LIVE | David Walliams brings his wild world to Franschhoek literary ...

SESSION: LONGING AND BELONGING 

 Ashanti Kunene explores the crisis and creativity that comes with distance with authors Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu, Candice Carty-Williams and Kobby Ben Ben.

“Oppression isn’t just a race thing; it’s what you have that I don’t have that you use against me,” says the queer author of No One Dies Yet, Kobby Ben Ben,  commenting on the African-Americans who came to Ghana in the Year of Return to find their roots.  

- Charlotte Bauer

SESSION: DJINNS AND TONICS

Michele Magwood, Shubnum Khan, Craig Williamson and Morabo Morojele about to begin their session on otherworldly figures in their fiction. 

"I want to investigate those ghosts," says Magwood. But first, let's talk about the settings of these novels.  

Morojele's novel, Three Egg Dilemma, is set in a place that's like Lesotho but isn't quite Lesotho. SA is a very haunted country, says Higginson.

He visited old battlefields in KZN before writing The Ghost of Sam Webster.  

Khan says she grew up with a different idea of what a djinn was than the Westernised version, the genie. "Love in its many forms" is a central concern in her book. The djinn in her novel is grieving for a lost love. "What does grief look like?" "South Africans are very superstitious," says Khan.

 "Things from my own childhood crept in," says Higginson of writing this novel, though his own experience wasn't a starting point.  

Zulu warriors summoned spirits before going into battle, he says. "I was searching for spirit" during the Covid lockdown, says Higginson. 

The djinn in Khan's book doesn't speak. "It was my way of dealing with something I was afraid of," she says. One of the characters in Khan's novel just appeared, unasked, in her manuscript: "She just walked onto the page and made herself known".

- Shaun de Waal

SESSION: CTRL-ALT DEBATE 

Bestselling author Greg Mills says the ANC government's role in the crisis at Eskom has been deliberate and not because of neglect.

Hinting at South Africa's suspiciously long spell of electricity provision ahead of the elections, he quips, "There are only 12 days until the end of no load shedding Faeeza Ballim, who authored Eskom: Power, Politics and the (Post)Apartheid State, speaks on the utility's management.

Ballim says leadership and technology have been considerable factors in Eskom's current situation. She says the failure to invest in and maintain power stations set Eskom on a predetermined path. "I'm not sure how much of a difference good leadership would have made," she adds.  

"I don't know to what extent you can draw inference between political interference and technological dysfunction," says Ballim about the electricity crisis.   

Mills says that in order to turn the country around, people must be fired, and the civil service needs to be overhauled. "We know what to do, but we need accountability."  

He concludes by pointing out that politics is both the problem and the solution. This is why, Mills says, citizens should not take the upcoming 29 May elections. 

- Qama Qukula 

Walliams' talk ends with prizes being given to young and old audience members who asked the best questions.

- Joel Ontong

An audience member asks Walliams about AI. He says that he is quite resistant to the whole idea. Art and especially writing that comes from AI is "only a pastiche; it doesn't have that originality or depth of feeling," he says.

"It's not something I'm particularly interested in pursuing," he adds.

- Joel Ontong

Another child in the audience asks Walliams what it feels like to be called the next Roadl Dahl.

I feel it's nice for me really awful for him, he jokes.

Walliams says he is a hero of his as an author.

"Roald Dahl is the gold standard ... he is the world's greatest storyteller, and he got me into reading."

- Leandra Engelbrecht 

Several of Walliams' books are up for being adapted into different mediums. Walliams also has more books in the pipeline, some releasing later this year.

- Joel Ontong

"When are you going to write your next book, 'cause I am almost finished with this one," asks one of the children in the audience.

"The books take longer to write than read", jokes Walliams.

- Leandra Engelbrecht

Walliams answers another question from a child in the audience about being a writer. 

He provides a few nuggets of advice like "The more you do something, the better you get at it." He adds: "The only limit is your imagination."

- Joel Ontong

A child in the audience asks Walliams about the inspiration for his book Bad Dad.

Walliams says the Italian Job and the Bicycle Thieves were big inspirations.

He says this is an example of "two ideas bashing against each other", which is where great things come from.

- Joel Ontong

A young audience member asks Walliams what his favourite book is.

Walliams says his favourite book will always be The Boy in the Dress because it was the first. However, the book he has just written, a murder mystery set in the 1920s, might just be his best book.

- Leandra Engelbrecht

An audience member asks if he misses being on Britain's Got Talent.

Walliams says he enjoys doing something creative, and on the show, he wasn't creating, just reacting.

- Leandra Engelbrecht

Walliams talks about how being a father impacted his work and how he used his son as a soundboard for ideas. His son inspired the idea for Megamonster and when the book came out, Walliams jokes that his son asked, "Can I have half the royalties."

- Joel Ontong

Walliams reads hilarious letters from young and old fans. His younger fans frequently share their admiration for his work, but can also be harsh critics. Each letter gets uproarious laughter from the audience.

