BOOK SA – News

BOOK SA had its year-end function at the weekend. Thanks to all who attended, it was a blast! Here are my speech notes, along with photos by Liesl Jobson.

Welcome to the second annual BOOK SA Ban’quet

Before I begin my speech, protocol dictates that we acknowledge a few special people without whose contributions BOOK SA would be a shadow of itself – indeed, a mere blip on the web.

Some of them, called by important duties elsewhere, couldn’t be with us tonight. Please, let’s show our appreciation for our Agent in Amsterdam, Richard de Nooy; the Ambassadors-at-Large of Parktown, Parktown North, Parkwood, Hyde Park, Ellis Park and the Park Hyatt Hotel, Louis Greenberg, Fiona Snyckers and “AR“; the Permanent Secretary of Wordsetc, Phakama Mbonambi; and all their various Gauteng predikants and protosyncelluses.

Also, we note apologies from several High BOOK SA Muck-a-Mucks from around the Cape. Please, let us recognise the Minister Plenipotentiary of Crime, Mike Nicol; the Special Envoys in charge of communications with our Agent in Amsterdam, Sven Eick and Rustum Kozain; the Most Reverend Karina Brink and her Consular Counterpart, Andre; the Incumbent Presbyter of Paarl, Ingrid Wolfaardt; and, of course, Grand Wizard Ben Trovato.

To those who traveled from far and wide to be with us tonight, thank you all for coming, it’s wonderful to see you at the BOOK SA Ban’quet.

Before I turn to my speech, I feel it only right to continue with a few special acknowledgments.

Helen Moffett, Eparch and Archpriest of BOOK Chat, rise.

Victor Dlamini, Ambassador Extraordinaire of the Renaissance, rise.

Amitabh Mitra, Prophet, Seer and Revelator of the East, rise.

Lauren Beukes, Master of the Sacred Palace of the Nunciature of Speculation, rise.

Colleen Higgs, Convener of the Second Council of Modjaj, rise.

Sally-Ann Partridge, Cathar Perfect from the Land of the Angst, rise.

Alex Smith, Keeper of the Mysteries of Saint Heroblogophus, rise.

Margie Orford, Commissariat of the Unholy, rise.

Henrietta Rose-Innes, Abbot of the Walls of Caineum, rise.

Barbara Erasmus, Chief Deputy to the Minister Plenipotentiary of Crime, rise.

These are some of the faces of BOOK SA’s regular contributors, and the reason that people flock to our network from all over the world.

The most inspiring words about writers and writing that I’ve read this year, from the Harvard Review’s Nam Le, are applicable to everyone in this room. Nam Le said he valued:

“writers who privilege knowledge over information, meaning over gesture, specificity over abstraction… writers who fuse character and milieu, looking always for nodes of common perception and experience… writers who engage language vertically – syllable by syllable, sound by sound, who ask us to see and think and feel and act in private as well as public spheres, who reflect the news which stays news, who embrace the necessary mess, the due measure of clarity and confusion – writers in whose company I feel honoured and proud and more than a little wary to intrude.”

Thank you very much for making South African literature, and BOOK SA, so endlessly fascinating. A round of applause please!

Excellent. I will get on to my speech in a moment, but I see that protocol requires a few more words first.

BOOK SA is a labour of love, and many of those who labour on it – but don’t necessarily love me for it – are with us here tonight. Liesl Jobson, Sophy Kohler, Carolyn Meads and Jani le Roux, please rise. BOOK SA would be nowhere without you, thank you very much for hard work and dedication. Ladies and gentlemen, please show your appreciation for the BOOK SA team!

A few acknowledgments remain. I would like to thank four delegations for gracing us with their company tonight: the first, from The Book Lounge, represented by Mervyn Sloman; the second, from ReadSA, represented by Zukiswa Wanner; the third, from the Sunday Times, represented by Tymon Smith; and the fourth, from PUKU the new children’s literature website at puku.co.za, Nonikiwe Mashologu. We are truly honoured, thank you for being here.

Finally, I would be guilty of sinning against BOOK SA in the extreme without calling Kathryn White to stand. Kathryn is the one who invented the BOOK SA Ban’quet. Quite simply, we wouldn’t be here without her. Kathryn, thank you very much for the time and creativity you’ve put into this event. We are all truly in your debt. Three cheers for Kate!

Ok, as Mondli Makhanya once said at the Sunday Times Literary Awards, “All protocol is observed”.

Now, on to my speech… It’s a simple speech, one that draws inspiration from last year’s Ban’quet, which, as those of you who were here will recall, was played by Lionel Richie.

This year, we booked Lady Gaga, but she texted me a half hour ago to say that she had been held back at immigration and wouldn’t make it in time.

No matter, BOOK SA doesn’t need Lady Gaga, in fact, BOOK SA doesn’t need a Ban’quet speech [throws speech aside], all BOOK SA needs is this roomful of creative people, right here, right now. Table one and table two.

Table two, repeat after me: mah mah mah mah. One more time: mah mah mah mah.

Table one, repeat after me: B-B-B-BOOK SA B-B-BOOKSA.

Gallery by Liesl Jobson