Franschhoek Literary Festival 2024
Franschhoek Literary Festival 2024 – oh wow! – where to even begin?!
Perhaps with the fact that my book’s event was not only sold out days before, but oversubscribed with attendees standing at the back and pulling in extra chairs from outside to squeeze in! And what an audience! So grateful for everyone who gave their time, attention and money to come hear about my book and ask so many engaging questions; on favourite authors, literary influences, the African startup landscape and even the future of South Africa!
More good news followed – I was the most sold author from my publishers that weekend – I guess all my power networking by the popup bookstores seemed to work, haha!
The town itself is of course famously gorgeous, and with autumn in full swing the colours were spectacular. It wouldn’t be Franschhoek without some excellent wine, gorgeous guesthouses and every meal being an event. I want to extend my sincere thanks to the Literary Festival for inviting and hosting me, to my publishers for making it all happen and ferrying me from events to my book signings, to my greatest friend Thalia for coming to support me at the event and of course Mel, who always goes above and beyond for me and has believed in this story since day 1.
It really was one of the most magnificent weekends – meeting readers, literature (and wine) connoisseurs, incredibly talented authors from across the world, meeting Thuli Madonsela, meeting rockstar journalists, policymakers, academics, agents, publishers, and all manner of humans that celebrate stories, literature, art and the incredible power of storytelling and how it moves the world.
It was especially cool to have none other than the editor of Fast Company magazine Wesley Diphoko, interviewing me for our main event, and I must thank him for the magnificent review Fast Company published on Upstart. I was on the cover of Fast Company last year and I’ve always been a huge fan of the publication.
I remember when we first launched our digsconnect app in 2019, and then watching it climb the app store ranking charts slowly until it hit number 1. This feels so similar – watching my book climb the charts. I’ve assembled a small team and in September we’ll be doing another round of events linked at bolstering the support for founders in South Africa. More news on this to follow very shortly!
It never fails to amaze me – the ripple effects of our words and actions. One deed, one comment, one step outside your front door and you’ve inextricably wound yourself into the fabric of the great human story.
A conversation that happened by chance that weekend has led me across the ocean and a couple time zones to something much, much, much bigger than I’ve ever done before. It’s been a hell of a thing to set up, and as always I’m incredibly indebted to all the people who have been so generous with their time and advice in helping me get this new project off the ground.
We have a new rocketship getting ready for launch ;)
Finally – and perhaps most importantly - I wish I could personally name and thank every single person that patiently stood in the queues and waited for me to sign their books. I take ages to sign books at every event because it’s not impersonal for me. Every single human being that has ever stood in a queue at any of my events to chat to me – I wish I could spend the day with you! I love hearing your own stories, what you’re fighting for, what you’re dreaming of, what you’re struggling with and what you love. I love hearing about what Upstart means to you, what moves you, what you believe in, and knowing that I’ve had any sort of positive impact on your life is every reason why I keep doing what I’m doing.
This extends to every person who has ever DMd, messaged or emailed me with their thoughts on my book, and to all the budding entrepreneurs who’ve messaged me with their ideas, hope, stories, plans and dreams for the future. The stories of what you’re building. For every single NYDA beneficiary I’ve worked with. I know I can be slow with replying most of the time to these messages, but I’ve read every single one of them, multiple times. I screenshot them and keep them in a folder called “My Why” and when I feel uncertain of my next steps, I read through these messages. It’s why I’ll never give up.
And so this is why I write such long notes in the front of every book I sign for a reader because I never want to take it for granted. It feels like every day I get reminded with a million reasons why to love humanity, our extraordinary spark of consciousness and potential as a species. We’ve hardly even scraped the surface of what we’re capable of. The world feels young and fresh as we gaze out into a cosmos just waiting for us explore.