Several Blake Friedmann writers are attending this year’s Franschhoek Literary Festival. The festival runs from the 15th to the 17th May. The events take place in village venues within a few minutes' walk of each other, which creates a vibrant ambience in streets buzzing with book-lovers.

The emphasis is on informal discussions and spirited debates between several writers with a chairperson, or one-on-one conversations, and occasional talks. The FLF hosts the shortlist announcements of the annual Sunday Times Literary Awards, for which several Blake Friedmann authors are longlisted.

Karin Brynard, author of WEEPING WATERS (Penguin, 2014), is appearing in two events on Saturday 16th May – ‘Telling Tales or Tub-thumping’ at 1pm and ‘What a Plot I’ve Got’ at 4pm.

Finuala Dowling, author of THE FETCH (Kwela, 2015), features in 5 events throughout all 3 days of the festival, talking about both poetry and prose.

Dorothy Driver, editor of a new edition of Olive Schreiner's FROM MAN TO MAN (to be published by UCT Press/Juta in June) will be appearing in events alongside Lyndall Gordon and Finuala Dowling on the 16th and 17th May.

Lyndall Gordon, author of DIVIDED LIVES (Little, Brown, 2014), is also busy with 5 events across 3 days, including a Life-writing Workshop on Friday 15th May.

Deon Meyer, author of ICARUS (Hodder, 2015; Afrikaans, Human & Rousseau 2015), will be talking about crime writing in 4 events across all 3 days of the festival.

S.A. Partridge, author of SHARP EDGES (Human & Rousseau, 2013), is asking ‘Who Likes what Teens Read?’ at an event on Friday 15th May.

Henrietta Rose-Innes, author of GREEN LION (Umuzi, 2015), appears on Friday 15th May at 2.30 at ‘Prizing African Writing’, and Saturday 16th May at 1pm at ‘Hello World, Africa Here’.

Ivan Vladislavić, author of 101 DETECTIVES (Umuzi, 2015) is taking part in 4 events across the three days of the festival.

You can find out more information about our authors and their events here.

Agent and Director Isobel Dixon will also be taking part in some poetry events at the festival.

Deon Meyer – aka ‘The King of South African Crime Fiction’ – appeared at the Quais du Polar International Festival of Crime Fiction in April, along with other internationally celebrated crime writers like James Ellroy, George Pelecanos, Camilla Läckberg, and Lauren Beukes. This popular French crime festival celebrated its tenth anniversary this year.

Here’s Deon with some of the festival crew:

Deon then visited the London Book fair, where he met his publishers from Korea (Book 21), Norway (Tiden Norsk Forlag), Germany (Aufbau), Holland (Bruna), Finland (Gummerus), Czech Republic ( Moba), Poland (Sonia Draga), Canada (Random House), the US (Grove Atlantic) and the UK (Hodder & Stoughton). Just a handful of the publishers in the twenty-seven countries where he is published. Hodder also hosted a trade event for him and UK journalists and booksellers, previewing the launch of his cracking new Benny Griessel thriller COBRA.

COBRA will be released in the UK at the end of August. See more details from his UK publisher Hodder here. You can also order signed copy of his previous books from Off the Shelf, now available in English and Afrikaans, with French and German editions coming soon. The US edition will be out from Grove Atlantic in October and from Random House Canada in January 2015. See more about the world of COBRA on Deon’s website here.

Deon will be taking part in more events at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in South Africa this month:

Friday 16 May 14:30, New School Hall, at the Franschhoek Literary Festival

Saturday 17 May 10:00, Old School Hall, at the Franschhoek Literary Festival

24 May at 11:15 and 15:00: Kingsmead College, Melrose, Johannesburg at the Kingsmead Book Fair

More details can be found on his website.

Praise for Deon Meyer:

‘Deon Meyer is the best of the best.’ – The Mail & Guardian

‘Meyer is one of the sharpest chroniclers of South Africa.’ – Joan Smith, Sunday Times

'With Deon Meyer you can't go wrong. He's a writer whose work I admire, wait for and then devour.' – Michael Connelly