The SAIR Book Festival is upon us once again and award winning local author Carlyle Labushcagne is hard at work to make sure the festival goes off without a hitch.
The festival is the brainchild of the author who is known for her young adult science fiction novel series Broken.
Under the title she released two books named Broken Destiny and Evanescent.
“The main focus of the festival is on building a community of book industry people and co-promote each other. This is in order to bring forth the movement of the indie revelation in each sector. Empowering, uplifting and giving wings to writers, publishers and bloggers in South Africa and create a platform for south African writers,” she said.
Working together with Philani Dladla from Pavement Bookworm, they also aim to collect and donate 1000 books to the Pavement Bookworm Foundation, through the book festival.
The foundation supplies books to underprivileged children and schools.
She has traveled abroad, collecting books from associates and donating them to schools, resulting in a project called Help Build a Library in Africa.
“Seeing those children’s faces when they get to read an exciting book is great because they are learning so much from them. Years ago the books available looked dull and didn’t draw a youngster in but books these days are different. Writing is the best way to reach young children because they can relate to the characters much better. They are able to understand the emotional state of the characters and learn vital lessons along with the characters.
Carlyle said another reason she started the festival was to help young authors find a footing in the publishing industry.
”I want to inspire and assist established, up coming and young writers in the country. I want to spark their imagination. Together we can bring forth the importance of literacy. Empower each other to make a good living of our publishing careers as writers.
We dedicate our time and passion in helping our fellow writers and industry people to bring about a change in the South African publishing industry,” she said.
The event will be held at Skoobs Theatre of books at Monte Casino on 30 April. At 2pm, one hour before the event starts, a multi-author signing event at Skoobs will take place. Authors such as Fred Strydom, Sonia Killik, Joanne Macgregor, Carlyle Labuschagne and Adrienne Woods will be attending.
Those who want to donate books, there will be a collection bin at Skoobs available until November.
Carlyle also had some advice for aspiring authors in Roodepoort.
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