Hilton Arts Festival celebrates Literacy
Hilton College: 14 – 16 September
This Saturday marks the 52nd International Literacy Day that will be celebrated globally, sharing the awareness and need for literacy, the 26th Hilton Arts Festival pays homage to the written word.
The all-encompassing Midlands festival plays host to three book launches by UKZN Press, two young South African authors chatting about their epic adventures and seven hot off the press, new novels being read.
Annually, UKZN Press launches a number of books at the festival, and this year is no different. The first of their three book launches is Spectacular Venacular by Franco Frescura that delves into the vanishing, rural culture and traditions and looking into preserving them for future generations.
Voices of Resilience: A living history of social housing in South Africa written by Monique Marks with a photo essay by Cedric Nunn. This book offers unique insights into the history of social housing in South Africa through the lens of Kenneth Gardens, Durban’s largest low-income housing estate.
The third book, At the Fault Line by Claire Scott questions what happens when filmmakers and journalists tell their stories creatively, and work at the fault line of fact and fiction, literature and journalism?
Two adventurers who have penned their odysseys are Sonja Kruse, known as the uBuntu Girl and Josh Crickmay. Both will be giving talks on Saturday. Crickmay is a passionate vlogger, wildlife enthusiast and inspiration speaker who recently launched his coffee table book called Chasing 10,000 Treasures. Kruse, who actually facilitates reading and writing workshops with FunDza Literacy Trust, whose book tells tales of her remarkable encounters she had on her travels around South Africa searching for the true meaning of uBuntu.
The Twist Novel-Script Project is a writer’s development programme that has seven writers creating and crafting a perfectly honed 6 minute script in five days, with the results being presented at the festival with free readings by well-loved KZN based actors Michael Gritten, Philisiwe Twijnstra, Straw Nzimande, Goso Shabalala and Bhekani Shabalala. The writers are Blessing Hungwe from Harare; Bongani Mbatha; Di Neo Matebese; Jon Keevy; Mxolisi Mbhele; Mariska Denysschen and Sinesipho Mtwa. The writers are mentored by Kobus Moolman,
The UN initiative has a focus on Literacy and Skills Development, with the festival being made up by self-employed creatives where everything they created started off with a blank page, a blank canvas, a blank memory card, where better to get your inspiration from?
Various artists who are participating in the Hilton Arts Festival shared what their three all time favourite books were:
Sue Clarence – Festival Director
The Alexandra Quartet by Lawrence Durrell; The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott and I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes.
Guy Buttery – performing in the Chapel with Kanada Narahari on Saturday 15 September
Sculpting in Time by Andrei Tarkovsky; The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
Harry Lock – Out of Character Photography Portrait Exhibition
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson; Unreasonable Behaviour: An Autobiography by Don McCullin and On Writing by Stephen King
John Vlismas – performing with the On Fire Comedy in Crazy Funny on Saturday 15 September, The Good Racist on 14 and 15 September and Whose Line? On Sunday 16 September
Blinding Light by Paul Theroux; Human Acts by Han Kang and Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
Vincent Reid – Artist
Mukiwa by Peter Godwin; Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres and The Last Resort by Douglas Rogers
Trayci Tompkins – Ceramic Artist
The language of flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh; The Alchemist by Paul Coelho and Mister God, This is Anna by Fynn
Janet Soloman – Documentary Film Maker with her first environmental documentary Becoming Visible on Sunday
Tintin in Tibet by Hergé ( Georges Prosper Remi ), Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason by Val Plumwood and Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Catch them all around the Festival, which will take place in the inspiring setting of Hilton College from Hilton College: 14 – 16 September 2018.
The festival would not be possible without the generous support of Hilton College, Grindrod Bank, Black Coffee Design, DWR Distribution, Extreme Events, Bidvest Car Rental, KZN Dept of Arts & Culture, Redlands Hotel, Assitej South Africa, Loud Crowd, Sappi, BASA, RMB and Corona.
For more info visit http://www.hiltonfestival.co.za/ or like the Facebook page, Hilton Arts Festival. Follow us on Twitter @HiltonFest and Instagram. All enquiries on 033 383 0126 / 7 or tickets@hiltoncollege.com. The 26th annual Hilton Arts Festival will run from 14 to 16 September. The full programme is on www.hiltonfestival.co.za. Online bookings are open and programmes are available from various outlets in KZN. Refer to website for list of outlets.