About

Frankie Murrey is the festival coordinator of Open Book Festival a Cape Town based book festival which takes place each September. In addition to the 5 days in September she works on events through the year and runs the mentoring programme (targeting aspiring writers) and the Open Book School Library Programme (increasing access learners have to books in their schools). Prior to working for Open Book, she worked in the retail side of the the book industry.  

Summary of work

I am involved in all aspects of the festival. I work on events through the year which includes the Open Book School Library Project and the Open Book Mentoring Programme. I source funding for the festival and work with the festival director (Mervyn Sloman) on planning who to invite each year as well as on the curation of the programme itself. I handle most of the travel and accommodation side of those joining us.

I also work on the programme for Poetica (poetry), Open Book Comics Fest (comic books) and the Youth Fest.

In the run up to the festival I work on marketing the festival to media and the public and load content on our website.

Summary of ambitions for work 

I am keen to continue our work to attract diverse audiences to the festival and am particularly interested in seeing an increase in the number of young people in the audience. Fundamental to that process is keeping the festival fresh which in many cases means identifying new people and partners to work with in meaningful ways.