2026 Authors
Suzette Mayr
Suzette Mayr is the author of six novels including her most recent, The Sleeping Car Porter, winner of the Giller Prize, the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction, finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, and shortlist nominee for the Dublin Literary Award.
Mayr’s novels have also won other prizes including the ReLit Award and W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Award. Mayr is a professor of Creative Writing at the University of Calgary.
She and her partner live across the street from a park teeming with coyotes.
Angie Butler
Angie Butler was born and raised in Johannesburg, where she worked in film and theatre before going to art school in London in her mid-twenties.
She is the author of several books on polar history including Ice Tracks – Today’s Heroic Age of Polar Adventure and The Quest for Frank Wild – which was turned into a BBC documentary.
She co-authored the acclaimed book Shackleton’s Critic. Her passion for Antarctica led to co-founding the iconic expedition travel company, Ice Tracks Expeditions.
The Shadow of Elsewhere, is her first African story, and is making its debut in Book Town Richmond.
Darryl Earl David
Darryl David, maverick extraordinaire, is the most experienced pioneer of book festivals in South Africa, having curated more than a hundred over two decades. Many of the festivals are in far-flung areas such as ours in Richmond, our fairytale town, Darryl branded as Africa’s only Book Town in 2007. Darryl also managed against all expectations to have the city of Durban elevated to a Unesco City of Literature and later Hermanus to a Unesco City of Gastronomy. Both Unesco projects were firsts on the African continent. He is also the only Indian lecturer of Afrikaans in South Africa.
Darryl is not only a lover of books but a lover of dogs and will be talking about his book Doggone Days at this years festival. He is the author of several coffee table books and a bold autobiography, “BookBedonnerd: The road to elsewhere.” We look forward to Doggone Days given Darryl’s off the cuff wit, warmth and proneness to tears.
Clinton V. du Plessis
Clinton V. du Plessis was born in Cookhouse; a small railway town in the Eastern Cape. He is an accountant and is currently residing in Nxuba (previously Cradock).
To date he has published 15 collections of Afrikaans poetry, 1 English as well as a Dutch translation.
Nicole Engelbrecht
Nicole Engelbrecht worked in corporate management for 20 years before moving on to try her hand at creative entrepreneurship in 2019.
She is the creator and host of the popular True Crime South Africa and I Lived Through This podcasts as well as the Showmax official companion podcasts, Devilsdorp, Stella and Rosemary’s Hit List.
She is the author of Samurai Sword Murder: The Morné Harmse Story, Sizzlers: The Hate Crime That Tore Seapoint Apart, Bare Bones: Cold Cases from True Crime South Africa (published in Afrikaans as Klipkoud) and coauthor of Killer Stories: Conversations with South African Serial Killers.
Nicole helps to mentor other South African true crime content creators to help grow the space in an ethical and victim-focused direction.
Lahoucine Aammari
Lahoucine Aammari works as associate professor of literary and cultural studies at Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Beni-Mellal, Morocco. His main research interests encompass studies in travel writing, Moroccan ethnicities, Anglo-Moroccan-relations, and postcolonial literature.
Professor Aammari’s scholarship has appeared in Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, Journal of North African Studies, Studies in Travel Writing, Hespéris-Tamuda, Cultural Studies, among others. He also co-authored a number of book chapters on travel writing, Moroccan history and Anglo-Moroccan relations.
He is the co-editor of Mirrors of Morocco: Cultural Encounters in Travel Texts, published by Psychological, Sociological and Cultural Studies Laboratory, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah University, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Dhar El Mahraz, Fes, 2023. He is also the author of British Travel Writers in Morocco, 1856-1937: Discursive Encounters (Liverpool University Press, 2026). Aammari is a regular referee of Hespéris-Tamuda Journal.
Naomi Morgan
Naòmi Morgan is a research fellow at the same university and continues her parallel career as a literary translator specializing in texts from French into Afrikaans. She has a predilection for drama; many novellas (such as Die Ander Dogter, Madame Pylinska en die Geheim van Chopin, Oskar en die Pienk Tannie and Monsieur Ibrahim en die Blomme van die Koran) have been adapted for the stage by her or by other theatre-makers.
Both translations discussed at Boekbedonnerd 2026 (Ons wag vir Godot, Die Ander Dogter) are published by Naledi and have been performed at arts festivals. Both both awards for best drama text.
