National Book Week 2015

National Book Week (NBW) was launched in 2010 and started as a joint initiative between The South African Book Development Council (SABDC) and The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC).

It was conceptualized in response to a 2007 study commissioned by The SABDC into the book reading habits of adult South Africans. The results indicated:

• 51% of households in South Africa did not have a single book in their home.
• Only 14% of the population are avid book readers.
• Only 5% of parents read to their children.

The results of the survey highlighted how our reading culture is a barrier to the country’s economic and social development plans as reading and literacy are at the heart of personal growth and development. Having as few as 20 books in the home has a significant impact in propelling a child to higher levels of education. This ultimately resulted in the launch of NBW, made up of:

• A national awareness campaign, to promote the importance of reading and books.
• A targeted programme to be implemented on the ground.

Events aim to promote a key message to encourage reading as a fun activity with each province or location tailoring the programme to meet local demands, with a strong focus on promoting indigenous languages, local authors as well as library awareness and access. The key objectives of NBW are:

• To promote reading as a critical part of South African development.
• To celebrate books as instruments for education, culture, heritage and economic progress.
• To showcase and increase indigenous language publishing.
• To showcase South African and African writers, publishers, booksellers and related businesses.
• To raise the profile of the South African book industry with emphasis on SMMEs.
• To form partnerships with other African countries celebrating NBW.
• To create national awareness via various media channels.
• To develop a corporate identity for the campaign.
• To attract key partnerships through an increased profile in the market.

This year NBW was celebrated from 7 – 13 September, the pinnacle of various campaigns that had commenced as early as July.
Marking the sixth year of the longest running and most successful reading campaign in South Africa, NBW once again travelled throughout South Africa with the NBW Bus transporting various programme activities to far-away places, both in the rural and urban areas.

The mobility of the Bus, as well as other events that were supported by NBW reached five different provinces, with a multitude of events and activities taking place. During NBW, each Province hosted multi-faceted localized programmes, which included reading in indigenous languages, storytelling and motivational talks, word-a-thons, poetry sessions plus many more. The NBW mascot – Funda Bala – continued to capture the imagination of children throughout South Africa.

Funda Bala, literally meaning ‘Read Read’ across indigenous language groups, was designed as a book, and shares books, laughter and joy amongst the overwhelmed and excited audience. This year National Book Week had two very distinct pillars of activation – #BuyABook and #GoingPlaces. Pillar 1 #BuyABook centered around increasing the number of leisure books in households. With more than half of South African households not having a single leisure book in their home, NBW launched the #BuyABook Campaign which aims to remedy this situation. It was a call to action for individuals, corporates, families and groups to go out and #BuyABook for someone who does not own one, bringing magic into someone’s life and making South Africa a better place.

This campaign was rolled out in three phases and began in July 2015. Phase one – As the nation honoured Nelson Mandela’s legacy, NBW called on corporate organisations to turn their 67 minutes of service into R6 700 for 67 Books by South African authors. Phase two took place in August, whereby The SABDC along with Musa Capital, a boutique investment-banking group, hosted the NBW Women’s Day Celebration at Exclusive Books, Rosebank with female learners. Learners were presented with Book Token vouchers to the value of R250 each and enjoyed the experience of buying their own books. Phase three began in the beginning of September 2015 and ran until 20th September. Publishers Pan Macmillan SA, Penguin Random House SA, and NB Publishers offered a selection of discounted books that were sold in Bargain Books and Exclusive Books stores nationwide. The public was encouraged to purchase the books for R20 and donate them into the NBW book bins in the stores. Pillar 2 #GoingPlaces was centered around advocacy and was aimed at building public awareness about NBW and to encourage book reading amongst South Africans via a national wide bus tour, following on from the success of it in 2014. The bus stopped in five provinces and made various stops at different NBW events as hosted by the various partners.

Diversity of audience

This year also marked the greatest range of diversity in audience participation. Participants included the elderly, children with impaired hearing, visually impaired and physically challenged participants. There was also a greater increase in participants that transcended racial lines.

Media partnership SABC Foundation

This year also marked a new partnership with The SABC Foundation. As the National Public Broadcaster, the SABC supports bona fide organizations by promoting social and welfare campaigns of a national nature through the granting of free advertising time on Radio and Television platforms as Public Service Announcements (PSA). Per this partnership radio PSA’s were recorded in all eleven official languages and a 30 second TV PSA was developed. Both aired from the 24th August until the 13th September 2015.
To date NBW has generated over R100 million worth of PR coverage. NBW featured in most of the major national, provincial, daily, weekly and weekend newspapers, and included prime time slots on national radio stations and TV shows such as SABC Newsroom, YoTV, ANN7 and eNCA Sunrise plus many more.
We can safely say that NBW continues to grow into a sustainable campaign that will live on for many years to come!