21 – 26 February 2017, Grahamstown

Presented by: The Puku Children’s Literature Foundation
It is Puku Story Festival time in Grahamstown again and festival organisers are thrilled to announce that this year’s guest of honour is legendary musician, poet, storyteller and teacher Latozi Mpahleni, better known as Madosini. Widely acknowledged as the foremost living player of isitolotolo, uhadi and the umrhube mouth bow, Madosini is truly a national treasure formally recognised by the Department of Arts and Culture as a Living Legend.
Festival director, Ziyanda Gysman can hardly contain her excitement at having Madosini at the Festival this year. “Alongside other iconic Eastern Cape writers and artists such as Dr Sindiwe Magona and Dr John Kani, Madosini is internationally acclaimed in her field and has performed all over the world, but her work has not received the recognition that it should in the province of her birth, especially among the youth. Just as the Puku Story Festival gave the children of Grahamstown schools exposure to Sindiwe Magona and John Kani, so will we bring Madosini to the same audiences.”
This year’s Puku Story Festival will take place from 21 – 26 February. Since 2014 the Puku Story Festival has been held in February to coincide with the celebration of International Mother Language Day on 21 February. This year’s celebration, which will mark the opening of the festival, will be a community event held in partnership with the Makana Municipality. The event will take place at the Noluthando Hall and will focus on activities for school learners, members of the Community Works Programme and guests from Elithembeni Old Age Home and the students from the local Adult Education and Training School. As has been the tradition of the past four years, International Mother Language Day will also be celebrated with the St Phillip’s Church Congregation in Fingo Village. This celebration on Sunday 26 February will mark the closing of the festival.

School Roadshows, focusing on Grades 1 -3 learners are scheduled for 22 February, in partnership with the Eastern Cape Department of Education’s Grahamstown District. Visits to three farm schools by the Puku Story Festival team will include storytelling sessions, presented in isiXhosa. The Nelson Mandela Institute and Nal’ibali will also present activities to encourage reading amongst children.

The main festival venue has changed from the Monument to the new building of the National English Literary Museum (NELM) in Worcester Street, Grahamstown. A highlight of the Festival is the Exhibition that will run daily, alongside book launches, conversations and reading, and open mic sessions. The Exhibition is curated by the National English Literary Museum, and will be a display of isiXhosa children’s books and digital content, with a focus on environmental content. The Children’s Programme provides exciting and interesting activities for children which will run throughout the day and aims to illustrate how work can be presented across multiple platforms – storytelling, print, theatre and more. The Festival will also demonstrate how to harness the digital space to promote indigenous oral and literary traditions and to foster intergenerational communication between artists and audiences.

Local and national artists, poets and musicians will have the opportunity for conversation on indigenous musical instruments and storytelling with Madosini, as well as young but highly-accomplished poet, musician, storyteller and children’s book writer Zanele Ndlovu, who plays traditional musical instruments with great skill. Zanele will perform and facilitate a workshop on how to make indigenous musical instruments from recycled material.

Young local poet Akhona Mafani who has been involved in the Puku Story Festival since its inception in September 2013, will launch his debut poetry album “Iintonga Zetyendyana”. Dr Mhlobo Jadezweni, of the Rhodes University Department of African Languages will facilitate the launch programme.
Author conversations will focus on new and innovative ways of self- publishing. Graphic designer and author, Siya Masuku will talk about how he wrote and published his book Siyafunda isiZulu. Zanele Ndlovu will do the same for her book Umakhweyana, Neo Mda, son of iconic author Zakes Mda, will talk about taking the plunge in illustrating and designing his father’s new children’s book The Prels of Ukhahlamba.

Unathi Magubeni, an Eastern Cape-based writer whose most recent book Nwelezelanga was shortlisted for the prestigious Etisalat Prize, will talk about how he departed from the corporate world to become a sangoma and pursue his love for writing. Author Sidima Mntubu will add his voice to the challenges of writing and publishing children’s books.

