Literary CrossRoads at Goethe-Institut

Literary CrossRoads, a project in the form of a panel discussion takes place at the Goethe-Institut Namibia Library this evening at 19h15.

This will be followed by a two-day workshop with award-winning author Lauri Kubuitsile from Botswana tomorrow and Thursday from 14h00 to 16h30.

Namibian authors Sylvia Schlettwein, curator of the Literary CrossRoads series of events, and Jane Katjavivi will welcome Kubuitsile to a session of writers’ development with other local authors.

Kubuitsile is a two-time Golden Baobab Prize for children’s literature winner in 2009 and 2010, and winner of Botswana’s ministry of youth, sport and culture’s Orange Botswerere prize for creative writing in 2007. She will provide a two-part workshop on writing a novel and what to look out for if you want to get published.

In the panel discussion, Schlettwein will engage with Kubuitsile and Katjavivi on differences and similarities between writing historical fiction and an autobiography. Kubuitsile in her novel, ‘The Scattering’, applies the power of fiction to transport the reader into the painful past of southern Africa.

Katjavivi in her autobiography, ‘My Undisciplined Heart’ draws the reader into her personal experience of Namibia’s history.

The panel will explore questions of how and why authors making history come alive in their stories. They will also look at how and why literature can and should make the private public and the public private.

Participation is free. Contact Detlef Pfeifer by email at detlef.pfeifer@goethe.de www.goethe.de/namibia for more information and register today by 12h00.

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