A new bylaw nearly hit 'Delete' on an annual Wordfest tradition on Monday 1 July – but it went ahead thanks to a last-minute compromise.
A new bylaw nearly hit 'Delete' on an annual Wordfest tradition on Monday 1 July – but it went ahead thanks to a last-minute compromise.
And so a colourful group, singing and carrying placards, made up the opening street parade for Wordfest, a five-day literary feast of book launches, talks, debates and live poetry performances.
Wordfest convenor Chris Mann, Poetry professor at Rhodes University, said many of the march participants had travelled by bus from parts of the Eastern Cape and the Free State.
The march, he explained, ended with the writers placing poems and short stores into a basket placed at the arch, in a modern revival of an old tradition in which travellers would place a rock on top of a cairn, or isivane.
The basket would be presented to Xoliswa Tom, MEC of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture for the Eastern Cape.
After editing, the contributions would be compiled into a book, to be called Isivane.
Turnout for the street parade had been good, Mann said, but there had been uncertainty about whether it would go ahead.
New municipal bylaws stipulated that for a street parade or similar event, organisers had to apply three months in advance.
Fortunately the organisers reached a compromise with the traffic department.
They allowed the procession to continue, as long as the marchers kept to the pavement.
