If you’re a book lover and you live in Cape 
Town you’ve probably been to the Cape Town Book Fair at least once. I know I have and it was an awesome (in the true sense of the word) experience. I find that just walking into a book shop merits some degree of awe, so you can imagine the sensory overload of walking into an enormous Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) hall and seeing it packed full of epic tomes, novels, factual books, dictionaries, atlases, kids’ books, short stories and every other form of the written word conceivable. Unfortunately for bibliophiles in the Mother City, the book fair has been cancelled this year and we have to somehow deal with the news that it might only become a bi-annual affair from 2012 on.
The book fair started in 2006 and managed to grow in leaps and bounds for four years. In 2010, while the number of stalls and publishers decreased slightly, more books were sold than ever before. By all accounts it was a resounding success. So, what happened to 2011?
According to the book fair’s website, publishers are in favour of a bi-annual fair, so organisers are taking 2011 off to “remodel” the format and ensure that 2012’s book fair is bigger and better and more exciting than all the previous years put together. Also, the International Publishers Association Congress is being held in Cape Town in June of next year, and it makes sense to have the book fair coincide with the influx of international publishers in the country.
But, according to Book SA, the real reason for the cancellation could be a little more distressing than that. Book SA has learned that the Frankfurt Book Fair organisers, who work closely with the Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA) to make the Cape Town Book Fair possible, are thinking of withdrawing their support. Also, Book SA published excerpts from a letter from Brian Wafawarowa, head of PASA, regarding the postponement of the fair. In it Wafawarowa cited the non-participation of key publishers in the 2011 book fair as one of the primary reasons behind the decision to approach the organisation of the fair differently.
The 12 month gap will give the organisers time to find suitable long-term sponsors, as well as woo back some important international and local publishing houses. Of the local big publishers, only three were at the 2010 book fair. Random House Struik was conspicuous in its absence.
It’s a sad indictment on South Africa’s publishing industry when only half its publishing powerhouses can muster support for the country’s only international book fair. It makes getting international support that much more difficult.
So, on behalf of the nation’s book lovers I’d like to ask everyone concerned to do whatever it takes to bring back the most jaw-droppingly incredible experience a book-nerd could ask for.
Thank you.
Jade Scully is a copywriter excited about writing copy and stories, blogging about the world and editing. She currently and regularly publishes her stories on a number of blogs. Jade loves animals and hopes to begin writing copy for the animal rescue charity TEARS as her contribution to the cause.