The translator was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic for her contribution to making French literature and culture accessible to South African audiences.
Dietloff Van der Berg
Dietloff Van der Berg established and taught creative writing in Afrikaans in Pietermaritzburg where he lectured on literature at the university.
Since retiring as professor in 2010 he focussed on his poetry with Rumi: Liefdesverse en aanhalings in 2024 and Feesmaalgang in 2025 published by Naledi and now his new insightful poems and quatrains.
Apofatiese lens (Apophatic lens) is the new anthology of Dietloff van der Berg’s poetry spanning fourteen aspects of life.
Each rubric contains a major poem then followed with quatrains centred around that theme. It portrays the unique vision of the poet’s journey through life in a well-structured and creative volume of poems.
Jake Hoddinott
Jake Hoddinott has worked in roles as diverse as being a game ranger in the Kruger to investment banking in London, from building skyrise office buildings in Johannesburg to running restaurants in the countryside.
From a young age he immersed himself in the landscapes, wildlife, cultures and history of Africa, fuelling his passion for this amazing continent. He confesses to having learnt far less from his degrees in accounting, economics and real estate than he has from exploring the wonders of Africa.
Drawing on real-world experiences and intensive research, Jake writes African historical fiction that brings the region’s past vividly to life. He lives with his wife and three children on a game reserve in South Africa’s Greater Kruger region, writing where the wild is never far away.
Stephen Symons
Stephen Symons was born in Cape Town in 1966. He has published award-winning poetry and short fiction in local and international journals, magazines and anthologies.
Symons’s work has been shortlisted for the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry, the Ingrid Jonker Prize, and a South African Literary Award, and he was most recently awarded the 2026 Olive Schreiner Prize for Poetry. Symons has published five collections of poetry and two collections of short stories. Starlorn is his debut novel.
Symons holds a PhD in History (University of Pretoria) and an MA in Creative Writing (University of Cape Town). He lives with his family in Oranjezicht, Cape Town, where he runs a graphic design studio.
Melanie Moolman
Melanie Moolman has been part of the De Oude Kraal Country Estate & Spa family for the past 24 years, where her passion for hospitality, people, and storytelling has flourished.
A lifelong lover of books and language, she inherited her deep appreciation for the spoken and written word from her father, the late writer Nico Moolman.
At the Richmond Book Festival, Melanie has the privilege of presenting the release of her father’s latest work that they worked on together, a book of Poetry in Afrikaans and English while sharing memories of the man behind the books.
Through this lecture, she hopes not only to celebrate his literary legacy but also to introduce new readers to his wisdom, humour, and unique perspective on life. By bringing his words to new audiences, she continues a legacy that has shaped her own love of literature and meaningful conversation.
Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit
Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit are the co‑founders of Karoo Space, the independent publishing house that has become one of South Africa’s most distinctive voices on rural life, landscape, and culture.
Drawing on their deep reporting experience, visual storytelling skills, and a shared instinct for narrative, they began documenting the people, histories, and hidden corners of their adopted region.Klein Karoo Magic traces the 350‑kilometre stretch from Montagu to Toorwater Poort, capturing the landscapes, legends, and characters that make the region unforgettable.
The book that finally explains why the Klein Karoo “gets under your skin.”
Shamila Ramsookbhai
Shamila Ramsookbhai earned her PhD ( Education- University of Kwa Zulu Natal ) and has served as a Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg and Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). She is an NRF scholarship holder, as well an AERA scholar. In 2023 she presented 7 papers at the AERA conference in Chicago.
Alongside her scholarly pursuits, Ramsookbhai is deeply engaged in the arts, particularly in the field of ceramics. She is the founder of The Eat, Play, Clay Club, a home-based pottery studio in KwaZulu-Natal that doubles as both an artistic space and a therapeutic environment.
Beyond academia and ceramics, Ramsookbhai is also a writer. Her writing often blends personal experience with broader cultural and social reflections, weaving narratives that are both intimate and universal. Fiction My Milkshakes Bring All the Boys to the Yard and Other Short Stories (Micromega Publications, 2025) EAT,PRAY,DIE (Micromega Publications, 2026} Non-Fiction I wore my Reeboks and embraced risk in a doctoral study.
