WHEN Thando Mgqolozana announced at last year’s Time of the Writer that he would no longer attend literary festivals in South Africa, it was the first step on a journey which he hopes will shake up the country’s literary landscape.

Speaking at the opening of the 2016 festival at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Monday, the co-curator of the festival, said that when he was approached by Tiny Mungwe, the festival’s project manager, to work on the 2016 event, he jumped at the chance.

“We immediately agreed on two things; number one that the festival is leaving the elitism of campus, hopefuly for good, and is going out to the people. And, secondly, that the theme would be ‘Decolonising the Book’.”

What that means is that instead of using the Sneddon theatre and Howard College campus to host the festival, this year’s event will be staged in libraries and other venues in Clermont, Cato Manor, Umlazi, Inanda and KwaMashu.

What’s more, leading voices from the areas of writing, editing, publishing, translation, marketing, bookselling and promotion have been brought together to discuss issues pertinent to the transformation and growth of literature in South Africa.

There are also a series of Conversations that Matter roundtable discussions which aim to provide a space for ordinary people to contribute towards this topic.

For Mgqolozana — author of A Man Who is Not a Man, Hear Me Alone and Unimportance — taking on the role of literary firebrand has been a challenging experience.

“Personally I would rather be reading writing and thinking about it, but I have found myself becoming what [Nigerian novelist] Chinua Achebe would have called a ‘politician of literature’.

“The function of colonisation is to put the natives last and in our specific case there are clear instances in which black people come last.

“The vast amount of literature produced in this country is written in English — our languages come last. Book stores are everywhere but where black people reside. Libraries are filled with everything but the writings of black writers.”

For Mgqolozana the time has come for black authors to stop trying to ‘fit snuggly’ into ‘colonial literary spaces’ and instead to put themselves and their languages first.

“Decolonisation is an act of self love,” he said. “We wouldn’t be loving ourselves enough if we didn’t get up and mount Project Decolonise.

“This week when we go to Umlazi, KwaMashu, Inanda, we will be conciously putting ourselves first. If we don’t, whatever other action or inaction from our side is nothing more than a participation in the process of keeping us as the last ones.

“This is the first of many steps we will be taking to realise decolonisation; and we will have to teach ourselves new ways of being that are not framed by notions of coloniality…

“It is dangerous but it is a choice that I have made and I intend to work until the last ones come first.”

Mugwe said the CCA was very excited about the plans for this year’s festival, adding: “The change is very big for us and by breaking from years of tradition we will have another set of operational challenges, but it is something we believe is absolutely crucial for the festival and for the face of literature in South Africa if we are to effect some kind of shift in our thinking.”

Praising Mgqolozana and Mungwe for their efforts, Dr Cheryl Potgieter, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the College of Humanities at UKZN said she hoped the festival would be a catalyst not just for decolonising the book, but decolonising the spaces in which we live and work.

“I hope that in the next few days we will read what we like, say what we like and new voices will emerge and write what they like,” she added.

Wednesday’s TOW programme:

• 10 am to 12 noon: Luthuli Museum — Literary Frequencies with Nakhane Toure (above left) and Mandla Ndlovu (above right).
• 11 am to 3 pm: Conversations that Matter: The Book and Gatekeepers at the Ohlange Library in Inanda. Features Duduzile Mabaso (Black Letter Media), Kholeka Mabeta (HSRC Press), Siphiwo Mahala (Department of Arts and Culture), Thabiso Mahlape (Blackbird Books), Mandla Matyumza (Centre for the Book), Prof Sihawu Ngubane (Head of African Studies at UKZN).
• 1 pm to 2.30 pm: Mazisi Kunene Museum, 8 Dellville Avenue, Glenwood. An Absurd Literary History with Sindiwe Magona and Wally Serote.
• 7 pm: Ohlange High School, Dr JL Durbe Drive, Inanda. Music by DJ QI and Gaba; book launch for Chasing the Tail of My Father’s Cattle by Sindiwe Magona; discussions on Why must a black writer write about blackness (Panashe Chigumadzi) and Eusebius Mckaiser) and The Book and Gatekeepers.