Let your imagination take flight at one of Knysna’s best-loved festivals and an auspicious fixture on the Western Cape calendar.
The Pam Golding Properties Knysna Literary Festival – now in its 11th year – is the Garden Route’s only annual festival that hosts an exclusive group of hand-picked authors from South Africa.
A must for bookworms and intellectuals alike
The Festival is a highlight on the calendar for bookworms and lovers of all things literary and many of the tickets are sold out the same day they are released.
In recent years, in addition to a keen local following, it has attracted visitors from Cape Town and other areas in South Africa. The Knysna ‘swallows’, international visitors that return to Knysna on a yearly basis, plan their itineraries to include the festival. The Festival takes place at venues all over Knysna including popular restaurants, guest houses (link to Stay) and hotels (link to stay).
Food for thought
One of the most popular sessions is the State of the nation address – top authors, South Africa media gurus and politicians discuss their books related to current affairs in the country. Attendees can ask questions and it is one of the highlights and most popular slots on the Festival programme.
A platform for authors
Founder of the festival, Pam Golding’s Ling Dobson, says “The #KnysnaLitFest aims not only to expose locals and visitors to South Africa’s literary talents, but also to provide established authors with a platform to connect directly with their readers and target audience.”
The Festival’s diverse programme touches on matters such as hot-topic current affairs and politics, history, adventure, conservation, cuisine and storytelling – ensuring there’s something for everyone. All best-selling authors are either local or have close ties to South Africa, and have been selected not only for their literary talents, but also for their skills in entertaining and delighting audiences with readings, conversations, debates and workshops.
The who’s who of the literary world
Over the years the #KnysnaLitFest has attracted many well-known literary celebrities, and the next year will be no exception – making the festival the ‘must-do’ event in South Africa for literary enthusiasts, book worms and culture vultures.
Youth programme
As an aside from the main festival weekend, writing competitions are held for school-goers in the area, encouraging reading and writing amongst the local youth; the idea being to instill a passion for reading and writing from an early age.
2021 and the future
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the dates for 2021 has not been set, but watch this space for the dates and an exciting line-up to be announced.