The Eastern Cape Provincial Book Fair will take place at the Mandla Makupula Leadership Institute in Stirling on Saturday, October 5.
The fair will showcase 50 authors from around the Eastern Cape including Zakes Mda, Ezekiel Jewell, Tando Keke, Nozibele Mayaba, and Oyama Mabandla.
The aim of the fair, which was launched in 2008, is to provide authors with a platform to sell their books.
Jewell is an eight-year-old pupil at Kingswood College in Makhanda who published his own book, A Collection of Short Stories.
Jewell wants his peers to read his book and be inspired to read and learn about the power of imagination.
“My mom and dad used to make up stories and read stories to me. My favourite story that I wrote is called The Worm Who Thought He Was a Caterpillar because it tells you that everyone is unique and special in their own way. I want other children to read my stories to learn that anything is possible and that reading is fun,” Jewell said.
Keke will be showcasing her book, titled The Strength of a Real Woman: Real stories of gratitude about life, love, and everything in between. After many months of marketing her book at local book fairs and sharing her book on social media, Keke said she was ready to branch out and grow the book community she had created.
“A lot of the readers have really loved the authenticity and the vulnerability with which I wrote it, and most have cried a lot, as my personal anecdotes have been a point of departure for them to heal from the pain and trauma hidden in their own stories.
“It feels like it’s the right time and I am so excited to share about it, and to really connect heart to heart with my readers during this event,” Keke said.
The book fair will also see the announcement of the 20 writers who will be published this year, a commitment made by sports, recreation, arts and culture MEC Sibulele Ngongo to assist authors who are unable to fund the publishing of their books.
“The authors will have their manuscripts published by the department. This is as we continue to give support to authors who do not have the money to publish their manuscripts.
“I am happy to announce that to this regard, we are working with the Fibre Processing and Manufacturing seta, which has allocated grant funding to the department for both the book fair and manuscript production. Over and above this, we are working with Metropolitan to ensure that we provide our writers with the necessary working tools to enable them to reach their full potential. It brings me joy to announce that we will be handing over laptops to some of our writers during the gala dinner,” Ngongo said.