- Joel Ontong

Walliams shares the incredible experience of working with Roald Dahl's illustrator Quentin Blake. He had tears in his eyes looking at Blake's illustrations for his books. Walliams always tries to make his books dynamic and fun.

"For me, it's a dialogue between the words and the pictures," he adds.

- Joel Ontong

Walliams says illustrations are very important to him. He wants children to be entertained, encouraged to read, and not intimidated by pages of text.

- Leandra Engelbrecht

"Villains are very important to stories," Walliams says.

He talks about how a moment on Britain's Got Talent inspired his writing and one of his villains.

He learned from Roald Dahl to make villains not just scary but funny." Writing comic novels, the villains should be funny," he says.

- Joel Ontong

Walliams shares how he received a letter from a young fan around 2006 who was inspired by a Little Britain sketch that involved wearing a dress. He tried to take that concept further than just a joke and rather make it a message about being different. From that came his first book, The Boy in the Dress in 2008.

- Joel Ontong

Walliams' early shows were a "baptism of fire" but it was a hardening experience, he says.When things started taking off, especially with the success of Little Brittan, their rise happened fast. "That's how we got all these amazing experiences like coming to South Africa".

- Joel Ontong

David Walliams talks about the early beginnings of his career and said he knew he wanted to be a comedian from a young age. He jokes by calling himself a "terrible show off" when he was younger.

- Joel Ontong

The crowd cheers, whistles and applauds as David Walliams takes to the pulpit at the NG Church.

- Leandra Engelbrecht

The next session we will be covering is The Wild World of David Walliams.

Walliams wears many hats: a comedian, actor, writer and TV personality. His debut novel, The Boy in the Dress, released in 2008 has global sales surpassing 56 million copies and translations into 55 languages spanning 40 titles. He followed with chart-topping releases in 2022, including Spaceboy and The World's Worst Pets (part of the World's Worst series).

In 2023, he released the action-packed comic caper Robodog. To date this year, Walliams has already had three titles in the top 20 bestselling children's books. These include The Blunders and The World's Worst Monsters, which dominated the charts for seven (non-consecutive) weeks.

SESSION: JUST FOR LAUGHS 

Time for the New Romantics - it’s Gen BookTok! Mbali Sikakana gets authors Zibu Sithole, Bolu Babalola and Jo Watson to spill the secrets of their success. 

 Bolu Babalola doesn’t engage with audience comments on BookTok “because there can be 25 nice reviews and one annoying one and that’s the one that will haunt me. But I will respond to every DM.” 

Jo Watson says the reason she has a career today is because of social media, which is where it all began for her and her novel Love at First Flight.  

Panelists reach a consensus on the subject of creating male love interest characters: 

Babalola: “I’m not into writing about awful men.”

 Sithole: “I’m not interested in writing about perfect men.” 

Jo Watson: “We want something to be wrong with him, but we don’t want him to be wrong!” 

On how to keep your family from reading the spicy stuff when romance and erotica collide …  

Babu Babalola: “I told my mum not to let my dad read it - I was too embarrassed to ask him myself.” 

Zibu Sithole: "I was with my aunt when my author copies of I Do Don’t I? Arrived. She read the opening, which is pretty spicy, and she just LOOKED at me, and I just LOOKED at her back - and she didn’t say anything!"

Jo Watson: “I’m steeling myself for my 12-year-old son to get interested in reading my books. But dammit, this is my job, it’s what I do.” 

- Charlotte Bauer

SESSION: CURRICULUM EVITA  

"I hope the angels enjoy what we will talk about, because the angels weren't always on my side," said comedian Pieter Dirk-Uys during a chat with John Maytham.    

Dirk-Uys talked about his career in satire and the collected texts of his one-man shows, which are available on his website, pdu.co.za/OneManShows.html.  

The collected texts are split into three volumes, The Black and White Years, The Mandela Rainbow Honeymoon and The Mbeki HIV Renaissance. More volumes are expected to come.  

The project came out of the Covid-19 lockdown when there was "very little inspiration", he said. Dirk-Uys talked about his career during the apartheid years and censors.  

He said he was angry at the politics.   "I always want to be 49% anger, 51% entertainment," he later added. "The most terrible thing about censorship is self-censorship," he said.  

He touched on the more controversial parts of his comedy, such as his use of the k-word in his character. For him, it was a way to expose racism by showing it.   He also talked about his relationship with former president Nelson Mandela.

Mandela was such a fan of Evita, that he put Dirk-Uys on a stage in front of prominent figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton.  

Dirk-Uys shared how later in his career he did a free tour to different schools to educate children about sexual safety, at a time when the nation was heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS.  

- Joel Ontong

(Photo Luke Daniel/News24)

Dan Mafora (Capture in the Court), former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, Mark Gevisser (The Revolution Will Not Be Litigated) and Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos during the lunchtime session on South Africa's judiciary, which has now come to an end.

