This month has seen some emotional moments for the ASSITEJ SA team as more than 3600 young people came to the production of War Horse in Johannesburg, sponsored by Rand Merchant Bank, after having attended workshops with the fantastic ASSITEJ SA facilitation teams. If anyone had any doubts about the potential impact of a production […]
‘Tsunami of emotion’ Children in Gauteng go to War Horse Read More »
A book about a truly important thing – the ability to read Author Chis van Wyk, who sadly died last month, often wrote from his own experiences growing up in a township in Johannesburg. This brings an integrity and truth to his books for adults as well as children. In this much loved book, he
Ouma Ruby’s Secret Read More »
IBBY SA Book donations Last year the IBBY SA / Biblionef SA Schools Programme brought 5760 attractive new books to 15 schools and joined hands with two organisations in the Eastern Cape (NMI and Axium). According to Jean Williams (Biblionef), their hands-on workshops on reading with the teachers have” ignited a passion in the schools
Good news on book donation to schools Read More »
Marj Brown reports on the phenomenal success of the Phendulani Literacy Quizz Today, 102 pupils from more than 12 schools in Johannesburg, took part in the Phendulani Literacy quiz. This was one of five such events around SA in which overall, about 50 schools will participate. The pupils had read 24 books in teams of
Pupils win, Literacy scores Read More »
War Horse news and other things … Di Hofmeyr on making stories come to life – and Handspring Puppets on the same theme. Di says … ‘Writers, musicians, puppeteers, film makers – we are all storytellers. As Mike Leigh, Director of Mr Turner put it in The Times this week: “we enter a conspiracy to
War Horse and stories that come alive Read More »
Review from What’s On in Cape Town by Samantha Orange In an evening to remember, Listening Beautifully did more than evoke emotions of joy in the listeners: it provoked contemplation. By the end of the evening participants shared a deep rooted understanding of the fundamental importance of reading, stories and knowledge in the development of
Lovely review of our fund-raiser Read More »
How to make workshops happen The intention to hold a workshop, and the idea of a location grows quite quickly into a real event with real people taking part in it – it will take six weeks at least to plan. 1 First task is a visit to the community and the people working with
Dreaming a workshop … Read More »
Here’s a splendid quote from David Almond: “IBBY [the International Board on Books for Young People] is based on optimism, that books, reading, and art can actually make the world a better place. Sometimes when we say these things, people sneer; they say that we are living in a fairyland. They are the people that
They are boring. We are interesting. Read More »
Sanlam and Tafelberg Publishers invite you to celebrate with the authors and see the winning books in this prestigious award. Wednesday 29 October 18.30 for 19.00 Inner City Ideas Cartel Second Floor 71 Waterkant Street Cape Town Complimentary drinks and snacks and a cash bar. Books will be sold.
Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature Read More »
The story Club Cape Town is hosting another gathering at the end of this month (next week!). This month’s Storyteller is Dinah Eppel who performed to great reviews at the recent Cape Town Fringe Festival (see below for more details) ~ Date: Wednesday 29th October 2014 Time: 7-9pm Venue: St Mark’s Church Hall, St Marks
Story Club Event 29 October Read More »
Much loved South African picture book Not so fast Songololo, written and illustrated by Niki Daly, is on the the Guardian (UK) prestigious list of the 50 best children’s books published from 1950 to the present day that celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity. You can find press details by clicking on the link below. http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/oct/13/50-best-culturally-diverse-childrens-books
Not so fast Songololo Read More »
The South African section of the International Board on Books for Young People is having a celebratory BookBash at 5.30 p.m. on Thursday 23 October 2014 at SASNEV, 4 Central Square, Pinelands. All are welcome. We will toast our partner Praesa for winning the international IBBY ASAHI Award for reading achievement; we toast the donation
IBBY SA Celebrates! Read More »
Another school holiday, another workshop. We successfully concluded the focus on Clanwilliam, my town, with an exuberant painting session in which some rather tropical views of this little town in the mountains emerged. The theme will be continuing in Saturday Stories next term.
Spring Workshops over … for now Read More »
I listen. There is less noise now. People have come home, up the hill with their heavy shopping bags. They walk slowly. The people with the heaviest bags walk slowest – and the old people. But there are more people running down the hill – to the bar and the bottle store before it closes!
Saturday Evening in my town Read More »
Saturday 4th October was a busy day in Clanwilliam, with the last of the walking groups visiting town ‘before the summer begins’ (wrong, it began on Saturday) and a triathlon being run in the vicinity. CBN children took to the main street for a spot of photo-journalism. We began by starting a map of Clanwilliam
Spring Workshops: The My Town project Read More »
My town is quiet. You can smell nature. Flowers come to my mind – lovely, but lots of pollen that makes me sneeze! The proteas are my favourites. We see them when we go up into the mountains. When you come back to Clanwilliam, over the Pakhuis Pass at night, you can see the town
The following poem was written on a Saturday morning, in Clanwilliam, when the children just had to close their eyes to remember what it was like. My Saturday It is Saturday morning – early Saturday morning. My eyes are closed. No school! (I think) Go to town! (I think!) Eat everything! (I think) Ice cream,
Although it has been online for some years now, this IBBY selection of books from Africa remains a thoughtful and interesting guide. The IBBY exhibition is envisaged as source of information for quality African children’s books produced for teachers, researchers, parents and for all those interested in children’s literature. Though this website is in English,
IBBY Virtual Exhibition of books for Africa from Africa. Read More »
The Children’s Radio Foundation (http://www.childrensradiofoundation.org) train young reporters around Africa in radio broadcasting, opening all sorts of opportunities to them and teaching a plethora of useful skills. They are a wonderful organisation that we have been lucky enough to have the pleasure of working with. They came to interview our team at our fundraiser we
Children’s Radio Foundation Read More »
A Campaign to raise funds to donate more HOME LANGUAGE storybooks to children in South Africa. My Language My Heritage is a Campaign by Biblionef South Africa to raise funds to provide children who don’t have access to any storybooks with new books in their home language. Individuals from all corners of South Africa and
My Language My Heritage Read More »