Sheryl and Sandy James
Sheryl James is a university graduate with a BA (Health and Social Sciences-Psychology). She is cerebral palsied, passionate about sport, animals and the bush and has a heart for inspiring and creating opportunities for others.
Her faith journey led to an unlikely bronze medal at the 2020/2021 Tokyo Paralympic Games. Her mother, Sandy James, spent thirty years as a school principal and educator at a Christian School. In 2018, Sandy began to journal her new season as Sheryl’s ‘momager’.
Unbridling arose from Sheryl’s public speaking engagements and the journals that she and her mom penned as each of them experienced her own ‘unbridling’.
Alec Connah
Alec Connah specializes in wildlife and environmental themes. His numerous accolades include ‘Highly Commended’ in the BBC/NHM Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition 2007, winner of the ‘Oceans’ category in the Nature’s Best Photography’ competition 2008, a category winner in the GDT ‘European Nature photographer of the year competition in 2009 and National Wildlife Federation competition 2010 winning trips to the Galapagos Islands and Namibia A highlight was winning the ‘Motion’ category in the Sony World Photography Awards.
Where the fish fly and the birds swim is a testament to Alec’s fascination with sharks and many years of studying these extraordinary creatures that now are barely seen due to overfishing of their food source.
Becky Cerling Powers
Becky Cerling Powers is a retired feature writer and parenting columnist for The El Paso Times and other publications nationwide, author of the nonfiction narrative Forbidden Orphanage Outside the Forbidden City; the children’s picture book Wherever I Go: Psalm 139 for Kids; and a book of parenting insight articles Sticky Fingers, Sticky Minds: quick reads for helping kids thrive , as well as compiler-contributor-editor of My Roots Go Back to Loving (El Paso family stories).
She blogs at www.beckypowers.com
Deon Meyer
South African crime author Deon Meyer is a former journalist and brand strategist. He has published 17 novels and two short story collections in 28 languages world-wide, and wrote, produced or directed several feature films and TV series.
Accolades include Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (France), the Deutsche Krimi Preis, the Swedish Martin Beck Award, and a Barry Award in the USA. Deon lives in Stellenbosch with his wife Marianne.
He is passionate about South Africa, Mozart, mountain bikes, cooking, and Free State Cheetahs and Springbok rugby.
Nicholas Boggs
Nicholas Boggs is the author of the New York Times bestselling biography, BALDWIN: A Love Story (FSG, 2025), winner of the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography, the Stonewall/Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award, and the Randy Shilts Nonfiction Award.
It was named a Top Ten Book of 2025 by Time magazine and The Atlantic, and a New York Times Notable Book of the year.
In addition, it was recognized with an Audie Award for Best Audiobook in History/Biography
Dr Rob Parsons
Dr Rob Parsons, OBE, is an international keynote speaker and bestselling author. His books include The Heart of Success, The Sixty Minute Father, and his most recent book A Knock at the Door – the story of Rob and his wife Dianne inviting a homeless man in one Christmas, who lived with them for over 45 years until his death. He has spoken across the world to more than a million people in live events. Rob and Dianne have two children and five grandchildren.
Louis Botha
The Karoo and his passion for photography set Louis Botha on a journey that has produced a book of beauty.
He has captured the rich diversity of landscapes, old Karoo buildings and the people he has met on the way.
Louis believes landscapes and people go through seasons of change, have different moods and only reveal their real character when there is a proper connection between photographer and the subject.
Louis is a member of Prince Albert’s Open Studios and welcomes everyone to join his workshops.
Caitlin Venniker
Caitlin Venniker is a South African vet and award-winning author.
She spends her time between South Africa and the Middle East, and she has a collection of rescue animals, including a scruffy desert dog and a one-eared cat. Unleashed is her first book.
Gail Gilbride
Gail Gilbride lives with her family in the Hemel en Aarde Valley, where she swims in the sea, writes, gardens and paints.
She set the room alight last year at Boekbedonnerd and we are thrilled to welcome her back. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Rhodes) and a post- graduate diploma (UCT).
She taught English, Sound Perception and Communication Skills. She also used to dance and mastering the Tango is still on her wish list.
Gail is the author of Under the African Sun, a top ten finalist in the Author Academy Awards competition (USA) and Cat Therapy, an unplanned memoir. An Unsuitable Woman is her second novel..