THIS IS NOT A DRILLMadonsela says we have a legal pact, but we don't have a social pact. Until we deal with the shadow of our past, it will continue to haunt us. We need a social pact; the constitution did not solve our inequalities.

- Leandra Engelbrecht

THE POST-PATRIARCHY

Mushwana reads a passage from his book, A Soft Landing, about a character going to the gym to build muscle – and becoming the kind of man he believes he is expected to be.

"As an author I can only try to... draw attention to things people don't speak about," says Naude, in response to a question from the audience about whiteness and intersectionality.

- Shaun De Waal 

- Leandra Engelbrecht

THE POST-PATRIARCHY"The trauma of this country contaminates everyone..." The phrase is from The Child, which an audience member asked Mackay to read. Moderator Sachane asks the audience member to read it himself, which he does.

- Shaun De Waal

- Shaun De Waal

THIS IS NOT A DRILL 

"Judges we appointed for a decade are not as brave as previous," says Dan Mafora. "We should avoid deligitmising judges," Madonsela follows up. We do have a serious attack on the judiciary, but we are a nation that is going through a culture of dysphoria, Madonsela says.

- Leandra Engelbrecht

FUTURE-PROOF ME NOWStanding room only at the Future-Proof Me Now session. Crypto, AI, planetary extinction … We all want to know what's going to happen next, right??!!! 

Left to right: Chris Gibbons, Arthur Goldstuck, Boykey Sidley, and Bronwyn Williams read the tea leaves.

- Charlotte Bauer

At the post-Patriarchy session, (left to right) chair Koketso Sachane, Alistair Mackay, Wisani Mushwana and SJ Naude.

(Photo: Luke Daniel/News24)

- Shaun De Waal

At the Post-Patriarchy session, chair Koketso Sachane introduces queer writers Alistair Mackay, SJ Naude and Wisani Mushwana.

- Shaun De Waal

Audience members have filled up the New School Hall, where the state of South Africa’s judiciary will take centre stage in a session titled "This is not a Drill."

Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos chairs the discussion, standing in for advocate Geoffrey Budlender. De Vos is joined by former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela and authors Dan Mafora (Capture in the Court) and Mark Gevisser (The Revolution Will Not Be Litigated).

- Qama Qukula 

Another round of lunchtime sessions is about to kick off at various venues across the town. They include a virtual sit-down with SA crime writer Margie Orford, a look at contemporary queer novelists, and Nikki Munitz on her twisted journey of addiction recovery.  

- Qama Qukula

Cecelia Ahern says publishers want authors to deliver books faster these days because "people don’t have the same attention span or patience, and they want the next thing … look at the trend for binge-watching series."

- Charlotte Bauer 

After the success of her novels, Angela Makholwa reveals her next ambition - to be a screenwriter: "I consider myself an apprentice. I still have so much to learn."

- Charlotte Bauer

Rule number one: write for yourself; don’t worry about whether it's going to be picked up and adapted for the screen. TV writers work very differently to make the magic happen, says Angela Makholwa of the screen versions of her novels.

The story can change, the characters change, and "the plot has to unfold much faster - you have to accept that, even when it feels like a punch of disappointment. So much has to happen in Episode 1 !!! Some of my readers get upset, but it’s a different medium. TV writers know the formula, and you just have to trust them!"

- Charlotte Bauer

How to grab screen time without messing up the story once you’ve written the novel and TV options: literary agent Aiofe Lennon Ritchie, queen of crime fiction Angela Makholwa and bestselling Irish author Cecelia Ahern. 

- Charlotte Bauer 

Festival attendees are spoilt for choice. The set of mid-morning sessions currently underway explore various topics, including the art of screen adaptation, crime writing 101, the catharsis of fiction, and a one-on-one with acclaimed Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov.

The climate crisis might be invisible on a blue-sky morning in Franschhoek, but the planet can't sustain unchecked population growth forever. Academic and author of Growth, Growth, Growth, Julian Cobbing says, "I should go round holding up a board saying The End is Nigh!" He chuckles. Ironically.

- Charlotte Bauer

We spotted bestselling Irish novelist Cecelia Ahern in the Green Room. She is thrilled to be invited to Franschhoek. “It’s so beautiful,” she says, “and it's always so nice to be wanted.” This is a delightfully modest statement for an author who has sold over 25 million books.

- Charlotte Bauer

The discussion has come to an end and breakfast panellists have left guests with much to digest as election day looms. Copies of their latest books may offer them some more answers and insights. Elsewhere across town, publisher and author Melinda Ferguson hosts a memoir-writing workshop, while author Vanessa Wilson leads a masterclass on self-publishing.

- Qama Qukula

Fascinating discussion, says Hunter. It's great that South Africans have a lot to say, and SA's future is up to us. 

– Shaun de Waal