Singer, author and entrepreneur Muofhe Mulovhedzi hosted the inaugural Limpopo Book Fair recently and plans to see it grow into one of the country’s leading literary events. The book fair attracted authors from different parts of the province which has long been starved of such events.
Makgatla Thepa-Lephale chatted to Muofhe Mulovhedzi about the book fair, literature and plans for the future
Makgatla: So, Muofhe, what inspired you to start this book fair?
Muofhe: The thirst for literature to grow. My biggest aim with this Book Fair is so that writers come together, publishers come together [and that] the value chain of publishing grows in Limpopo. So I’m very passionate about writers and I really want writers to get the opportunity to flourish and make this into a profitable venture in any form or any way. So the Book Fair is very important to connect with other writers, to get information and also to make sure that at least you know, we network as people that are in the literary sphere.
Makgatla: Organising an event like this requires a lot of logistics, administration and everything. How did you manage to pull it off?
Muofhe: You know when it comes to making the private sector understand the importance of investing in literature,It is such a challenge. The biggest challenge is trying to make them understand what a book fair entails because it’s not out there in the community. They don’t understand what literature is, what literature does,. So the biggest challenge has been acquiring sponsors, getting people to take out their hard earned money and invest in writers. In this country, because writing is slowly becoming unfashionable, books are becoming unfashionable, and we are trying to make sure that literacy keeps transcending and these people actually are now only understanding that there’s a book fair and what does this book fair entail, and its impact in helping communities. So the challenge has been trying to get them to fund us.
Makgatla: So considering that you’re doing this in Polokwane have you got any sort of support from the local municipality or even government just in general?
Muofhe: You know, initially it is the Department of Arts and Culture that really has come and full circle in trying to help bring writers together. You know, they’ve motivated us. They’ve funded some of our projects and committed to channel some of the funds into the Limpopo Book Fair so that we can make this dream of a book fair a reality and they’ve really supported in kind and in cash. The department [of sport, arts and culture], SABC, Lushaka water , Isuzu motors also came out big for us because it transported the whole organizing crew and they have committed themselves to rally behind the writers in Limpopo.
Makgatla: So, I have seen that you have attracted big names in the literary space such as Prof Mokgoatsane. I want to believe that it was not easy to get him on board considering his position? I mean, he is a professor and I understand that this is the very first book fair that you’re hosting. So to attract big names like Professor Mokgoatsane how did you do it?
Muofhe: I think I have advocated so much for people who teach literacy to come on board. Professor Mokgoatsane is so passionate about literacy. He is passionate about getting literacy to young people, and every single time when I speak to professors, I say to them, please impart this knowledge that you got through the years and share with the young people so that when you leave this earth, you leave us with treasures, you leave us with the knowledge to carry on your legacy. So he understands the plight, the professors understand the plight and that’s why they’re coming on board to support this cause by any measure whatsoever.
Makgatla: So I’ve seen a lot of book stalls, people displaying their products, mostly books. Were you were selling the stalls or what was happening?
Muofhe: No, because this was the first time ever we wanted our writers, our authors or publishers or bookstores to understand what the impact of the book fair is. We decided to make it free for everybody this year so that they can at least understand that this has happened, this has had a certain impact on writers and next year they will understand why they must pay for it. So it has been free completely and they’ve come out in their numbers.
Makgatla: So when you say next year they will come in numbers and things will be different. Are we going to have the second instalment of the Limpopo Book Fair?
Muofhe: Definitely this is going to be a year on year project. We are not going to stop now. This is only the beginning and we hope to fill up a stadium one day. It [filling up a stadium] must not only be in music festivals, but it must be in the festival of literature.
Makgatla: In the beginning of our conversation you spoke about NWALA writers and most importantly the incubators program that you have. Can you elaborate on that so that aspiring writers out there can know about it?
Muofhe: NWALA Writers has lot of programs, I mean, we’re a company that advocates for literature, especially in indigenous languages. We embarked this year on incubating 80 young writers to come and write their stories, writing indigenous languages. We collaborated with universities, professors [in] departments of the same interest to come and help incubate them, help them develop their stories. A The writers took six months in this training program and now their manuscripts are finished. They are being edited by professors around the universities and NWALA writers has transcended, it’s got representation in the North West, representation in Free State, representation in the Northern Cape. I mean we are everywhere now even though we are so big here in Limpopo. It has grown to an extend that the Swati writers have come out, Tshivenda writers, Sepedi, Setswana, IsiZulu writers, they really, really have fallen in love with the fact that we are here to groom new writers for the next decades to come, because writers are few, you know. So we need to keep nurturing and trying to educate them on the right things that literature should, you know, compose of.
Makgatla: As we are drawing to the conclusion, I’ve seen some school learners with their uniform on, are you also working with schools?
Muofhe: We are working with the Department of Education and PANSLAB, so they are here to advocate for the learners to write and also partake in literature space, whether it be theatre, storytelling. Poetry, as you have seen that today we had our poetry session called ‘say your piece’ which is a movement of poets who just want to come and share their words, so young people are fundamental to our program, so we want to walk with them in this journey that in the next years they are big thing to happen to literature in the country.
Makgatla: As we conclude, what can we expect next year when you host the second Limpopo book fair?
Muofhe: We are expecting to be bigger, expecting growth, expecting more writers to join us, a bigger book fair
Makgatla: Thank you so much for talking to us, and we want to wish you all the best for the next book fair and congratulations for a successful inaugural Limpopo book fair
Muofhe: Thank you. – news@mukurukuru.co.za
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