The National Book Week (NBW) runs from September 7 to 13.
One of the objectives of The South African Book Development Council (SABDC), in collaboration with the Department of Arts and Culture, is to make South Africa a reading nation and bring more books to households across the country.
The National Book Week tour bus, which was a surprise, was unveiled later in the programme. The aim of the bus is to assist in bridging the gap between our people and access to books. The bus will make stops in five provinces - Gauteng, Northwest, Limpopo, Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape - throughout the week. Funda Bala, NBW’s mascot, will be part of the tour and will help attract younger children.
The SABDC will also be launching the #Buyabook campaign which will start on the September 20. The objective of this campaign is to get you to buy a book for someone who cannot afford a book. Exclusive books, Pan Macmillan and Penguin Random House will be offering books at a cost of only R20 per book to assist this campaign, which will also help to bridge the gap between book centres and the community.
The Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture gave a message of support and encouraged the private sector to get more involved in initiatives like these. She also pleaded with members of the community who can afford to buy books to do so and give them to someone you know can’t afford to buy a book. She went on to thank the ambassadors Lupi Ngcayisa, Refilwe Mpakanyane and Stoan Seate, for their support as well.
Musician and TV presenter Stoan Seate, who also appeared at the launched, said he would like to create a platform similar to the one that rap mogul Jay Z did with his book ‘Decoded’, which allowed his fans to fill in the gaps to figure out what the code is. This was then put together to create the book. Seate said, “This would be a good idea to get our youth reading and writing while using social networks and since rap is poetry, it would definitely hook their attention.”