Tech central reports that the provincial government in Gauteng has outlined details of a R396m “e-learning solution” designed to replace the controversy-ridden R2,2bn Gauteng Online. It will involve the roll-out of 88 000 Android-powered tablet computers made by China’s Huawei to 2 200 government schools. Read more here.
At the annual Sefika Awards dinner this evening outstanding service to the publishing and bookselling industry was celebrated in style, with this year’s theme: “A splash of Colour”.
Publishers, booksellers and authors congregated at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town to applaud and be applauded for the roles they play in promoting literacy and a culture of reading by producing and selling quality books in South Africa.
Publishers Awarded:
Pan Macmillan for exceptional service as a general trade publisher
Oxford University Press for producing inspiring academic books
Via Afrika for continued excellence in creating educational books for our children (large publisher)
Berlut Books for their dedication to developing unique educational books (small publisher)
Booksellers Awarded:
Bargain Books as the most innovative general trade bookseller (chain)
Books and Books as the most pioneering general trade bookseller (independent)
Van Schaik Bookshops for effective academic bookselling
Boeke 24/7 for successfully delivering educational books to schools
Bookworld as the most efficient library supplier
The teams that won these awards are the leaders in literacy development in South Africa and it is important that the publishers are recognized for their dedication to producing works of perfection and that the booksellers are thanked for taking these works and getting them into the hands of readers country wide.
The final award for the evening, the Nielsen Booksellers Choice Award, now in its 13th year, is a very special award, bestowed upon an author for a book he or she has written that booksellers most enjoyed selling throughout the year. This year’s award went to Frank Chikane for Eight Days in September – The Removal of Thabo Mbeki by Frank Chikane, published by Picador Africa.
Sponsored by Paarl Media, Nielsen, SAPnet, Creda Communications, Lebone Litho Printers, Premier Freight, Geodis Wilson and On the Dot, the entire evening and all of the honour it bestows upon the recipients of the awards, is an annual highlight, celebrating South Africans that are advocates of literacy.
National Book Week 2013 is coming up in the first week of September. The centre of the celebrations are planned for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality this year and the team at the SABDC have outdone themselves in putting together a fantastic line up of events. Running from the 5th to the 7th September and hosted at the Red Location Museum in New Brighton PE, the programme includes Poetry readings, creative writing workshops and motivational talks.
Click here for the full programme.
For the third consecutive year, Leopard’s Leap will be sponsoring the Open Book Festival taking place in Cape Town from 7 – 11 September 2013. They are also proud to host some of the festival’s featured authors at their Franschhoek-based home during August.
On the 22nd of August Mike Nicol, one of South Africa’s foremost and most respected crime fiction writers, will be interviewed by Deon Meyer, luminary of the Afrikaans writing community, about his new book, writing, and life in general.
Tickets for the event will cost R350 and will include a signed copy of Mike’s latest release, Cops and Robbers, as well as a welcome cocktail and early, light Rotisserie supper.
The event starts at 18:00 and tickets can be booked via email at reservations@leopardsleap.co.za or telephonically at +27(0)21 876 8002. Tickets are limited to 50 guests.
Nicol and Meyer are being hosted at Leopard’s Leap as guests of the estate and the Open Book Festival 2013. Other authors at the Festival include Teju Cole, Andy Mason, Anton Kannemeyer, Lauren Beukes, Ian Rankin, Zapiro and NoViolet Bulawayo.
Booksellers in the UK are being urged to join a national “Big Bookshop Party” event to help launch the Books Are My Bag (BAMB) consumer campaign on Saturday 14th September. The Booksellers Association has called on bookshops to host parties and get festive with specially designed bunting to coincide with the launch of the BAMB campaign intended to highlight the joy of books and physical bookshops. Read more on thebookseller.com
As we’ve all come to learn over the past few years, having success marketing on social media is a lot harder than it looks and can be less effective than it seems.
Nevertheless, a solid social media strategy is a must for anyone who wants to sell more books and one properly executed can lead to big gains, according to book marketing expert Peter McCarthy, formerly of Random House, Penguin and others.
To that end, he gave Digital Book World five reasons to continue to invest time, effort and money into social media marketing for books. Find out what they are on www.digitalbookworld.com
Nadine Gordimer, Adam Habib, NoViolet Bulawayo (on the long list for the Booker Prize), Ronnie Kasrils, Isabel Hofmeyr, Shaun de Waal, Craig MacKenzie and Niq Mhlongo are among the writers, thinkers, academics and activists who will take part in the fourth M&G Literary Festival at Jo’burg’s Market Theatre from August 30 to September 1.
The festival will pay tribute to and draw inspiration from the late Chinua Achebe, adopting as its theme and subtitle Achebe’s Children: Africa’s Suspended Revolutions. In the keynote address on August 30, Adam Habib — the new vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand — will talk about South Africa’s suspended revolution.
Read the full article on www.mg.co.za
The Karoo Writers’ Festival will take place in Cradock from 9 to 11 August 2013. Lisa Ker-Antrobus, organiser of the festival, tells Naomi Meyer on www.litnet.co.za what visitors to the festival can look forward to. read the full article here.
Once a year the publishers and booksellers of South Africa congregate for three days to discuss industry issues and consider better ways of doing business, producing books and delivering education materials to schools timeously.
At the co-located AGM’s of PASA (The Publishers Association of South Africa) and the SA Booksellers Association, there are always some topics which are hotly debated and key players in the industry eagerly await the programme of events to see which guest speakers will enlighten on issues ranging from basic literacy to the latest technological developments in learning tools, elending and ebooks. It is a stimulating time to be working in the publishing and bookselling trade.
The three-day conference culminates in the Sefika Awards dinner where the Nielsen Booksellers Choice Award is also presented. It is an event that brings together publishers, booksellers and authors to celebrate each other and the roles they play in producing and selling well-written books for the readers in our country.
The programme for Open Book Literary Festival is live and the line up of authors is just plain exciting.
Please check out the range of awesome events running from 7 Sept to 11 Sept at the Fugard Theatre and the Book Lounge.
Book tickets on www.openbookfestival.co.za or directly at Webtickets and select the date of the event.
Booking tickets early of course ensures that you don’t miss out if events are sold out. Booking tickets is also a good thing to do as it ensures that we’ll keep bringing you a top notch literary festival in Cape Town year after year.
If you have any queries, please email frankie@openbookfestival.co.za
