Videos and Podcasts

Teju Cole at Open Book

September’s Open Book Festival was a marquee event on the South African literary scene. Orchestrated by The Book Lounge and housed in the Cape Town’s Fugard Theatre in the historic District Six precinct, the Festival brought together local and international authors for five days of discussions about the place of literature, the work of writing, and the trials and tribulations of authorship.

Headlining the festival was literature’s current sensation, the Nigerian-American author Teju Cole. Cole, author of the acclaimed Open City, has rapidly carved a position for himself in the literary vanguard, with his provocative pronouncements on literature and politics. A large part of Cole’s fame is derived from his very active presence on social media. Cole spoke at several events during the festival, all of which were filled to capacity with eager aficionados.

On this week’s SLiP podcast double-billing, we bring you two recordings. The first is Teju Cole in conversation with Imraan Coovadia and Henrietta Rose-Innes. The session, entitled “The Future of Literature”, was chaired by UCT academic Hedley Twidle. It was a lively and engaging discussion, captured here.

Session Two of our Teju Cole podcasts from the Open Book Festival features the author in conversation with The Book Lounge’s Mervyn Sloman. This event was skilfully captured by Anneke Rautenbach, and you can read her report here. We hope you enjoy them.

Teju Cole, Imraan Coovadia & Henrietta Rose-Innes discuss the future of the novel with Hedley Twidle by Slipnet on Mixcloud

Teju Cole discusses Open City by Slipnet on Mixcloud

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