12th August, 2011

I’ve managed to collate together a few reports from Richard’s appearance at the recent Hay Festival. Richard was there to interview Peter Godwin on his book “The Fear”, which is about the last days of Robert Mugabe. The first report is a snippet from Sky Art’s “The Book Show”, which also features a short video.

The Book Show Catches Up With Peter Godwin And Richard E. Grant

The Book Show, Sky Arts – Wednesday, 8th June 2011

Peter Godwin is the author of The Fear The Last Days of Mugabe which is about the Zimbabwean dictator’s reign of terror. Richard E Grant who grew up in Swaziland interview Peter about his position on African politics and the situation in Zimbabwe at the Hay Festival.

After a lively debate about Mugabe, Africa and identity in general, Sky Arts managed to ask both men which book they recommended to under 21 years and why – They both came up with some illuminating choices.

Click here for a video of their response.

Who I Saw @ Hay Festival 2011

ALifeWellBlogged.com – Thursday, 9th June, 2011

Photo by MJR

MJR over at A Life Well Blogged writes:

“Richard E Grant is from Swaziland, Peter Godwin from Zimbabwe and both of them were quite candid about being ‘White Africans’ and what that means. The whole interview was fantastic and very honest. Peter spoke about this last book in the trilogy about his life in Zimbabwe and the effect that Robert Mugabe has had on the Country and its’ people. I’ll be buying all three of the books!”

You can read MJR’s full report of the Hay Festival here.

Photo by MJR

Out Of Africa

Friday, 10th June, 2011

George Binning reports on the Hay Festival talk:

“Richard E Grant’s conversation with Peter Godwin about Robert Mugabe’s regime and Godwin’s latest book, The Fear, gave us a nuanced insight into African politics that could not have been written by the Western press.

Godwin, who fought against Mugabe in the civil war, started by describing the dichotomy of being a white African, especially when lecturing to audiences of predominantly black American students who had never been to Africa themselves, but still identified with the continent.

He argued that Mugabe had followed a consistently retributive agenda, hidden behind the fervour of national liberation and accusations of apartheid apologies. He also argued that Zimbabwe was in a state of “post-racial politics”, that the land grabs of recent years were aimed at persecuting the large population of unionised black farm workers and owners, who had refused to vote for him in the election. He mentioned that the white land owning population had accepted that land reform was long overdue, and had wanted a fair and orderly overhaul of the system.

Richard E Grant was born in Swaziland (“which people still have no idea of where it is!”), and had much to contribute to the conversation himself. They discussed the Chinese takeover of Africa, taking pains to point out that much of the investment was from private businessmen, not the Chinese government, and that it was not cause for alarm.

Then Godwin told a hilarious story of a friend who had bumped into Mugabe in front of the lipstick counter in a supermarket, during the UN Plenary Sessions, and had taken the opportunity to harangue the dictator, keeping a cautious 3 foot distance so as not to be clobbered by security.

During question time, a black Zimbabwean lady who had fled the country, stood up to call for racial unity against Mugabe, receiving a round of applause from the predominantly white audience.

I came away from Godwin’s talk with my understanding of British aid, the truth of power-sharing agreements, and the camaraderie of post-liberation governments in Africa utterly transformed. I am confident that the The Fear will make a very enlightening read.”

To read the full report on the Hay Festival, click here to go to George Binning’s blog.

Peter Godwin And Richard E. Grant At The Hay Festival 2011

bookslive.co.za – 10th August, 2011

And finally, Sophy over at BooksLive.co.za writes:

“At this year’s Hay Festival, Richard E Grant of Withnail and I fame spoke to Peter Godwin about his latest book, The Fear. The talk was preceded by an interview with the Swaziland-born Grant in The Telegraph, in which Grant revealed that he felt a connectedness with Godwin after reading The Fear.

After the talk, Sky Arts’ The Book Show asked the duo what book they would recommend for under-21s. While Godwin suggested his first book, Mukiwa, Grant opted for the more whimsical, Alice in Wonderland, which he described as “the best clue and code in an understanding of how the English mind and imagination works.”

That’s about all of the reporsts I can find at the moment. If I come across any more then I’ll post them here.