fetival

The BookBedonnerd Karoo Literary Festival

Richmond has become a focus of attention in recent months with an influx of several newcomers who have added a new wave of excitement to the little village. Long forgotten by tourists on their journey to the Cape, Richmond is about to become the BOOKTOWN of South Africa

What is a Booktown?

To celebrate our first anniversary as a Booktown, Richmond hosted the BookBedonnerd Karoo Literary Festival from the 23-25 October 2008. This festival is now an annual event with this years festival taking place from the 22nd to the 24th of October 2009. But our festival is not so much a celebration of the written word, but a weekend full of entertainment and activities, as evidenced by our impressive line up of guest raconteurs and speakers (See programme 2009).

Among the literati that attended the celebrations were Afrikaans storytellerAbraam de Vries; South Africa's most prolific literary biographer Prof. J.C. Kannemeyer; Prof. Wium van Zyl, head of department of Afrikaans at the University of the Western Cape known for his poems and short stories on small town South Africa; Dr Ian Player who spoke about his long association with Sir Laurens van der Post, Dennis Beckett who most readers will remember from Beckett's Trek on SABC; Chris Marais, no stranger to Country Life, and author of a fistful of travel books, Engemi Ferreira, author of the lyrical Die jaar toe my ma begin sing het, as well as local Karoo lass, Melina Smit.

Realising that most bibliophiles have partners who may not have the same infatuation with the written word, the organizing committee also ensured that the festival was not only a celebration of books, but a "Celebration of the Karoo". Thus, in an effort to be more things to more people, the festival also had tours to Anglo-Boer War sites, cooking and tasting sessions of Karoo kos by home grown chef Annatjie Reynolds, "Crawling Tours of the Karoo Veld" with Dr. Sue Milton, where people got up close and personal with the unique flora and fauna of the Karoo.

Len Raymond of the Drakenstein Heritage Foundation conducted an architectural tour of Richmond, highlighting the rich architectural heritage of Richmond, and tips on restoration and conservation. It was also worth diarizing that the imposing church in Loop Street, which reputedly has the highest pulpit in South Africa was open during selected hours, as was the Richmond Horse Museum, one of only two museums in the world dedicated to the saddle horse. Dr Richard Dean of the Percy FitzPatrick Institute also conducted an ornithological tour of the town as well as to the Deelfontein Boer War Cemetery.