Roger Lucey
Born in Durban, Roger started writing and performing songs in the mid-seventies. His first album, The Road Is Much Longer, was banned for possession and distribution, and the security police launched a covert ‘operation’ to silence him. Roger went on to work as a TV journalist covering wars in Southern and East Africa, and later in Madagascar, Bosnia and Chechnya.
After more than a decade, he left the news industry to join Theatre for Africa, an environmental theatre company. He later became editor and presenter of an e.TV nightly arts/news programme for which he received the Arts and Culture Trust Award. In May 2010, he graduated as valedictorian from Duke University’s Graduate School of Liberal Studies. His autobiography, Back in from the Anger, was published in 2012 and was nominated for the Alan Paton Award. At the time, his work was featured in the inaugural exhibition at the Museum of Modern Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden. In 2016, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the South African Music Awards.
Roger Lucey survived a covert security police campaign which destroyed his music career. He survived the drug addiction and disaffection which followed. He survived a decade and a half as a cameraman documenting the wars of Africa and Eastern Europe. How to Build a House in the Mountains is a memoir as well as a live solo show featuring stories and songs inspired by the journey.
Anthony Osler
Antony is the author of three books on Zen in South Africa; Stoep Zen, Zen Dust and Mzansi Zen and is working on a fourth due out soon (haha!).
A veteran of literary festivals with his friend Darryl David, Antony will tell stories and read from old and new material.
Books aside, he lives on a farm in the Karoo with his wife Margie, where they run both wool sheep and Zen retreats and where they sit on the stoep in the evenings to watch the sun go down. (stoepzen.co.za)’
Hannah Kent
Hannah Kent was born in Adelaide in 1985. As a teenager she travelled to Iceland on a Rotary Exchange, where she first heard the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir and was inspired to write Burial Rites.
Hannah is the co-founder and deputy editor of Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings, and is completing her PhD at Flinders University. In 2011 she won the inaugural Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award.
Burial Rites is her first novel and has garnered praise from best-selling authors such as Karin Slaughter, Charlotte Rogan, Pulitzer prize-winner Geraldine Brooks and Orange prize-winner Madeline Miller.
Tracy Going
Tracy Going is an award-winning storyteller whose work spans broadcasting, books, film and visual art. A former television and radio news anchor, she is the bestselling author of the Rhymes & Recipes series and the acclaimed memoir Brutal Legacy, which inspired a theatre production and the SAFTA-nominated documentary That’s What She Said. In 2024, she graduated from the Ruth Prowse School of Art in Cape Town adding fine art to her creative repertoire, continuing to tell powerful stories across multiple mediums.
Tracy is currently working on another children’s cookbook and will talk of the power of writing and storytelling as part of her own lived experience.
We are thrilled to have Tracy back with us. She is going to share with us the writing process, its impact and how one might not be able to change our own story but we can give it another shape.
Dietloff van der Berg
Dietloff Van der Berg established and taught creative writing in Afrikaans in Pietermaritzburg where he lectured on literature at the university.
Since retiring as professor in 2010 he focussed on his poetry with Rumi: Liefdesverse en aanhalings in 2024 and Feesmaalgang in 2025 published by Naledi and now his new insightful poems and quatrains.
Apofatiese lens (Apophatic lens) is the new anthology of Dietloff van der Berg’s poetry spanning fourteen aspects of life. Each rubric contains a major poem then followed with quatrains centred around that theme.
It portrays the unique vision of the poet’s journey through life in a well-structured and creative volume of poems.
Paul Weinberg
Between the Cracks is an astounding book that covers the remarkable photographic journey across southern African cultural, social and environmental landscapes from the 1970s to the contemporary. Weinberg’s career began after having been conscripted into the apartheid regime’s army. His camera became a weapon, ‘taking sides’ against the very regime which he had been forced to serve.
But Between the Cracks covers far more than just the ‘witnessing’ of political protest. It includes his iconic anti-apartheid photography, his sociological work with the San, his transcultural observations, his interests in landscape and his celebrated documentary work for the Independent Electoral Commission in 1994.
Weinberg is a photographer, curator, filmmaker, writer, educationist and archivist.
Together with David Goldblatt, he founded the Ernest Cole Award for photography in South Africa. He has worked extensively in photographic archives and is presently the curator for the Photography Legacy Project.
