SA National Book Week

The South African Book Development Council (SABDC) is proud to be hosting the 6th Annual National Book Week (NBW) from 7–13 September 2015. National Book Week is the longest running, most successful reading campaign in South Africa to date and it has grown in leaps and bounds this year. The initiative is aimed at uncovering the thrill and magic of reading books. It is guided by the idea that when the nation learns to share the joy of reading books, the country as a whole benefits as this leads to empowered, self reliant communities.

The focus of NBW 2015 is to encourage individuals, families and corporates to share the gift of reading by buying books during this week and donate it to someone who does not have a book. A study conducted by the SABDC revealed that only about 14% of South Africans read books and only a mere 5% of that read to their children. The study also found that 51% of households in South Africa do not have a single book in their home. With this in mind the SABDC came up with the theme for this year’s NBW: #BuyABook and #GoingPlaces. The campaign is about igniting passion and taking that person into the magical wonderland of books, by simply introducing them to the joy of reading and making South Africa a better place. During the NBW the tour bus will stop in Gaugteng, North West, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Funda Bala, the official National Book Week mascot, will travel with the bus helping more people own their own book. The lead-up to NBW kicked off with the launch of a new event during Mandela month: 67 Books for 67 Minutes. Corporates were encouraged to turn their 67 minutes of service into R6 700 for 67 Books by South African authors, which in turn is also an investment in the country’s book industry. For this event, NBW joined forces with the Cape Media Corporation (CMC), which used its annual Corporate Social Investment Programme to join in the Buy-A-Book Campaign. Cape Media donated books to children at the Ncedolwethu Orphanage in Mfuleni and the Dangerous Heroes girls’ soccer team in Phillipi Township, Cape Town. SABDC CEO Elitha van der Sandt says about this initiative, “We are planting seeds this year, it all starts with an idea. Just as NBW started with an idea, with the planting of a seed. We are confident that this part of the campaign will grow as organically as NBW has. This is a multi-million rand platform created for the book industry. We look forward to companies being innovative in using NBW to grow and develop their markets.”

Penguin Random House, NB Publishers and PanMacmillan are amongst the publishers piloting this campaign with the SABDC this year. The SABDC also celebrated Women’s Day this year with a special event: A book-reading and book-buying event sponsored by the boutique investment banking group, Musa Capital held at Exclusive Books in Rosebank. In attendance were 40 girls from the Leshata Secondary School in Orange Farm and their caregivers. Surrounded by a glorious horde of books on display, van der Sandt challenged the gathered girls to rise and one day become leaders of our country, “because that’s what we do as girls and women, we lead. We have a leading role to play in the transformation of our country and reading girls grow into leading women”. The girls listened to inspirational messages from various speakers. These included Rocky Ralebipi-Simela, CEO of the National Library of South Africa, NBW ambassador, businesswoman and award-winning writer of “Happiness is a Four letter Word”, Cynthia Jele and SABC 1’s kids’ programme, Yo-TV presenter Karabo Bonco. At the end of the event the SABDC donated a R 250 book voucher to each girl (R 9250 in total) to ensure the youth and their caregivers could enjoy the pleasure of buying their own brand new book. “Having as few as 20 books in the home has a significant impact in propelling a child to higher levels of education,” says a 20-year study across 27 countries.” Be sure to join the journey during this year’s National Book Week and let’s make South Africa a reading nation and bring more books in households.