SOWETO will have two book festivals in the second half of the year.They join a small number of book festivals in SA’s townships, at least some of which have sprung up in reaction to author Thando Mgqolozana’s 2015 criticism of how "whiteness" dominates the South African book business, and its literary fairs."We thought it was time we brought our brand of festival to a big centre," says Darryl David, who is curating the Soweto Literary Festival in August with author Niq Mhlongo.David is the founder of the BookBedonnerd and JM Coetzee festivals in Richmond in the Northern Cape, the Schreiner Festival in the Karoo town of Cradock, the Midlands Literary Festival in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, the Breyten Breytenbach Book Festival in Montagu, among others."We will try to be as inclusive as possible," he says.The Soweto Book Fair will present authors from across the racial spectrum, in contrast with the all-black Abantu Book Festival in December.The Abantu Book Fair is curated by Mgqolozana, w...
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