Durban Book Fair

Draped in tradition, dipped in sweetness, and wrapped in pure elegance ✨

Step into the spotlight and compete for the Elegance Award 👑
Win R1000 cash + a R250 Arte Carts voucher — just by showcasing your saree style, confidence, and presence.

How to enter:
📲 WhatsApp your name to 083 778 1991
📍 Be at the festival by 12H00
🏆 Winner announced during the Saree in Literature session

Join us at the 2nd Annual Saree’s & Sweetmeats Festival — where culture meets celebration, flavours meet heritage, and every saree tells a story. ❤️💛

📍 Umhlanga
🗓 26 April 2026
⏰ 11:00 – 19:00

Come dressed. Come bold. Come win. ✨

You are invited...

Buzzart at the KZNSA Gallery is the gallery's annual, local-only Christmas and festive season art, craft, and design fair.

The fair's primary goal is to showcase and sell art, design, and handmade goods created by independent artists and makers from KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Southern Africa.

It features a vast range of products, including original artworks, unique homeware, textiles, fashion, jewelry, local books, stationery, cosmetics, and Christmas décor.

​During the event, the KZNSA shop takes over the entire gallery space—including the Main, Mezzanine, and Park Galleries—transforming it into a large retail exhibition.

Buzzart is a vital community event and a significant fundraiser, channeling a substantial amount of money directly back into the local creative economy.

VIsit the Durban International Book Fair stand at the 2025 iteration - running from December 5, 2025, to January 18, 2026.

Join us for the launch of...

The Last Pope Book 1: The Spiral Prophecy
Author: Shivani Bhugwandin

What happens when faith is engineered...and the divine becomes data?

Set in the shattered world of 2147 A.D., The Last Pope transports readers into a Vatican sealed off after the catastrophic Synaptic Purge, where miracles are monetised, faith is rationed, and divine power is traded as currency through “Indulgence Credits.”

Beyond its fortified borders, the Outer World pulses with resonance technologies that merge science and spirit, advancements the Vatican brands as heresy.

At the heart of this fractured future stand two brothers: Cassian, a forbidden scribe imprisoned for documenting uncomfortable truths, and Cassiel, a gifted Spiralkin whose glyph-wielding abilities align him with the underground rebels known as the Children of Illaria.

As prophecy awakens and rebellion ignites beneath marble floors, their destinies spiral toward a truth the Vatican can no longer contain.

When ancient glyphs stir and the long-lost Spiral Prophecy begins to unfold, a battle for humanity’s soul erupts—forcing every character to confront a single, timeless question: What remains of the sacred when institutions lose their way?

Blending futuristic mysticism, political tension, and profound spiritual inquiry, The Last Pope is both a gripping dystopian, sci-fi fantasy story and a mirror held up to our own evolving consciousness. Inspired by the symbolic richness of Dan Brown and the visionary depth of Margaret Atwood, this story challenges readers to rediscover the resonance within themselves

A Story Recognised. A Voice Transformed.
The world of The Last Pope was first born as a short story that went on to win nationally at the Curro Create annual creative writing competition, marking the beginning of an extraordinary new chapter for its author.

Celebrated writer, editor, and mentor Karin Schimke personally encouraged Shivani to expand the piece into a full series, guiding her over six intensive creative sessions. Under this mentorship, the story evolved into the powerful novella series launching today.

About the Author
Shivani Bhugwandin is a South African educator, storyteller, and spiritual seeker whose work explores the crossroads of faith, consciousness, and the human condition. Her writing speaks to those standing at the threshold of a new awareness - those ready to question, awaken, and remember.

Kiru Naidoo’s latest book, Durban Indians will be launched at the Books and Chai Festival on Sunday, 30 November at the Umhlanga Apart Hotel.

The following is the foreword written by Selvan Naidoo…

Picking up Durban Indians is like opening a packet of Simba chips. No sooner have you had one bite, you want to reach for another. That addiction lies in Kiru's irreverent writing style.

Like a good biryani, he has an uncanny knack of mixing wit, fact, fiction, mischief, history and an inquisitive ear with a wicked imagination to dish up something sumptuous. His stories are all grounded in his lived experience as the archetypal Durban Indian on the one hand and a contrived English sophistication on the other. His prose is attractive in its simplicity and its brevity.

The culture of reading has waned the world over. The first thing we pick up in the morning is our cellphone. Too few pick up a book and among those who do, there is often little time to read a full length offering. Kiru's stories are shorter than the conventional short story genre pioneered by his inspirations Saki, Tagore, Wodehouse, Naipaul, Gordimer, Bessie Head, Anita Desai, Mariama Bâ and Ronnie Govender.

A thousand words by Kiru can be read on the toilet seat in the morning. A book left without a bookmark can be picked up at any point and one doesn't miss a thing unlike if one were reading a novel.

In this instance he has spurned the temptation of the frightful weight and bulk of his bestselling memoir, Made in Chatsworth, for a slim, uncluttered, easy reading volume. You will be left wanting more like that packet of salt and vinegar.

Selvan Naidoo, Great-great-grandson of Camatchee descended from the SS Truro in 1860.

Each year, Dr Nanda Soobben illustrates and publishes a unique calendar that has become a true collector’s item.

Reflecting on his work, Dr Soobben says, “I have been highlighting great women in this country because of the stupidity of men. Every time I draw a cartoon, it’s usually about some foolish man! At last, there is a man who is brave and honest - someone standing up against corruption. I am paying tribute to Mkhwanazi and his courageous stand. It’s because of him that we now have a commission exposing powerful politicians in this country. The calendar is called "The Brave, The Truth and The Corrupt."”

The 2026 edition will be officially launched at the Books and Chai Festival on Sunday, 30 November at the Umhlanga Apart Hotel.

Don’t miss the chance to get your personally signed copy!