Basking in the ParkWords afterglow

Fourteen years ago Wife and I moved back to South Africa after several years overseas.

By a great stroke of good fortune, Wife and I bought a house in Parkview, Johannesburg. It's a leafy, beautiful neighbourhood that today is much sought-after but which, back in the day, even journalists could afford.

Parkview has a government primary school so good that almost every year The Times carries a picture of shivering dads queuing, in the dead of winter, to enrol their kids. But what makes the area really special is that it has a residents' association that works very hard for the community.

A while ago somebody in the area noticed the blindingly obvious fact that, for some or other reason, this little sliver of Joburg was home to a remarkable concentration of published authors, not to mention all the famous journalists a swung cat would bump into.

In next to no time a committee had started organising the inaugural ParkWords Literary Festival and, for my sins, I found myself press-ganged into its number. Planning to keep things local and intimate, we invited only published authors and academics living in Parkview and surrounding suburbs. (Plus Jonny Steinberg, because Kate Rogan, who runs the fabulous Love Books in neighbouring Melville, put me on the spot and instructed me to invite the splendid Jonny, who has just written a dazzlingly good new book.)

For a few months the little committee of Theresa Gibbon, Ray Hartley, Kate, Shireen Hassim, Michele Magwood, Kelly Robinson and I would have occasional coffees to plot our little literary event. And then Theresa would go off and do most of the work .

Last Wednesday, the event happened.

Somehow I had become the director of the programme so, if nobody pitched to listen to an event, or if a speaker overslept or got too drunk to appear, it would have all been my fault. I spent the whole day terrified that something was about to go horribly pear-shaped. It never did.

The local library came to the party with their boots on and put on heaps of kids' activities. Hamilton Wende worked his backside off, telling children's stories and also sharing pearls of wisdom, on a learned panel, about Africa.

Publishers Pan Macmillan paid for a sweaty person in a Gruffalo costume, and Wally, as in "Where's Wally?", wandered around. (I still don't know who organised the guy on stilts but I suspect it was the Parkview Business Owners' Association.)

Apart from authors and journalists, we also have, in our area, people who actually work for a living. Thurlow Hanson Moore, of Mbongi Works (himself an acclaimed author), laid on amazing stuff for kids all over the place and Soho Design chipped in with posters, programmes and assorted printed things.

Simon, the second-hand furniture guy, personally lugged as many tables as we wanted out onto the high street. Pam Golding backed the party and Joburg Heritage unveiled a plaque and led fascinating walking tours. Pupils from St Teresa's and Parktown Girls helped everywhere while earning community-service points. The local Tyrone Pharmacy stumped up for paramedics who, fortunately, weren't needed.

Around the corner, Graham and Anne, from the Zoo Lake Garage, staged car exhibits and petrol-head talks and gave away beer.

We blocked off part of the high street and the Joburg metro cops were there on time (actually early) and were efficient and full of good cheer. Everything was free.

Throughout the day, at half a dozen venues and four time slots, venues were full and hundreds of people enthralled by interesting, sometimes animated, discussions.

Hospice, Love Books and "the pavement bookseller", Philani Dladla, sold books. There was a helluva vibe about the place. The restaurants did a roaring trade and the cachet of our neighbourhood was greatly enhanced.

In other words, it was a jolly good thing.

The point of today's column is this: Our literary event was good for the community, local business and the soul. We chose to get all literary but could just as easily have gone the "interesting-locals-with-great-stories-to-tell" route.

Wherever you live, I'll bet there are people with great stories to tell. Roll them out and organise a neighbourhood happening to celebrate each other and what makes your area different.

All you need is a committee and a few well-intentioned individuals. (It helps, though, if you can rustle up just one Theresa Gibbon.)