Soul of a Nation

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  18h00
Tickets:  R450 pp

The BIG Conversation. In this highly topical conversation for our time, business leader and political commentator Oyama Mabandla talks to well known journalist and news editor Ferial Haffajee in search of our values and our future. They excavate the potential and possibilities to set South Africa on its best trajectory yet. Light supper and wine from the île de païn kitchen included.

Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom

Why we live better than our ancestors

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  08h30 – 09h30
Tickets:  R150 pp

Why does one group flourish, but another continues to struggle? Do we have better lives than our ancestors? Fourie asks and answers the questions, showing in his unique and engaging style why the builders of societies – rather than the burglars – ultimately win. Prof. Johan Fourie, internationally renowned expert on African Economic History, in conversation with Prof. Mervyn King.

The Super Cadres

Key questions, critical observations and a damning conclusion

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  10h00 – 11h00
Tickets:  R150 pp

The ANC has ruled South Africa for three decades during which time the country has gone from the promise of the Rainbow Nation to disfunction and despair. In The Super Cadres, bestselling author Pieter du Toit examines this legacy from the early halcyon days through to the current Ramaphosa presidency.  Seasoned journalists and political observers Pieter du Toit and Ferial Haffajee, take a hard look at where we are and how we got here.

Capitec. Stalking Giants

An inspirational, authentically South African story with a good ending

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time: 11h30 – 12h30
Tickets:  R150 pp

The gripping tale of a small team of entrepreneurs that in the early 2000’s turned a small microlending network into a challenger bank. Professor of Economics Johan Fourie, talks to top-selling business author TJ Strydom about this inspirational, authentically South African story.

Life Lessons

It is possible to find success by stumbling from one disaster to another

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time: 13h00 – 14h00
Tickets:  R150 pp

Known as the ‘Weapon of Mass Financial Destruction’, Alan Knott- Craig shares his wins, losses and lessons and how he was able to rebuild his own confidence and that of his peers. Alan tells his story with classic dry humour, sprinkled with brilliant nuggets and juicy behind-the-scenes insights. He provides a rare glimpse into the realities of entrepreneurship and valuable insights for anyone building a business.

The Corporate Revolutionary

“You cannot separate the economy from the planet, or from the people”

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  14h30 – 15h30
Tickets:  R150 pp

An extraordinary visionary, Mervyn King, known as the guru of corporate governance and sustainability, has transformed the global business landscape with his belief that accountants can save the planet. He shares the story of his fascinating life in Law, Business and Governance. 

The First-Generation Founder

How to build a start-up mindset, and thrive

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  16h00 – 17h00
Tickets:  R150 pp

Raymond shares how he successfully migrated from a career in banking to a life of entrepreneurship taking the helm at a struggling business and navigating the challenges. Plunged into the unknown, he tells how he has navigated his own knowledge gaps, the scarce skills problem in South Africa, government red tape, the venture capital environment and building market share for his businesses.

Ollie Swart

The IDP kitchen teams up with Ollie Swart

Venue:  île de païn, Thesen Island
Time:  18h00 – 21h00
Tickets:  R850 pp

‘This is more than just a cookbook; it is a celebration of culinary creativity and a testament to Ollie’s exceptional talent and zest for life.’
– Ivor Jones, head chef at Chefs Warehouse BC

Ollie cooks with feeling and taste. His recipes are quick and easy, and designed to inspire not intimidate. Ollie shares his journey and his tips on how to create dishes that scream with flavour. Food and wine included.

Women who do crime

An insight into killers, cops, casualties and survival

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  09h00 – 10h00
Tickets:  R150 pp

Jo Macgregor, author and psychologist, looks behind the scenes at writing crime in SA with award-winning podcaster Nicole Engelbrecht, whose unprecedented new book featuring interviews with serial killers provides chilling perspective, and Juliette Mnqueta, Knysna author and crime fiction addict.

Killer Stories
‘If you made me angry, to me, for that anger to go away I have to get hold of you . . . For that anger to go away, I have to do something to you.’
These are the words of one of South Africa’s most terrifying serial killers, who spoke to psychologist Brin Hodgskiss in the bowels of the country’s most secure prisons. Hodgskiss interviewed several of the most notorious serial killers and his recordings sat gathering dust until recently, when top true-crime podcaster Nicole Engelbrecht found his research online. The two connected and now they bring their love of story-telling to this highly readable book. In Killer Stories, Hodgskiss combines his interviews with the tenets of narrative psychology to take the reader into the minds of the killers and shares how his own journey as a psychologist and human being contributed to his deeper understanding of them. The book intertwines the killers’ versions of the truth and the true-crime stories behind them, re-telling their killing sprees in gripping detail. Journey with the authors as they lay out how the stories these men told themselves about their lives contributed to where they ended up – and how those stories aren’t that different from those we all tell ourselves.

If the dead could talk
Azania Sethosa receives a call from former politician Joseph ‘Lefty’ Mafu’s lawyer to notify her of Lefty’s death. Why on earth would a father she never knew make her the sole heir to his estate? She decides to go to Knysna to seek answers about his life and the circumstances surrounding his death. But soon her quest for closure becomes intertwined with detective Florian Welter’s investigation. Detective Welter was recently transferred to Knysna after his dyslexia had led to a mistrial in an important case. He is called to investigate
Mafu’s apparent suicide, but there are various inconsistencies at the crime scene. Burdened by his past mistakes, detective Welter is determined to redeem himself. Welter and Azania gradually uncover a deep political web of conspiracies dating back to the nineties. The duo must follow the threads and hope the clues lead them to whoever is pulling the strings. . . If the dead could talk, they would tell you what had really happened in 1995.

