Frankie Murrey on the Open Book Festival, Fragmentary Writing, and Why We Need to Talk About Home
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Frankie Murrey, coordinator of Cape Town's Open Book Festival
This episode is for readers, book club members, and curious minds who want to understand what to expect at the Cape Town Open Book Festival, and which authors are worth seeking out. Frankie Murrey, festival coordinator and writer, makes the case for ‘showing up, being in the room, adding your voice, and understanding something differently’.
Host Christi Sa opens by discussing Frankie’s own unusual book: A Collection of Gaps, a box of short stories, fragments, artefacts, and stickers that explores what home means in a world of growing displacement and inequality. Frankie explains why she chose a fragmentary form over a linear narrative, why the box itself is a metaphor for the instability of home, and how she wants readers to place something of themselves into the gaps.
The conversation moves to the Open Book Festival's transformation from a literary festival into what Frankie now calls 'Open Book - Conversations That Matter.' She talks openly about early audiences that were older and whiter than the city it served, and how the team repositioned the festival around urgent subjects, such as GBV, Afrophobia, Pan-African identity, mental health, and parenting. These topics are explored through the lens of books rather than about books.
Frankie highlights five authors appearing at the 2026 festival:
Selali Fiamanya, Before We Hit the Ground, (Scotland);
I.O. Echeruo, The Comfort of Distant Stars, (Ghana and Nigeria);
Faraaz Mahomed, Motherland, (South Africa and America);
Sue Nyathi, The Polygamist, (Zimbabwe and South Africa) and
Thando Fuze, Fluent in the Language of Burial, (Durban, South Africa).
Each writer is framed as essential reading for specific reasons.
The episode closes with two bold statements from the host, asking Frankie to bring back the nuance or tell her she’s got it all wrong: literature is a deviation from the basic story, and read in solitude but respond with a multitude.
Her answers are honest, warm, and worth sitting with.
This episode is for readers, book club members, and curious minds who want to understand what to expect at the Cape Town Open Book Festival, and which authors are worth seeking out. Frankie Murrey, festival coordinator and writer, makes the case for ‘showing up, being in the room, adding your voice, and understanding something differently’.
Host Christi Sa opens by discussing Frankie’s own unusual book: A Collection of Gaps, a box of short stories, fragments, artefacts, and stickers that explores what home means in a world of growing displacement and inequality. Frankie explains why she chose a fragmentary form over a linear narrative, why the box itself is a metaphor for the instability of home, and how she wants readers to place something of themselves into the gaps.
The conversation moves to the Open Book Festival's transformation from a literary festival into what Frankie now calls 'Open Book - Conversations That Matter.' She talks openly about early audiences that were older and whiter than the city it served, and how the team repositioned the festival around urgent subjects, such as GBV, Afrophobia, Pan-African identity, mental health, and parenting. These topics are explored through the lens of books rather than about books.
Frankie highlights five authors appearing at the 2026 festival:
Selali Fiamanya, Before We Hit the Ground, (Scotland);
I.O. Echeruo, The Comfort of Distant Stars, (Ghana and Nigeria);
Faraaz Mahomed, Motherland, (South Africa and America);
Sue Nyathi, The Polygamist, (Zimbabwe and South Africa) and
Thando Fuze, Fluent in the Language of Burial, (Durban, South Africa).
Each writer is framed as essential reading for specific reasons.
The episode closes with two bold statements from the host, asking Frankie to bring back the nuance or tell her she’s got it all wrong: literature is a deviation from the basic story, and read in solitude but respond with a multitude.
Her answers are honest, warm, and worth sitting with.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction and A Collection of Gaps
- 02:39 Why Fragments and Why a Box
- 07:23 Circling the Knot: Home as an Unanswered Question
- 11:05 Fragment vs Narrative: The Reader's Experience
- 15:56 Home, Inequality and Afrophobia in South Africa
- 21:46 Returning to Open Book: The Dream Job
- 25:35 What Visitors Take Away from a Literary Festival
- 29:17 From Literary Festival to Conversations That Matter
- 33:22 Books, Power and the Risk of Gathering
- 36:07 Festival Themes: Pan-African Identity, Mental Health, Parenting
- 38:05 Writers' Sports and the Closing Event
- 39:17 Reaching Younger Audiences
- 41:37 Five Authors to See at Open Book 2025
- 44:22 Two Bold Statements: Nuance Restored
