More About The Festival and Authors

In my previous column, I promised to share more information this week about Obie Oberholzer, TJ Strydom, and other notable authors who participated at this year’s Franschhoek Literary Festival.

The inaugural festival was established in 2007 and takes place annually on the third weekend in May, beginning on a Friday and ending on a Sunday.

Offering a platform for lively debate and informal discussion with influential authors and thought leaders on books and contemporary topics, the festival’s programme also includes lighter, inspirational and fun sessions.

I wrote about Antjie Krog, Margie Orford, Deon Meyer, John van der Ruit, and Venessa Govender in my previous column.

Caryn Dolley, like Krog, Orford and Govender, began her career as a reporter and specifically as an investigative journalist.

Books authored by Dolley, which I hasten to add are scary reads, expose how organised crime systematically engulfs communities and undermines a nation’s economic prosperity when left unchecked.

‘The Enforcers: Inside Cape Town’s Deadly Nightclub Battles’, ‘Clash of the Cartels: Unmasking the Global Drug Kingpins Stalking South Africa’, ‘To the Wolves: How Traitor Cops Crafted South Africa’s Underworld’, and ‘Man Alone: Mandela’s Top Cop – Exposing South Africa’s Ceaseless Sabotage’ are some of Dolley’s books.

The internationally renowned Oberholzer is another best-selling author on the programme.

A legendary photographer, Oberholzer has travelled extensively in Africa and some of his bestseller books are on trips across the continent.

Oberholzer’s 16th book, ‘Tale of Two Countries’, is a collection of photographs of life at nine small South African towns and the namesakes in The Netherlands, revealing stark visual and historical contrasts.

Oberholzer was an excellent storyteller. He shared experiences, good, bad, and indifferent, that he encountered over the years on his solo road trips across Africa.

By his own admission, Oberholzer says a trip through Namibia during the period leading up to the first democratic general election as the country transitioned to nationhood, his encounter with the counterinsurgency unit Koevoet was one of the scariest.

Displaying a copy of one of his books penetrated with bullet holes, Oberholzer backed up his claim.

Published in 2019, ‘Christo Wiese: Risks and Riches’, was the first biography of author and finance journalist Strydom, followed by ‘Koos Bekker’s Billions’.

Bekker cofounded the first pay-television service outside the United States in 1985, and Wiese has significant interests in Shoprite, Pep Stores, and mining and property in Africa and other countries.

At the festival, Strydom discusses his latest book, ‘Capitec: Stalking Giants’, which chronicles how the disrupter bank’s ideas reshaped commercial banking by removing the rule book.

There is also a social aspect to the festival.

As for community involvement, income generated annually by the festival supports local school libraries through an outreach programme with the targeted aim of creating a lasting impact and thereby fostering a reading culture in the broader Franschhoek community.

Now you know why over past years nothing has gotten in the way of my presence at this annual gathering of book writers and enthusiasts.

– Danny Meyer is reachable at danny@smecompete.com

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