Jaco Jacobs is one of South Africa’s most beloved and well-known youth authors, with 25 years of experience in the writing industry and an impressive collection of books. His unique ability to captivate young readers’ imaginations has made him a favourite among children and teenagers. Jaco will host daily interactive sessions, bringing his stories to life through readings and engaging activities. Full of humour, creativity, and inspiration, children are invited to actively participate in the world of storytelling.
Jaco Jacobs is an award-winning South African children’s and youth author with over 25 years of experience. He is known for his humorous and creative stories that capture young readers’ imaginations and inspire a love of reading.
Join us at the Lifestyle tent during the Vrystaat Arts Festival for readings by well-known entertainers from LAPA’s popular children’s books.
Mila Kozlowa is a Moscow-based psychotherapist who sits in counselling sessions fantasising about grilled salmon and sex. She also thinks about her frail, old grandmother, Babushka. What is she hiding from her? Did her parents really disappear during a space mission? When Mila meets a South African who shares his war trauma with her, the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur. Where does the dream end and reality begin? And for how long can one believe one’s own lies?
Gerda Taljaard is the author of the novels ’n Engel in die hoenderhok, Kelder, Die laksman se dogter, and Vier susters. Die Laksman se dogter received the kykNET-Rapport Film Prize; Vier Susters won the kykNET-Rapport Fiction Prize and the ATKV Woordveertjie Award for Prose. Her poems and short stories have appeared in various publications, and she has received the Litera and De Compagnie prizes for best short story. She lives in Pretoria.
The story again follows Biko April, who has three days to find a place to live – broke and without a plan. During this crisis, he meets a Jewish girl at an art exhibition, changing his life. In the early 2000s in Cape Town, amid PAGAD bombings and tension, an unpredictable love story unfolds, offering hope. In Dharma-dwaas in Doodloopstraat, Septembir builds on his debut, blending literary fiction with satire, eroticism, and spirituality to explore desire, identity, faith, and truth.
Sjaka Septembir has worked for three decades as a writer, poet, actor, and director, known for boundary-pushing work blending literature and theatre. His debut novel drew strong reactions and critical acclaim. With Dharma-dwaas in Doodloopstraat, he once again confirms his place as a unique and challenging voice in Afrikaans literature.
Between wars and worlds, the story follows Rebekka, a camp child of the Anglo-Boer War who grows up poor on Kameeldoorn farm. Bright and eager to learn, she is forced to leave school and is eventually “sold” to the Wright family. In Oxford, she finds her footing as a nanny, gaining knowledge and friendships. But war looms again, and Rebekka struggles with her identity – between Boer and Brit, farm and manor
Irma Joubert is a former teacher, specialist journalist, and unquestionably the doyenne of South African historical fiction. Her books, including the trilogies Tussen Stasies, Pontenilo, and Oorlog, have been local bestsellers, translated into English, Dutch, and German, and published worldwide. Irma lives in the Western Cape, but still enjoys travelling the world to conduct research for her books.
Suiker (1958) by Hugo Claus is one of his best and most acclaimed dramas, masterfully blending language, naturalism, melodrama, and humor. In a sugar factory in northern France, five Flemish migrant workers await the end of the season. A love triangle between the cunning Max, the naïve Kilo, and Malou, a young woman, unfolds over a few days to a climax. The story symbolises the loss of paradise and the fleeting nature of dreams, the only way to endure harsh reality.
HP (Hennie) van Coller is an outstanding professor (emeritus) and research fellow at the University of the Free State. He is the author and editor of numerous publications, including the well-known Perspektief en profiel. ’n Literatuurgeskiedenis (2016), and Etienne Leroux: Die rumoerige swart nar. ’n Huldiging (2023). He has received multiple awards, including the Gustav Preller Prize for literary scholarship, the Jan H Marais Prize, and the NP van Wyk Louw Medal from the South African Academy for Science and Arts.
Little do the civil servants Pixley and Joubert know what awaits them when a minister instructs them to investigate and remove apartheid and colonial monuments across the country. As they travel to assess this loaded history, they also become entangled in their own personal stories. Family, love, and even the supernatural begin to interfere, and as secrets come to light, the questions about the past and heritage become increasingly complex.
Theo Kemp obtained his master’s degree in creative writing at Stellenbosch University. He has been involved with various projects in the arts before in his role as, among others, project manager of the Woordfees, advertising coordinator at NB Publishers, programme manager at the KKNK as well as at the Vrystaat Literature Festival and as executive director of the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington.
The devil is on the loose at the monastery of Saint William, Patron Saint of the Metaverse. The monastery, situated in the once fertile maize triangle in the Free State, annually stages a passion play on which they pin all their hopes for survival. But JC van Schouwenburg, who plays the lead role, has inexplicably disappeared. Dapper de Wet, rosarian, gourmand, and seasoned harbour pilot, is desperate to track him down. An evasive Mother Superior and a beautiful teacher complicate things.
Anton Roodt obtained an MA in Creative Writing from the University of the Free State. He is a professional architect and has received several awards for his firm’s work. He is also a visual artist. His debut novel, Weerlose meganika, was awarded the Jan Rabie Rapport Prize. He and his wife, Zarine, live in Bloemfontein.
After the world’s most civilised divorce, Juna Ferreira finds herself in a small town without a plan for her future. When she recognises a unique scar on a person’s cheek, it sends her in the opposite direction – far into the past. She revisits her childhood on the Free State goldfields, a time she remembers as carefree and happy. But was it really? How many secrets lie trapped in the ruins of the once stately Limestone House?
Zelda Bezuidenhout is a writer of youth fiction, short stories, radio dramas, columns, advertising copy, and adult fiction. Her first novel for adults, Die dekonstruksie van Retta Blom, was published in 2019, followed by her second, Die waarde van stil bure, in 2021. In 2020, she and Lunéll Kruger won first place in Netwerk24’s radio drama competition with Koppelkat. She lives in Parys in the Free State.
