Karin Kortje and SA kung fu champ visit Spine High for book fest roadshow
South African singer Karin Kortje presented her debut book Die Hele Story – ‘n Memoir deur Karin Kortje at the Cape Flats Book Festival, which is organised by the literacy organisation Read to Rise, on Sunday February 2.
Ms Kortje joined the Read to Rise team for the Mitchell’s Plain leg of the book festival roadshow on Wednesday January 29.
Her memoir captures her life experiences and lessons from her upbringing in Grabouw to her over 20-year journey in the music industry.
“This [book] is meant to be and has been in the making for a long time. Now was the right time for me to put this book together. It wasn’t always easy coming from a small town like Grabouw. The opportunities for us as youngsters coming from small communities are not great.
“I had a passion, but I lost my passion as I grew older. My interests changed and I got into the wrong crowds. I also lost my mother and father at a very young age. So, I dealt with a lot of things over the years,” Ms Kortje told Grade 8 pupils at Spine Road High in Rocklands.
She also gave pupils some insight into her new book. “This is a story about a farm girl from Grabouw that had a dream to sing. She didn’t let anything stand in her way, no matter how difficult and dark it seemed. She didn’t allow her circumstances to deter her,” she said.
South African kung fu and tai chi champion and author MJ Li also visited Spine Road High on Wednesday to promote his book Kungfu, The Untold Story – Part 2.
Born in District Six, the author moved to Rocklands with his family during the Apartheid forced removals and grew up a stone’s throw away from Spine Road High.
The former Sea View Primary pupil pursued a career in kung fu, which eventually took him to China where he now lives permanently.
The Read to Rise team and South African explorer and author Riaan Manser visited Meadowridge Primary in Lentegeur last Wednesday. Mr Manser encouraged pupils never to stop believing in their dreams. He read one of his children’s books My First Frozen Adventure at the festival on Sunday.
Earlier last week, authors Hani du Toit, Clive Smith and Siphokazi Jonas shared insights from their books with pupils of Rondebosch East Primary School and Alexander Sinton High School when they visited the schools on day two of the roadshow.
On Sunday, Mr Smith hosted a workshop about finding your voice as a writer at the book festival. Ms Du Toit presenting her book Return of the Songbirds, while Ms Jonas read from her poetry collection, Weeping becomes a River.
