Booktown of the Great Karoo
Richmond lies deep in the heart of the Great Karoo. It’s big-sky country and, at first glance, looks like just another quiet, dusty and somewhat desolate Karoo town. Yet this really is a place that you shouldn’t judge by first impressions.
The town happens to be South Africa’s only official Booktown, a title it earned in 2007 when – thanks to the work of part-time residents Peter Baker and Darryl David – it joined a group of platteland towns all over the world that dedicate themselves to the love and sale of books. Although book fever has since diminished slightly, the literary spirit remains an essential part of the character of the town and the Boekbedonnerd festival is still held here every October. This is when booksellers, publishers, readers and writers descend on the town, and Breyten Breytenbach and Athol Fugard are just two of the big names to have dropped by!
ONLY A HANDFUL of bookshops remain open all year long. “The book business is really just for the love of it,” says John Donaldson, who has the largest bookshop in town, Richmond Books & Prints in Loop Street. “It’s a seasonal thing that is hard to maintain throughout the year.” Formerly from Johannesburg, he’s lived in Richmond for 14 years and sells most
