It seems we are not too far removed from a time when two or three black people gathered together were to be separated from their common purpose. And even post-apartheid, a meeting of black people for a common purpose can get trolled for such a gathering, as the short-lived Forum for Black Journalists found out.
But cocurator of the Abantu Book Festival Thando Mgqolozana says attendees will find out that “there is no agenda to hurl people out into the sea – at least not just yet”.
The inaugural festival, taking place at the Eyethu Cultural Centre in Mofolo, Soweto, between December 6 and 10, dares to gather about 50 black writers and cultural producers under the theme “Imagining ourselves into existence”.
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