SA book fest planned for London

“says Knox Chitiyo, chairperson of a promotions committee that includes Ranka Primorac, Dele
Fatunla, Lizzy Attree and Namvula Rennie.
“At the moment, there’s no cultural or book festival that draws together any of the tens of thousands of people from Southern Africa who live in Britain.
This could prove to be a literary get-together of importance and we’re seeking funds from banks and other organizations. We hope to bring across several African writers, possibly some from South Africa and Zimbabwe.”
Festival doors open to the public on November 3 at the University of London. Zimbabwean- born Knox Chitiyo, 46, was educated at the University of Zimbabwe.
After working as a senior lecturer in war and history, he came to Britain in 2003 and is presently Head of the Africa Programme at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.
It’s expected that the Southern African Book Festival will attract the support of several UK-based writers from Africa, including Zimbabwe’s Doris Lessing and Lawrence Vambe.
“I very much welcome this new book festival,” author and historian Lawrence Vambe told The Zimbabwean.” A Southern African Book festival will stimulate interest in what’s being written in Africa and that’s of importance.”
Knox Chitiyo says that the first festival will have on display books written by men and women from English-speaking Africa, as well as books by authors working in French and Portuguese speaking Africa. “In years to come, we might even have authors working in Afrikaans  it’s an African language, after all.”