BUY A BOOK FOR R20 AND THEN DONATE IT
ONLY 14 percent of South Africans read books and half the country doesn’t own a single leisure book in their home. It is against this reality that National Book Week is being celebrated.
One of the reading initiative’s campaigns is #BUYABOOK. Publishers Pan Macmillan SA, Penguin Random House SA and NB Publishers have offered a selection of discounted books that will be sold in Bargain Books and Exclusive Books stores nationwide until September 20.
The public is encouraged to buy the books for R20 and put them in the NBW book bins in the stores. These books will then be donated to selected communities.
Another options is for people to donate books to those they know don’t own one.
“Please buy a book, not for yourself but for someone who doesn’t own one,” appealed South African Book Development Council CEO Elitha Van Der Sandt.
Another NBW campaign – and the week’s theme – is #GOINGPLACES, which refers not only to the places to which readers are magically transported by books but to the NBW Bus Tour.
A bus will make stops in Gauteng, Limpopo, KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape to trumpet the magic and life-changing power of books. (Satellite programmes will also take place in the Free State and Western Cape.)
Aboard the bus will be reading ambassadors, storytellers and musicians such as Lupi Ngcayisa, Stoan Seate, Refiloe Mpakanyane, Jena Dover, Pearl Thusi and Aaron Moloisi.
They will be accompanied by the NBW mascot, Funda Bala, who will distribute books to children.
National Book Week, now in its sixth years, has a strong focus on promoting indigenous languages, local authors as well as library awareness and access.
Launching it in Parktown last week, Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture Rejoice Mabudafhasi said: “The importance of reading in order to achieve success in life is foundational for the individual and essential for nation building and social cohesion.” – Lifestyle Reporter