Dr Sindiwe Magona, who was honoured at the 2016 Puku Story Festival, has graciously agreed to join Puku Executive Director Elinor Sisulu in giving a Biography Writing Workshop, focusing on the value of biographies for children and young adults.

The Open Mic sessions that have been so popular in past sessions will be repeated, giving learners an opportunity to demonstrate their skills as storytellers and poets. Acclaimed stand-up comic Tsepiso Nzayo will be Programme Director for the Open Mic sessions, one of which will be dedicated to a poetry reading by local learners in commemoration of the anniversary of the sinking of the Mendi.

Other past festival favourites will be repeated- which include poet and musicologist Hleze Kunju’s popular poetry master classes and screenings of the feature film Intonga.
The site visits to the Printing Press have been extended to include visits to the International Library of African Music (ILAM), the South African Library for the Blind (SALB) and The Albany Museum.
The above programme activities are designed to:
• Encourage amaXhosa as a linguistic community to appreciate the educational and cultural value of artists and writers of their language and to ensure that such work is accessed by educators
• Provide a platform for interaction between producers and consumers of these works
• Illustrate how work can be presented across multiple platforms – storytelling, print, theatre – and how to harness the digital space to promote indigenous oral and literary traditions.
• Strengthen children’s awareness of environmental issues

EVENT DETAILS
Tuesday 21 February: 14:30 – 17:00
Noluthando Hall
Wednesday 22 February
Farm schools in surrounding areas – these events are not open to the public
Thursday 23 and Friday 24 February: 09:00 – 16:00
National English Literary Museum and site visits
Saturday 25 February: 09:00 – 14:00
National English Literary Museum
Entrance to all programme activities is free of charge and everyone is welcome.

Puku takes this opportunity to acknowledge and thank REDISA, our headline sponsor who have made it possible to host the Puku Story Festival 2017. Our gratitude is also extended to Thebe Investment Corporation for their support.
We are also grateful to our partners – NELM, National Arts Festival, Rhodes University, Fort Hare’s Nelson Mandela Institute of Education and Rural Development (NMI), Department of Education – Grahamstown District and Makana Municipality.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Festival Director – Ziyanda Gysman
pukustoryfestival@gmail.com / 073 526 0167
Media Liaison- Siphelo Dyongman
pukumedia@gmail.com / 083 3598 990

Book Aid International has teamed up with 20 stars of the children’s book world to celebrate the 20th anniversary of World Book Day (WBD).

The charity began releasing a new reason to promote children’s books on social media on 3rd February and is continuing every working day until WBD on 2nd March. Book Aid International hopes the celebrations will draw more attention to the value of children’s literature as well as the need for children’s books in the communities where the charity works. The rest of the campaign will feature additional laureates, authors and publishers and a blog will be updated daily on the charity’s website. The project is running alongside the organisation’s WBD celebrations such as school children donating £1 to dress up as their favourite book character. (It costs the charity £2 to send a new book to a library or school in Africa). Read more here

The goal of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) project is to create a new city library in the late monarch’s honor by converting an existing structure into a Library scheduled to open in March this year. This is welcome news in comparison to the pressure currently being placed on library budgets in the US and the UK.

The project, situated on Ratchadamnoen Klang Avenue, is part of a campaign to advertise Bangkok as a City of Learning, one that promotes a culture of reading. The initiative was launched in 2013, when Bangkok was named by UNESCO as a World Book Capital.

BMA officials say they hope that the library’s prime location—accessible to both car and public transportation, and “just a stone’s throw from Khao San Road, the capital’s backpacker hub,” as Wancharoen writes—will encourage students to use the facility for work and research.

Read the full article in the Bangkok Post here

The way forward for centralized procurement

Report on the Meeting between ESP Consulting, who have been commissioned by the Treasury to compile a report recommending methods of sourcing Learner Teacher Support Materials (LTSM) in SA and executive members of the SA Booksellers Association. Read more