Showmax supports Africa’s female storytellers with Bookies Under The Stars event

The first Africa Book and Design Festival (ABDF) has announced that Showmax will be its headline sponsor partner for its Bookies Under The Stars event. The event will be hosted at Summer Place in Sandton on Saturday, 13 November.

Update: Want to know more? Watch the behind-the-scenes special The Wife: Behind the Veil. Plus, binge all of Season 1 and 2 of The Wife on Showmax.

Author Dudu Busani-Dube will lead a panel of female storytellers in discussing life the loves and life of modern African women, as told through the narratives of their work. This is including the Hlomu series of novels, which has inspired the first Showmax Original telenovela The Wife.

The books follow the lives of the eight Zulu brothers, a formidable crime family, through the eyes of the wives that they marry. The aim of Bookies Under The Stars is to give voice to female storytellers and create a platform where fans can meet and connect with authors that are shaping the narrative for the lifestyle of a 21st-century African woman.

“We’re delighted for Showmax to be part of an initiative that is entrenched in the empowerment of the creative sector not just in South Africa but Africa at large. This partnership also gives ABDF the opportunity to create space for current and future African storytellers to be inspired and see how literature can live from the pages of books to our screens,” says Nonhlanhla Matshazi, director of ABDF.

Watch the trailer for The Wife

“Showmax is an online streaming platform that serves the most poignant and powerful African stories to the viewers across the continent and beyond. Part of the magic of Hlomu the Wife and the books that follow is how relatable the characters are that Dudu Busani-Dube has conjured; they are a rich inspiration for The Wife series, which will be streaming on www.showmax.com from 11 November,” says Candice Fangueiro, head of content for Showmax.

Supported by the Department of Sports, Arts & Culture: Literacy department, ABDF is scheduled for 11-13 November 2021 in South Africa as a virtual and interactive showcase streamed from The Future Africa Campus at the University of Pretoria.