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JoziWalks2018 Joburg CBD - The Underground Booksellers of Joburg

Sun May 20, 10:00 - Sun May 20, 12:30

Bridge Books

ABOUT

Join Griffin Shea of Bridge Books City Central for a guided walk through the inner-city’s literary history, tracing Joburg’s informal book trade. 

The walk starts with coffee at Bridge Books, an independent bookshop in one of the inner-city's finest heritage buildings, before meandering through Joburg's historic financial district. 

Stops include: Meischke’s Building, which housed Joburg’s first bookshop Thorolds and is now home to De Strong Tower, a supplier of Nigerian chapbooks (often described as the Nollywood of publishing), the Johannesburg City Library, Urban Ocean’s Pop-Up Arcade, a bookstore dedicated to Africa’s political memoirs and a market offering Southern African literature. The walk also stops at Ernest Oppenheimer Park where storyteller and author Baeletsi Tsatsi of Naane le Moya will treat walkers to an African mythology storytelling session. 

In particular this JoziWalk dispels the myth that Joburg lacks a culture of reading by introducing walkers to the inner-city’s many independent bookstores and smaller second-hand bookdealers. A treat for bookworms!