Authors’ rights are under the spotlight at the upcoming ANFASA Conference :: Media Update

"The Academic and Non-fiction Authors’ Association of South Africa (ANFASA) will celebrate its tenth anniversary by reflecting on the issues facing writers today. The ANFASA Conference will be held in Boksburg from Thursday, 13 to Saturday, 15 March. The occasion, to be held at the Birchwood Conference Centre on Johannesburg’s East Rand, will feature a number of high-powered local and international speakers from the world of non-fiction and academic publishing. The three-day event will mark the organisation’s first annual conference as well as its annual general meeting. ANFASA was founded on 13 March 2004 as the first national association specifically for authors of non-fiction works, textbooks and academic books, dedicated to promoting their works, sharing information and offering advice. According to ANFASA’s director, Kundayi Masanzu: “We thought our 10-year milestone would be an opportune moment to pause and reflect on the meaning of authors’ rights, and how these can be protected and promoted. Authors need to be acknowledged for the role they play in knowledge creation, as well as for the relevance of their contributions to the national discourse about readership and learning. They also need incentives to produce more works.” As such, he added, the ANFASA Conference will provide the ideal opportunity for members and delegates to celebrate the country's 20 years of democracy by examining the opportunities and challenges facing non-fiction and academic writing in post-apartheid South Africa. The three days of stimulating and probing discussions will culminate in a gala dinner, at which University of the Witwatersrand vice-chancellor Adam Habib will be the keynote speaker. Among the hot topics up for discussion during the conference will be the rapid advances in digital publishing and the increasing move towards open and free access to published works. Technology is certainly changing the way authors engage with their readers, and can be used to help learners access educational materials in the digital age – but what about the author’s right to fair remuneration? ..."