JONATHAN JANSEN: Changing who writes books in South Africa
The racial profile of book audiences reflects, once again, a failed education system
I cannot think of another country in the world where a book fair could generate so much racial unease. From book festivals in Franschhoek and Cape Town to book stores in the leafy suburbs of Johannesburg, I have heard the murmurs, and sometimes a loud pronouncement, at book events that the audience is too white.
The argument that book-fair audiences reflect the racial and class structure of South African society is, of course, incontestable. That demographic reality is as true of our elite schools as it is of the clients at posh restaurants in our major cities. Our divided and unequal history hangs over us wherever South Africans are organised at work (corporate boardrooms, for example) or at play (major sports teams), eating a meal outside your home or in public discussions of new books. As in all things South African, we have come a long way. The man of the match in this week's cricket Test victory over England was a black man. One or both of the Sunday Times's annual book awards for fiction and nonfiction are now regularly won by black authors. One of the most successful restaurants in the area of these book awards in Franschhoek belongs to a black chef. The problem is that there are not enough black cricketers or restaurateurs or, for that matter, authors of books. And this irks some of...
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