PAGECAST

"An opportunity to hold and be held."

This one is a joy from start to finish. Chef, food stylist and best-selling cookbook author Zola Nene sits down with Chef Nokx Majozi for a conversation that feels less like an interview and more like two sisters at the kitchen table. Together they unpack Nokx's beautiful debut, The South African Cookbook, and why it exists: the years of travelling the world and finding no book on South African food, the gap she quietly decided to fill, and the immense pride of her mother inviting the neighbours over to hold the book. They talk about the influences of both parents in her kitchen, the shouting culture Nokx refuses to carry forward, and what it means to lead a team with kindness rather than fear.

Nokx Majozi's new book is The South African Cookbook, out now in-store and online across South Africa, the UK and EU.

Nokx Majozi is Chef-in-Residence at Fallow restaurant in London and a proud ambassador for South African cuisine on the global stage.

Zola Nene is a chef, food stylist, TV personality, and best-selling cookbook author. Her latest book is Simply More Zola.

For the final episode of Pagecast at the 2026 Open Book Festival, Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane is joined by Athi-Patra Ruga.

Athi-Patra Ruga is a South African multidisciplinary artist whose work explores archives, spirituality, colonial histories and speculative world-building across performance, film, tapestry, sculpture and installation. He is also the co-founder of Victory of the Word (VOW), a non-profit arts and research organisation focused on reimagining Southern African knowledge systems.

Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane is a practising advocate and also a part-time in-counsel at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. They were named one of the Top 200 Young South Africans in 2018. In 2022, they formed part of the judging panel for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing.

#AthiPartaRuga #VictoryoftheWord #OpenBookFestival

Natalie Sifuma is a Kenyan writer, researcher, and consultant currently based in Cape Town. She is the founder of Sisters in Climate — a Pan-African climate initiative — and is completing an MPhil in Inclusive Innovation at UCT’s Graduate School of Business, with a focus on social impact, climate, and gender across Africa. She is also a 2026 BOOKED Trips Fellow, weaving together literary culture and travel as a form of place-based storytelling.

Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane is a practising advocate and also a part-time in-counsel at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. They were named one of the top 200 Young South Africans in 2018. In 2022, they formed part of the judging panel for the Ako Caine Prize for African Writing.

#Pagecast #NatalieSifuma #ClimateActivism #OpenBookFestival

On this installment of Pagecast at the 2026 Open Book Festival studio, Lethogonolo Mokogroane is joined by Sahra Noor.

Sahra is a Somali-American writer whose work explores belonging, migration, and the complicated work of building a life across cultures. Alongside her writing, she works in global health, supporting efforts to strengthen health systems across Africa, and contributes to scholarship on culturally responsive care and inclusive health system design. She is the author of Salt in the Snow.

Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane is a practising advocate and also a part-time in-counsel at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. They were named one of the Mail and Guardian 200 Young South Africans in 2018. In 2022, they formed part of the judging panel for the Ako Caine Prize for African Writing.

#Pagecast #SahraNoor #OpenBookFestival #SaltintheSnow

Kicking off Sunday at Open Book Festival 2026, Faraaz Mahomed joins Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele in the Pagecast studio.

Faraaz is a researcher in the field of mental health and human rights, based between New York and his native South Africa. His short stories and travel writing have appeared in Granta, Boston Review, The Georgia Review, The Sunday Times, and other publications. In 2016, he won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the African region with his story “The Pigeon”. His latest work is Motherland.

Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele is a doctor, literary curator, and co-founder of The Cheeky Natives, a literary podcast focused on the review, curation and archiving of Black literature.

#Pagecast #FaraazMahomed #ThePigeon #CommonwealthShortStoryPrize #OpenBookFestival