KZN Literary Tourism End of Year Function

Yesterday, the KZN Literary Tourism team enjoyed a quiet lunch at Olive and Oil Glenwood as part of our Year End Function. With good food on hand, charming company and an elegant atmosphere present, a reflection on the project’s highlights took place.

Pictured: (From left to right), Nonkululeko Gumede, Lindy Stiebel, Danyela Demir, Rasvanth Chunylall, Liliana Tappeiner

The project began in 2001 and, as such, this year marks the 15^th year since its conception. The project has since added over 170 authors linked to the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province. This year we have included nine notable entries: Pamela Power, Craig Higginson, Tyron Love, ZP Dala, Christa Biyela, Ishara Maharaj, Nick Mulgrew, Nikhil Singh and David Schmahmann.

This has been a stellar year for KZN authors:

1. Gcina Mhlophe was named one of BBC’s “100 Women of 2016”.
2. At the 2016 South African Literary Awards (SALAS) Mhlophe was awarded the “Chairperson’s Award” for her body of work while Ingrid Winterbach won the “Lifetime Achievement Literary Award” for her body of work.
3. Dubsteps author, Andrew Miller, was longlisted for the Etisalat Prize for Literature.
4. Poet and author, Dashen Naicker, was appointed editor of poetry magazine New Coin from 2017.
5. Recent addition to the project, Nick Mulgrew, was shortlisted for the 2016 Morland Writing Scholarship.
6. Craig Higginson’s work on the The Dream House saw him being shortlisted for the 2016 Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize.
7. Graham Lang won the Griffith Review Novella Competition for his book “A Fulcrum if Infinities”. The novella will be published by Griffith Review in October along with the other four winning entries.
8. Sally-Ann Murray’s short story ‘How to Carry On’ was selected as one of the 20 Short.Sharp.Stories for the Incredible Journey anthology.
9. Onion Tears authoress, Shubnum Khan, was selected for the Swatch Art Peace Hotel’s Residency in Shanghai.

The project also received some recognition for our work. We were featured in an article on “The Top Literary Landmarks To Visit In South Africa”. Project head, Lindy Stiebel, has seen the launch of her latest novel, Writing Home: Lewis Nkosi on South African Writing, which was co-authored with Mike Chapman. She also appeared as a speaker at the Essence Festival held in Durban. Our research assistants have also had a successful year. Rasvanth Chunylall has completed his Master of Arts in Media and Cultural Studies with a Cum Laude pass. Alan Muller, has begun his PhD at the Bayreuth International School of African Studies and works under the supervision of Dr. Clarissa Vierke and Prof. Lindy Stiebel. His research focuses on the mode of speculative fiction (science fiction and fantasy) in a South African context, with a selection of texts by local authors since 2010.

The project mourns the loss of author, Mewa Ramgobin, who passed away in October.

This year saw the project launch its Diversity Campaign to increase the number of authors in the archive who are women, people of colour and contemporary. The campaign received a great deal of attention from newspapers, blogs and the radio. We hope that publishers continue working with us to highlight the literary talent of these individuals.

Next year, the project will be launching a literary companion to KZN. We are also working with the KZN municipality on a project that could see the development of literary tourism plaques in the province.

Finally, the project would like to take this opportunity to thank all our supporters; authors, publishers and enthusiasts of local literature. We wish you a happy festive season and a wonderful new year.