & roll at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), in Warsaw, and at Haus Kulturen der Welt, in Berlin. His work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Transition, Internazaionale, Sunday Times Lifestyle, Rolling Stone, Noted, Man, True Love, Readers Digest, Marie Claire and Elle. Sigh the Beloved Country is his most recent book.
Mama Sindiwe Magona is a prolific writer and has published poetry, novels, children’s books as well as two autobiographical works. Her most recent novel is Chasing the Tails of my Father’s Cattle. Amongst her numerous awards, President Jacob Zuma conferred her with the Order of Ikhamanga in Bronze on 27 April 2011 in recognition of her literary and humanitarian contribution.
Bongani Kona was shortlisted for the 2016 Caine Prize for At your Requiem published in Incredible Journey: Stories That Move You(Burnet Media, South Africa, 2015). He also has work appearing in Safe House, an anthology of narrative non-fiction from Africa. His writing has appeared in the Mail & Guardian, Sunday Times, Rolling Stone (SA), amongst others. He is also a contributing editor at Chimurenga Chronic, a pan-African quarterly gazette.
WHAT, WHEN & WHERE: Sigh The Beloved Country, on Sunday 11 September at 14h00, at Guga S’thebe, Washington Street, Langa, Cape Town 7455.
TICKETS: R30. Secure parking is available at the venue.
A second ticket type can be purchased for this event, which includes transport to and from the venue, leaving from the Book Lounge at 1.30 pm. The cost of this ticket is R80 (which includes the R30 entry into the event).
Tickets can be booked at Webtickets or are available at the door.
For further information visit
The Open Book Festival is made possible thanks to the support of its sponsors and partners: Leopard’s Leap, The Fugard Theatre, The District Six Museum, Townhouse Hotel, Penguin Random House, NB Publishers, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Pan Macmillan Publishers, CCIBA, The French Institute of South Africa, The Canada Council For the Arts, the Publishers Association of New Zealand, NORLA, the Embassy of Denmark, the Dutch Foundation for Literature, the Embassy of Finland, the Goethe-Institut, the City of Cape Town, US Consulate, UCT Creative Writing Department,Caine Prize, Creative New Zealand, Open Society Foundation and Kingdom of the Netherlands Consulate General in Cape Town.
