The event, which will be held at the City of Francistown Council (COFC) Civic Centre is, planned to revive the love of reading in the northern part of the country.
Event founder, Dr Paula Otukile said the Festival will draw writers from the United States of America (USA), Angola, Zambia, Lesotho, Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa.
She said their presence will help contribute to the development of the local writing community.
Darnell-Bateman from the USA, Nomawele Njongo (SA), Julia Mateus from Angola, and Thabanga Modirwa, Katlego Molebatsi, Gao Setsile, and Winani Motsokono from Botswana are a few of the participants to grace the occasion. Furthermore, she stated that writers of children’s books, novels, stories, and faith-based literature, book designers, and publishers will come together as a group to network and discuss the evolution and enhancement of their artistic endeavours. According to Otukile, the event is the first of its kind in the ‘City of All Things Precious’, as Francistown is called due to the fact that similar events had previously taken place in Gaborone and/or Maun.
She said it was time for things to become decentralised to the north so that aspiring writers could take advantage of the same initiatives. “As a multi-award-winning author with international recognition, I have been organising the Mulher Forte Annual African Literature Awards for four years. As such, I felt it was appropriate to create a book festival that will assist writers from the northern region of the country,” she said. Otukile also stated that book festivals are primarily held in Gaborone or Maun and they wish to decentralise events in order to promote the arts in the north as well. She also thanked the COFC for their encouragement and support, mentioning, in particular, the city Deputy Mayor and Itekeng ward Councilor Lesego Kwambala. She went on to say that she is partnering with the Mahalapye Sub District’s Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sports, and Culture to organise a book festival in the area. The event will involve reading, spelling and a quiz for the students.
This programme, she said, would encourage reading among the Mahalapye youth by holding an essay competition for youth who are not enrolled in school about gender-based violence (GBV). “I want to bring about a revolution and revival of reading in this nation.” If we can come together around reading and instil a love of reading in our kids, we can expect reading to become a pastime and juvenile delinquency and idleness to decline.
The academic progress will also be noticeable,” she continued. Otukile further stated that she would not have succeeded without the help and dedication of her team, and that they hope to push through the event every year. “All we need is the cooperation of many stakeholders in order to achieve their goals and the cooperation of the youth,” she explained. Otukile is a literature consultant, a GBV activist, and a multi-award-winning author internationally.
