US Woordfees

The first US Woordfees, staged under the name Nag van Passie ("Night of Passion") and presented as the MTN/Insig Afrikaanse Woordfees, was an all-night literary festival held in Stellenbosch from 19:00 on 17 March 2000 until 07:00 the following morning. A joint project of the Departement Afrikaans en Nederlands and the Stellenbosch University Drama Department at the University of Stellenbosch, it became the founding event of the annual US Woordfees.

Founding and aims

The idea originated with Greetje van den Bergh, secretary of the Nederlandse Taalunie, who proposed a festival bringing Afrikaans and Dutch poets together, in Utrecht in 1994. Dorothea van Zyl of the Departement Afrikaans en Nederlands took it up, and the festival was modelled on Dutch precedents, chiefly the annual "Nacht van de poëzie" in Utrecht and Poetry International in Rotterdam (Adendorff 2003: n. 5). Trial events in 1999 confirmed that there was interest, and a festival committee worked from June 1999. Rector Andreas van Wyk and the dean of Arts, Izak van der Merwe, had shortly before urged the department towards greater public visibility.

In her opening address Van Zyl set out the aims: literature figured too little among the arts on offer in the Western Cape, although more writers lived there than anywhere else in the country; readers wanted to see the writer behind the book; and Stellenbosch offered the space for an inclusive festival celebrating the Afrikaans word in as many forms as possible while also embracing Xhosa, English, Sotho and Dutch.

The name came from a former student of the department. It was originally Nag van passie en poësie, but was shortened after Abraham H. de Vries asked what students would make of the diaeresis. The poster, festival-bundle cover and T-shirt were designed by Piet Grobler.

Besides Van Zyl, the organisers were Ronel Foster of the Departement Afrikaans en Nederlands and Marie Kruger, Johan Esterhuizen and Kobus Rossouw* of the Drama Department, assisted by Naomi Bruwer, Retha Schoeman and Lizette Grobler* and by drama students.

The festival

Sixty writers and poets read through the night in six hour-long sessions, each with its own chair. Twenty-one were from what were then termed previously disadvantaged communities, and twenty were women. The venues were the H.B. Thom Theatre, Die Keller (short dramas), Repetisielokaal 1, the Bewegingslokaal, the Ou Hoofgebou, and a free outdoor stage. Street theatre, food stalls and a wine garden filled the surrounds, and Victoriastraat was closed between Van Ryneveldstraat and Andringastraat. Readings were interspersed with music, drama excerpts and other entertainment after every third reader. Tickets cost R30*, and were sold through Computicket.

The evening opened just after 19:00, with Van Zyl chairing and reading an extract from a poem Tyrone Appollis had written for the occasion — beginning what became a Woordfees tradition of opening with a poem. Andreas van Wyk and Louise Viljoen, chair of the department, spoke. The first readers were Lina Spies, the Dutch poet Gerrit Komrij and N.S. Zulu of the Department of African Languages, after which a young imbongi* sang the praises of learning in Xhosa.

The programme ran in three sections. Sprokkelster, from 19:00 to 24:00*, took its name from the collection by Marlene van Niekerk, newly appointed to the department; the audience then moved outdoors for a set by Soli Philander. Latenstyd, from 01:00 to 05:00* and named after the collection by Hennie Aucamp, opened with a Bekgeveg (comic poetry contest) between Louis Esterhuizen, Marlise Joubert, Ronnie Belcher and Henning Pieterse, and continued with Etienne van Heerden (02:15), Joan Hambidge (03:20) and racier drama excerpts. Sonklong, from 05:00, began with the poems of Karel Boplaas and closed with J.C. Kannemeyer on D.J. Opperman's Sonklong, from which the section took its name; Opperman had long been a professor in the department.*

The free outdoor programme ran until 01:00 in the H.B. Thom car park, with Soli Philander, Tyrone Appollis, Loit Sôls, Ronnie Belcher, Gert Vlok Nel, Willem Fransman, Devin Persens, Con O'Shea, Mareth van Schalkwyk and drama students. Brasse vannie Kaap performed in the early morning.* The drama students held their own all-night gathering around a piano carried out onto the back steps of the theatre, instigated by Niël Rademan.

Those taking part included André P. Brink, Abraham H. de Vries, Lina Spies, E.K.M. Dido, Wilma Stockenström, Petra Müller, Elias Nel, Ingrid de Kok*, Henning Pieterse, Ronnie Belcher, Philip de Vos, Marlene van Niekerk, Daniel Hugo, Marlise Joubert, Louis Esterhuizen, Johann de Lange, Etienne van Heerden, Joan Hambidge, Marzanne le Roux-van der Boon and Henk van Woerden. Chairs included Waldimar Pelser, Iris Bester, Eben Cruywagen and Anastasia de Vries.

Advance publicity also announced Michiel Heyns, head of the Department of English, launching his first novel; readings by Ronel de Goede and Mhlobo Jadezweni; the plays Drafstap of drentel, with Joanie Combrink, Susanne Beyers and Johann Nel, and Elke Boemelaar se Droom, with Francois Toerien and Nicole Holm; performances by the Dutch singer Stef Bos, a Kayamandi choir and a group from the US Konservatorium; and student performers Susan Samuel, Thomas Charmel* and Marcelle Olivier. Plays due to appear at that year's Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees were programmed to complement the readings. Whether all of these items were presented has not been confirmed.* Advance ticket prices were reported as R23,50 to R45 for the first two sessions, with entry to the third included (Rossouw 2000).

Reception

About 300 people were expected — the main theatre seats 420 including the gallery — but roughly 1 000 attended. The number who stayed the whole night fell to about 37 between 03:00 and 04:00. The festival returned a surplus of more than R20 000. At 07:00 on the Saturday morning Louise Viljoen presented Van Zyl with flowers as the Woordfees's first director. Van Zyl held the post for fifteen festivals until her retirement in 2014, and judged that the festival only found its feet in its fourth year. The Woordfees became an annual event and grew into one of the largest arts festivals in South Africa.