(Hazel
Voice & the Knit Twits will be part of the Festival)
Calling all book and art lovers!
The third annual Ramsgate Book & Art
Festival is jam-packed with all things bookish and arty and is all set to unfold
on the weekend starting of November 10 to 12.
This year, the Festival is organized by
local Ramsgate business owners, book lovers and performers – so expect a vibey,
colourful and community driven festival – with events taking place in and
around the businesses in the main street of Ramsgate over the entire weekend.
The official opening of the Event takes
place November 10 at 18h00 with an art exhibition opening at Artists’ Gallery -
a highly acclaimed collective of eight top South African artists. The
exhibition will be showcasing the work of two new artists in the collective:
painter Claudia Plunkett and the collection of limited edition prints in the
Elaine Goodman Fine Arts section of the Gallery. All art lovers are welcome to
attend and enjoy a glass of wine and meet the artists.
Thereafter Poetry by Candlelight will be held upstairs at Burlesque Café at
20h00 – real live poetry by real live poets!
On Saturday (October 28), the main street
will come alive with interesting foods offered inside and outside the
restaurants, books stalls as well as arts and crafts. Art exhibitions will be
set up in various restaurants as well as at Gaze Gallery, Artists’ Gallery and
Riverbend Art Gallery.
Authors’ talks are programmed for Saturday
which will take place predominantly in the covered area behind The Crayfish Inn
as well as on the Whale Deck overlooking the ocean.
A variety of interesting authors is lined
up to chat about their books and will include the infamous Shani Krebs who
wrote Dragons and Butterflies. In
1994, Shani flew to Thailand, where he was caught for heroin trafficking. He
was sentenced to death and locked in Bangkwang Central Prison – the notorious
Bangkok Hilton. He was initially sentenced to death. Shani not only survived
but after years of addiction, he put drugs behind him and began a
life-transforming engagement with art. After serving 18 years – the longest
serving Westerner in a Thai prison – he stepped off a plane at OR Tambo Airport
in April 2012. This is a talk not to be missed!
Meeting
Carl Roberts - famed South African sculptor Carl
Roberts has an exquisite coffee table book written about him and his
fascinating sculptures made from bone, wood and bronze. Carl is an entertaining
and knowledgeable speaker.
Genius
Creativity’- inspirational talker Graeme Butchart
explains how to move from habit thinking to genius thinking.
Valerie Payne will be chatting about her
new book entitled An Ecological Gardeners
Handbook.
These are just a few of the talks.
There is no entry fee to these sessions –
all are just asked to bring a book suitable for school-going children to be put
into any one of the collection boxes that will be at every venue which Rotary
will distribute thereafter.
A welcome addition to the programme this
year is the inclusion of the youth in the community. And the festival committee
has reached out to all the local schools and home schools in the area in the
name of Poetry. A Poetry Book will be printed with a selection of self-penned
poems. A similar book will also be printed for adults – here, anyone with
‘roots in Ramsgate’ are welcome to send in their poems for consideration. The
two books will be launched at the Festival.
Interesting Workshops will be on offer, at
a small cost, including an art workshop by painter Claudia Plunkett on Sunday
morning, as well as a The Genius Programme Workshop by Graeme Butchart.
A supper theatre will take place at The
Lobster Pot on Saturday evening entitled Bosman,
Curry & Cabaret where local actress and storyteller Barbie Meyer and
singer Natasha Muller will take to the stage.
Sunday evening will see the final ‘Wine
Down’ evening that will take place at the Lobster Pot with snacks, wine
pairing.
Tickets for all shows can be booked at
Artists’ Gallery.
Follow the Festival on Facebook ‘Ramsgate
Art & Book Festival’ for the full programme or call Pauline Lee on 083 654
4303 or Barbie Meyer on 082 496 3545 for further details.
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