The Book Lounge owner and Open Book Festival founder Mervyn Sloman has declared the festival open!
Authors, including Geoff Dyer, Mike Carey, Raymond E Feist, Zakes Mda, and many more gathered at The Book Lounge for the opening ceremony, which included a short speech by Garreth Bloor of the City of Cape Town and some inspiring words from Sloman.
“We believe in the power of the written word, in the power of storytelling,” Sloman said. “Stories told with words, stories told with pictures. Stories told in verse, and stories told in prose. Stories that are a product of a writer’s imagination and stories that seek to accurately reflect what happened, what is happening and what will happen.
“I’ve said on a number of occasions recently that it is a privilege to be operating in the South African book world at the moment. It’s an exciting space marked by exceptional storytelling across genres. It’s a challenging privilege and at times it feels like a neverending struggle privilege – nonetheless that is something that all of us who work in this industry must always remember – it is a privilege.
“It is this privilege that allows us once a year to bring together a wonderful array of writers from around the world and of course from around our beloved country. It is this privilege that allows us as readers to engage with a remarkable quilt of writers … to be entertained, to be challenged, to be enthralled and to be invigorated. Running a festival like Open Book is exhausting, but it is also invigorating.
“Thank you to all the chairs for what they are about to do over the next five days.
“Thank you to all the publishers for your support and help in what will go on over the next five days.
“And most important, thanks to all the wonderful inspiring writers who are sharing of their time with us. Without you, there would be no books. Without books, life would just be rubbish. We honour you and we thank you.
“Open Book 2014 the 4th edition, has now begun …”
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