Brian Wafawarowa

In the space of a year, Cape Town has come to host Africa’s largest book fair south of the Sahara. Following the demise of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, which for the last quarter century was the place to be for anyone interested in African books, many had hoped that the Cape Town event would fill that cultural void.

The launch of the Cape Town Book Fair is a major development for the book sector in South Africa and the entire continent. However, for its full potential to be realised, transformation across the whole book chain is urgently needed. This requires a major mind shift.