Have book, will travel has been the project’s motto for some time but now the invitation is being extended to German lovers of South African literature. Dr Gisela Feurle – based in Bielefeld, Germany – a longtime friend of KZN Literary Tourism, has created a German language version of our website, in cooperation with the project leader, Lindy Stiebel. Her aim with this website is to attract “German-speakers interested in literature, in travelling and in South Africa. It wants to animate them to discover Durban and KwaZulu-Natal and its rich and exciting literature!”.
To achieve this aim, Gisela has translated three of the Trails into German, adding texts that are already translated into German, and extending these by translating selected extracts of KZN works into German. As she says: “This is against the backdrop that not so many books connected to this region are available in German translation and in print – with wonderful exceptions of course”. The three trails Dr Feurle has used are the Grey Street Writers’ Trail, the INK (Inanda, Ntuzuma, KwaMashu) Writers’ Trail and the North Coast Writers’ Trail. In a new section the German website, linked to its ‘parent’ site, also chose places of particular interest to tourists, like the Durban beaches and the harbour, to present texts and authors connected to these locales. This allows readers to immerse themselves in the local environment and its literature and hopefully stimulates them to get hold of these works. In addition, the German site provides the necessary background information to local literature, to the history of Durban and the province more widely.
So now German speakers can get moving – in reality or virtually – to discover places through literature and literature through places! Access is via the button “Literarische Ausflüge in Durban/KwaZulu-Natal” on the parent website www.literarytourism.co.za or directly via www.literarytourism.co.za/deutsch/
KZN Literary Tourism would like to thank Gisela for all her hours of research and effort which she put into this dreamchild. Vielen Dank und Herzlich Willkommen!
