Durban North author to feature at book fair
His enchanting novel will be launched at the upcoming Durban International Book Fair, which runs from August 9 to 13 at The Globe, Suncoast Casino, in Durban.
MEET Sven Axelrad, who will take you on a quirky magical adventure at the Durban International Book Fair.
He doesn’t fit the stereotypical image of a novelist. He is a guitar-playing accountant, covered in tattoos.
Also read: It all adds up for Durban North author
“My first love was always music. The switch came when I was about twenty years old. I went to visit my dad in France and ended up, as one does, milling around a bookstore in an airport,” he said.
Like him, his debut book, Buried Treasure, stands out from the crowd.
“This idea came to me while on honeymoon. I woke up early one morning and scribbled a scene in my notebook – something along the lines of: Imagine the trouble it would cause if you needed Home Affairs to issue you an ID to get to Heaven? I have always enjoyed magical thinking… In my book, people are being buried in the wrong graves and as such, are stuck in an administrative backlog, unable to move on to the afterlife without knowing who they are,” said the author.
This erudite and wise, magical and quirky novel will be launched at the upcoming Durban International Book Fair, which runs from August 9 to 13 at The Globe, Suncoast Casino, in Durban. There will be a stellar array of writers and artists from across the continent, and the world will unite. Writers, creatives, exhibitors, researchers, schools, NGOs, government agencies or ordinary South Africans are expected to converge at the four-day event.
Also read: ‘Book’ a date at the Durban International Book Fair this August
Axelrad pens an enchanting adventure set in Vivo, where the only cemetery is run by old Mateus and his dog, God.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Mateus’ eyes aren’t so good these days, which is why he has been burying bodies in the wrong graves, and also why, while out walking with God, he trips over a young homeless girl. On a whim, Mateus decides to appoint the girl as his apprentice. Novo, who has been sleeping on the street with a dog-eared copy of The Savage Detectives as her pillow, is determined to re-organise the cemetery, but she will have to hurry: Buried awry, divorced from their names, the ghosts of Vivo are accumulating, unable to proceed to the afterlife without knowing who they are. Also, someone, or something, is on the loose, killing people and closing in on the one person who can make things right.
For more information, contact Anivesh Singh on director@durbanbookfair.co.za
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