By: Our Reporter
All roads leads to Francistown city, on the eighth of March 2024. The objective of this Book Festival is to improve the literacy and bring a reading revival to the people of Francistown.
Speaking to the Publicist of the event, Mrs Charity O. Keobokile-Opelo, said that they saw it fit to do their best to revive culture of reading and writing in the second city of Botswana; being Francistown.
Mrs Opelo says they intend to bring authors from all over Africa including USA, and the UK as well as Spain, to name but a few, but give priority to the northern part of Botswana Artists and Authors because not much occur in their region concerning literacy events.
This book festival comes at the best time when books are becoming the it thing again. There is a great revival of local and African authors, the illusion that Africans do not read is becoming a past detail now.
The local authors are expected to be present and there will be a criteria to choose those who will be part of the international book festival.
“It is our first and we expect it to be an amazing beautiful event and we want the local book industry to come and engage and also for stakeholders in the book industry to partner and engage in the book festival.” Mrs Opelo added.
The planning of the event is on the final stage, and the guests are contacted already. The most exciting thing about this festival is the partnership with the great, already existing local made brand Mulher Forte African Literature by a young Motswana multi award winning author Dr Paula O.M.Otukile, who is doing well in the literacy consultancy internationally and locally.
Speaking to Dr Otukile she said; service to humanity is service to God, Books to her are part of service and she is always ready to serve her country through literature and literacy.
The First day of the Book Festival will be a Book Donation to a local school, and then the second day will be Book Networking Forum, Interviews and Workshops.
In the evening, Francistown Book Festival will host Mulher Forte African Annual Literature awards, which will be a Red Carpet Event.
According to the Secretary of the awards Mrs Otsile Pule, this Book Festival has brought forth a wonderful experience and that they are grateful sponsors are forthcoming unlike in the past where they hustled with no helping hand.
The team anticipates to have a live Facebook streaming for those who cannot attend, but promise to do the best to cater for more local authors and poets.
In conclusion, Mrs Opelo urged the city of Francistown residents; the people from the north to support own this initiative and support it in large numbers.
