Reading, a revolutionary act in a world desperate for change
Festivals hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal have a central focus on human rights and social justice, particularly the Centre’s Artfluence Human Rights Festival, Poetry Africa Festival and the Time of The Writer. Literature will be celebrated as a powerful medium at this 28th edition of the Time of the Writer Festival to promote social justice and equality.
While Ray Bradbury recommended that we, “must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you,” words offer both respite from the reality of the world and the means to understand it. Bruce Little, Fiona Budd and Nathi Ngubane are writers who have written with the specific intent to create change and make a difference. They will discuss what inspires them to write and the difference they hope their books will make. In many ways, their works reveal how writing is a form of activism.
Reflecting on writers who have accompanied South Africa through the struggle years and interrogating the trajectory of freedom, agency and justice in the country will be Prof Reuel Khoza, speaking about the newly-launched special project, the South African Handbook on Agency, Justice and Freedom, along with uMngeni mayor, Chris Pappas and deputy mayor, Sandile Mnikathi, discussing their book, Saving South Africa, on the panel, What’s left of our Freedom? Accountability, Resistance and Retribution, hosted by Sandile Memela.
“Where writers and readers come together to discuss ideas, all manner of quiet revolutions are ignited.
"Many writers continue to be
essential in the fight for social justice in this country,” Shafinaaz Hassim. the festival curator, says: “The
role of literature as an agent for change and an archive of revolution is one
of the tenets that underlie the ethos of this festival.”
The Time of the Writer Festival presented by the Centre for Creative Arts based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal is the ideal platform to host the Vice Chancellor’s book project titled, The SA Handbook of Agency, Freedom and Justice – Citizens in Conversation. Chancellor Professor Reuel Khoza, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, and Dr Mogale will be discussants on a panel.
“Aside from this event several books birthed in academia will be discussed and many of their writers will be in attendance at the festival,” adds Shafinaaz.
“Dr Gavin Evans a lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London will be sharing ideas from his book, White Supremacy. Described as, “a brief history of hatred,” he explores the roots of white supremacist ideology, traced back to the 19th century to Charles Darwin and Francis Galton’s race-based theories and examines the rise of Nazism and Apartheid.”
Someone with an intimate and personal understanding of the effects of Apartheid in South Africa was Professor Vishnu Padayachee. As a key member of the ANC’s Macro-economic Research Group (MERG), he was particularly saddened by the ANC’s abandonment of a structuralist and post-Keynesian approach to economic policy in favour of a neoliberal one. Known for his research in economic transformation and development his contribution to the political discourse has been missed since he died in 2021.
Professors Rajend Mesthrie, Robert van Niekerk, and Imraan Valodia have collated a collection of essays, Political Economy and Critical Engagement in South Africa: Essays in Honour of Vishnu Padayachee, which examine contemporary understandings of social change and the political economy through the lens of his intellectual, social, and political life.
Casting the lens further afield, The Palestine Laboratory by best-selling journalist Antony Loewenstein, author of Disaster Capitalism, shares the results of a global investigation into the Israeli military-techno complex. Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel by Azad Essa, discusses the historical context of India's relationship with Israel and examines India’s changing position on Palestine. Both of these books and their authors offer insightful and well-researched ideas on a region mired in conflict.
Returning our focus to local conflicts in South Africa, Dariusz Dziewanski has compiled 24 life histories in Gang Entry and Exit in Cape Town: Getting Beyond the Streets in Africa’s Deadliest City, where he provides a deep qualitative account of why young people in Cape Town get into gangs. Building on criminological research that depicts gangs as an expression of “oppositional street culture” he explores how somebody born into the pressure cooker of urban vulnerability might turn to gangs as a rational response to unjust social circumstances. He will be on panel with David Africa, interrogating his book, Lives on the Line about the secret team that combatted urban terrorism.
“At a time when narratives carried by the mainstream media are often clouded, it is more necessary than ever to examine the roots of conflict and violence closely and these are a few of the books which do just that,” Shafinaaz explains.
“This week, on February 20th, the world commemorated World Social Justice Day. Established by the United Nations General Assembly to promote social justice and encourage action to address inequalities there couldn’t be a better reason to reflect on an excellent programme curated by Shafinaaz Hassim,” says Ismail Mahomed, the Director of the Centre for Creative Arts.
The Time of the Writer festival takes place from March 18 to 23, 2025. Join literary enthusiasts as festival participants discuss their meaning and our response to a world where hopefully we three can all join Arundhati Roy in her belief, “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
ABOUT THE TIME OF THE WRITER FESTIVAL:
The Time of The Writer Festival is an annual literature festival hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts, an interdisciplinary hub based at the University of KwaZulu Natal. The 28th edition of the festival is funded by the National Arts Council of South Africa and the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The festival is one of Durban’s flagship events that honours the city’s legacy as a UNESCO City of Literature. The 28th edition of the festival will be hosted with several live events and online to allow for broad participation. More details can be found on the website: https://tow.ukzn.ac.za/
You can also reach the
Centre for Creative Arts’ website by clicking on the logo advert to the right
of this article.
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