The 31st Durban International Film Festival drew to a close yesterday with the award winners in the annual competition being announced. Congratulations to those involved in producing The White Meadows (Iran) which won the top award of Best Feature Film. While I've never attended the festival, its reputation precedes it with countries including Japan, the US, India and Sweden participating in the event. It's quite a learning experience for budding filmmakers on the African continent and a great place to find inspiration and direction from those experienced in the field. The Cape Town International Book Fair was held over the weekend in South Africa which ends today. It's another successful event that showcases the latest and highly regarded offerings on the book market. There's plenty of great literature on offer but some interesting discussions as well. During a trade session on African publishing it was noted that the African book industry is alive and well, but challenges remain. International Literacy Day is coming up early next month and WAN-IFRA has announced its free offer of a 12-part serial story to newspapers worldwide to encourage reading. The materials are available on the Celebrating Literacy website. In South Africa, a country that has been deemed a media practitioner's paradise, a storm has brewed over the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill that could see media freedom in the country join the down-trodden in large parts of Africa. Hopefully the interest of South Africa's citizens wins out in the end and our right to information remains intact. Long live the free press!

Cheers, Sindy Peters, Africa editor
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