City of Literature shines at Edinburgh International Book Festival

Mikhail Peppas

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” – Dr. Seuss

Charlotte Square Gardens in the heart of Edinburgh boasts a literary feast in the form of a specially created tented village for the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The event features talks, workshops, book launches and signings, literary soirées in the magical Moulin Rouge tent, and a bumper children’s programme.

The tranquil Charlotte Square Gardens. Photo Sanabelle Ebrahim

The festival welcomes more than 800 authors in over 700 events each year including novelists, poets, scientists, philosophers, sportsmen, illustrators, comic creators, historians, musicians, biographers, environmentalists, economists, Nobel and Booker prize-winners.

Taking in the launch of the Unbound sketchathon sessions in the theatrical Moulin Rouge Spiegeltent with Scotland's Phoenix team of comic artists. First up in the interactive spot is Sanabelle Ebrahim taking up the challenge through sketching the traditional BunnyKat and picking up a new thread of frames to the 'gleeful spy in rush hour' storyline. The audience strongly warms to the BunnyKat and the antics depicted in the continuing frames of carrots, turnips and explosions. Bravissimo! The folk dolls make it from the Valley of 1000 Hills to the international stage. Next stop London Screenwriters' Festival. Photo Mikhail Peppas

The 2016 event ran from 13 to 29 August. Amidst an explosion of festivals celebrating music, comedy, theatre, dance, opera, books and literature, the Edinburgh International Book Festival signifies an oasis of tranquillity sitting at the centre of the hustle and bustle that characterises August in the city.

A giant willow sculpture of Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant (BFG). Photo Sanabelle Ebrahim

The Edinburgh International Book Festival began in 1983 and is now a key event in the August Festival season. The city’s literary attractions include the Writers’ Museum, Scottish Poetry Library, and Scottish Storytelling Centre. Edinburgh has been the birthplace, home and hangout to some of the world’s biggest and best loved writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, JK Rowling and Alexander McCall Smith. In 2004, Edinburgh was recognised as the world’s first designated UNESCO City of Literature. Plans are underway to have Durban considered as a UNESCO City of Literature, the 21^st in the world and the first in Africa.

BunnyKat Wordish thrills to the Alexander McCall Smith book signing. Photo Sanabelle Ebrahim

‘King of Satire’ keeps the laughs alive at World Premiere

Mikhail Peppas and Sanabelle Ebrahim

The thrilling adventures of a legendary icon, from an extraordinary country and the phenomenal power of laughter took centre stage at the World Premiere of ‘Nobody’s Died Laughing’. The theatrical-action-documentary film celebrates the life and work of Pieter-Dirk Uys, a prolific writer, satirist and activist.

The Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre provided the backdrop for the screening on Sunday 19 June at the Durban International Film Festival. The audience witnessed the ups and downs of Uys’ personal and professional life through his performances, archival footage and interviews that include Desmond Tutu, Charlize Theron, Lizz Meiring, Anna-Mart van der Merwe, FW de Klerk, Dame Janet Suzman, Thoko Ntshinga, Zolani Mahola, Vincent Ebrahim, Professor David Gere, Eric Abraham, Jonathan Shapiro and Sophia Loren as well as footage of his sister Tessa Uys and Nelson Mandela.

Following the screening, a Q&A session with the cast and crew of ‘Nobody’s Died Laughing’ provides a wonderful opportunity to get behind the many masks of Evita. (L-R) Lizz Meiring, Thoko Ntshinga, Pieter-Dirk Uys and Willem Oelofsen (Director/Producer). Photo Mikhail Peppas

The film follows his journeys through South Africa and on to London, Berlin and his home in Darling. He has converted the old railway station in Darling into a cabaret venue called Evita se Perron, famous for its satirical garden, Boerassic Park, and the domain of Evita Bezuidenhout, the ‘most famous white woman in South Africa’.

Uys was born in Cape Town in 1945 and has graced theatres around the world since the mid-1960s. He was closely associated with the Space Theatre in Cape Town and Johannesburg’s Market Theatre during the 1970s and 1980s.

The film covers his many achievements, including his travels around South Africa, visiting more than 1.5 million school children, as well as prisons and reformatories, with a free AIDS-awareness entertainment programme.

Director/Producer Willem Oelofsen says: “Only now, looking back on all of this, I can truly appreciate the importance of making the definitive documentary feature film about one of South Africa’s most prolific and most loved personalities.”

Executive producer Herman Binge reflects that “for so many years he acted as our national conscience on stage and he did it with a smile.”

President Nelson Mandela remarked about Uys: “Remember this diverse and colourful nation of South Africa will always have one thing in common. We all choose to believe Evita Bezuidenhout is real.”

‘Nobody’s Died Laughing’ tells the story of theatre and satire as a platform to affect change, not only in the old South Africa, but also in the country’s new democratic dispensation.

The Green Heart Movement has a BunnyKat named Astro to present to Charlize Theron if she and Uys happen to pass through the Global Village at the International AIDS Conference. The citizen-based organisation, Green Heart Movement, aims to position Durban as Green Heart City. The reference to Durban as Green Heart City echoes the promotional branding of New York as the Big Apple and Paris as the City of Love. The BunnyKats are handmade from upcycled material by crafters in the Valley of 1000 Hills. The folk craft puppets are gaining momentum as cultural icons of Green Heart City Durban and KwaZulu-Natal.

BunnyKat Valley snuggles up to new friend Pieter-Dirk Uys and is thrilled to be travelling to Evita se Perron in Darling. Green Heart Movement presented a Durban BunnyKat to Uys at the world premiere of ‘Nobody’s Died Laughing’ at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Photo Mikhail Peppas

‘Nobody’s Died Laughing’ opens in cinemas nationwide on Friday 29 July. Uys will be in attendance at the first screening in Durban at 12midday at Gateway.