The inaugural Tjo!StoryFest will take place on the University of Pretoria's Mamelodi Campus. Highlights of the two-day event will include a special tribute to community activists Florence and Fabian Ribeiro. We celebrate Tshwane-born writer Kagiso Lesego's novel The mending season, which is included in the Grade 12 curriculum, and there will be interactive readings featuring South African celebrities Hlubi Mboya, Sisanda Henna, and Lindiwe Matshikiza.

The festival is organised through a close collaboration of Kgauhelo Dube's Orenda Arts Collective (a non-profit organisation), the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria, the Mamelodi Campus and Elinor Sisulu's Puku Children's Literature Foundation.

Seeing that the festival also coincides with the beginning of the winter school holidays, the programme will feature exciting mini-events for the youth, with dynamic young speakers on topics as diverse as running active book clubs, and careers in the media and publishing sector. Publishing maverick Thabiso Mahlape is set to give a motivational talk about how being a ‘bookworm' eventually led her to an exciting career. Tjo!StoryFest will be celebrating Mahlape's achievements; especially Bonang Matheba's book From A To B, which her imprint BlackBird Books will soon be launching.

Date: 30 June to 1 July 2017

Venue: Mamelodi Campus, University of Pretoria

Enquiries: Kgauhelo Dube, +27 (0) 81 312 6957

Click here for the official programme.