The first time I died
When Garnet McGee returns to her small Vermont hometown for the holidays, she vows to solve the mystery of the murder which shattered her life ten years ago. But then the unexpected happens — she dies in an accident and gets brought back to life by paramedics. Now she’s hearing words, seeing visions and experiencing strange sensations. Are these merely symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and an over-active imagination, or is she getting messages from a paranormal presence? Garnet has always prided herself on being logical and rational, but trying to catch a killer without embracing her shadow self is getting increasingly difficult. And dangerous, because in a town full of secrets, it seems like everybody has a motive for murder. Fast-paced and riveting, The First Time I Died is a suspenseful and haunting crime story with an supernatural twist.

Hell Run Tobruk. A Jack Pembroke novel

Meet the creator of this popular series

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  10h30 – 11h30
Tickets:  R150 pp

Justin Fox shares about his life as a successful writer, editor and journalist across many genres and gives us insight into the story behind his bestselling WWII military adventure books starring popular hero Jack Pembroke.

The Tannie Maria murder mystery series

Everyone’s favourite amateur detective and agony aunt

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  12h00 – 13h00
Tickets:  R150 pp

Set in the Klein Karoo where Tannie Maria solves crimes while sharing heart-warming wisdom and recipes. Sally Andrew is the author of the bestselling Tannie Maria mysteries, books that have been translated into fourteen languages across five continents and a TV series. Meet the author and enjoy a delicious treat – to die live for from Tannie Maria’s cookbook.

Recipes for love and murder
Meet Tannie Maria: She’s fifty-something, short and soft (perhaps a bit too soft in the wrong places) with brown curls and untidy Afrikaans. She is also the agony aunt for the local paper, the Klein Karoo Gazette. One day, her life takes a sinister turn when a woman in the area is murdered and she becomes entangled in the investigation… to the intense irritation of a handsome local policeman. But what else will this amateur detective uncover in a small town marinated in secrets? Warm, poignant and entertaining, Sally Andrew’s delightful heroine blends together intrigue, romance and cooking in this irresistible new mystery, complete with a few mouth-watering recipes.

Tannie Maria & the Satanic Mechanic
Everybody’s favourite agony aunt and crime fighter Tannie Maria needs some counselling advice of her own. Lingering troubles from a previous marriage still sit heavy on her, while fresh worries about Slimkat, a local man whose fight for his people’s land threatens his life, keep her up at night. Tannie Maria seeks out counsellor, jokily known to all as “the satanic mechanic”. Straight out of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and from hot-as-hell Hotazel, Ricus fixes both cars and people. But Maria’s counselling tune-up switches gears when a murder flings her straight into Detective Henk Kannemeyer’s investigation. Not only is she dating the dashing Henk, she now has to work beside him: a potential recipe for disaster.

The Milk Tart Murders
Who knew a Marilyn Monroe movie could kill you? When Oom Frik of Oom Frik’s Fantastiques dies during a vintage movie screening in Ladismith, Tannie Maria and her policeman boyfriend Henk are on the scene. Ja, the old thrift-shop owner had a heart condition, but was there more to his demise? It’s rumoured that among Frik’s junk are valuable treasures, and the grumpy, paranoid old guy frequently altered his will. When a second body turns up, there’s a clue: a letter addressed to Tannie Maria asking for advice – and a milk tart recipe. Fifty-plus agony aunt Maria and feisty young journalist Jessie conduct their own treasure hunt and murder investigation. The police are looking for the perpetrator too, but the amateur detectives have unique skills, and Tannie Maria’s food is a powerful incentive to get people to talk. Maria and Jessie step into deep danger, but all is not doom and gloom. Spring has arrived in the Karoo, and Henk and Maria discuss moving in together, even though his home is full of his late wife’s stuff. Maria knows food has a way of filling the dark spaces, for better or for worse. Perhaps, once the Klein Karoo crime-buster’s work is done, she might follow her own advice and try a healing recipe.

Twice the Glory

The Making of the Greatest Bok Team in History

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  14h00 – 15h00
Tickets:  R150 pp

In 2017 the Boks looked punch-drunk as they were being overpowered by Ireland. The following year, the coaching duo. Jacques Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus. took up the reins little more than 18 months before the 2019 RWC in Japan. And so began a journey that was to end in victory in the Stade de France six years later. A deep inside look at the Bok story of this era. Filled with drama, cheers and tears, it will have you on the edge of your seat as you relive each nail-biting moment. It’s all here: the Covid disruption, Siya Kolisi’s rise, Rassie in hot water, injuries, the new talent…

I will not be silenced

“Brave and brilliant”

Venue:  Thesen Harbour Town (TH18)
Time:  15h30 – 16h30
Tickets:  R150 pp

Karyn Maughan is an award-winning journalist, documentary producer and best-selling author. She is the only journalist who has been covering the Jacob Zuma corruption case from the start and still reporting on him and now finds herself his target. Honest and deeply personal, it takes a razor sharp look at how powerful men attack individuals, the media and the courts, undermining democracy.

Matriarchs, Meze and the Evil Eye

A poignant tale told with a Greek feast

Venue:  île de païn, Thesen Island
Time:  18h00 – 21h00
Tickets:  R850 pp

This charming and humorous coming-of-age memoir is an intricately woven portrait of the Greek immigrant experience, sharing the tale of a family trying to navigate South Africa in the 1960’s and 70’s. Young Costa finds himself in the middle of a tempestuous matriarchal triangle. Older Costas, former lawyer, UN diplomat and restaurateur, tells us his story over a Greek Feast from the kitchen of île de païn.