Mail & Guardian, The Market Theatre, SAfm present The Mail & Guardian Literary Festival 2013

Nadine Gordimer, Adam Habib, NoViolet Bulawayo, Ronnie Kasrils, Isabel Hofmeyr, Shaun de Waal, Craig MacKenzie, Imraan Coovadia and Niq Mhlongo are among the writers, thinkers, academics and activists who will be taking part in the fourth Mail & Guardian Literary Festival, at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg, from 30 August to 1 September.

The festival will pay tribute to, and draw inspiration from, the late Chinua Achebe, adopting as its theme and sub-title "Achebe's children: Africa's suspended revolutions". In the keynote address on Friday, 30 August, Habib, the new vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand, will talk about South Africa's suspended revolution.

The festival's theme also chimes with Habib's forthcoming book, "South Africa's Suspended Revolution: Hopes and Prospects", which will be published by Wits University Press and Ohio University Press in August. The book is billed as "shedding light on how individuals and institutions can, with imagination, act against the grain of a given historical moment and transform the options available to society".

The Mail & Guardian Literary Festival is presented by the Mail & Guardian in association with The Market Theatre and SAfm. The annual event is in its fourth year under the directorship of Darryl Accone, the M&G's books editor, and Corina van der Spoel.

A wide range of South African publishers and university presses are the festival's partners. They are: Jacana, Jonathan Ball, Kwela, Modjadji Books, NB Publishers and its imprint Zebra Press, Pan Macmillan and its imprint Picador Africa, Random House Struik and its imprint Umuzi, UKZN Press and Wits University Press.

Love Books, one of South Africa's best and most popular independent book shops, is the festival's book retail partner, and will be selling books at the festival.

Tickets cost R50 per session. Bookings open on 2 August at: http://events.mg.co.za.

The Friday section of the M&G will carry more on the festival in coming weeks, and a festival supplement will be published on 23 August.

Please click here to view more on the event.

To schedule interviews with any of the authors, please contact:

Mahlodi Makate [email protected] & Guardian Tel: (011) 250 7300

For more information on the festival, contact:

Tamarin [email protected] & GuardianTel: (011) 250 7300

For more about the Mail & Guardian, refer to www.mg.co.za.