World Book Day, on April 13, reminds us of the importance of reading
THE theme adopted for this year’s annual World Book Day to be celebrated on Thursday, April 13, is ”The need to read”. Usually commemorated on April 23, the day of William Shakespeare’s birthday, this year’s celebration was moved to April 13 as it would otherwise have clashed with Easter Sunday.
Nevertheless, festivities, co-ordinated by the Centre for the Book, are set to continue. The centre, based in Cape Town, is a non-profit organisation committed to making reading and writing an integral part of South African life. Elizabeth Anderson from the Centre for the Book said: ”At the centre, we want to promote reading across the board, to help develop libraries, children’s networks and create a reading culture so that people want to read.”
Some of this year’s festivities include a talk by one of the country’s leading authors, Breyten Breytenbach. Other writers will be reading some of their own work, such as award-winning novelist Pamela Jooste, poet Tatamkhulu Afrika, and playwright Ashraf Johaardien. There will also be a launch of a new children’s book by Heidi Liebenberg.
Many of these will be taking place in and around Cape Town, largely because that is where the Centre for the Book is based. However, the centre did distribute a list of recommendations for schools, libraries and other organisations which wish to participate. Each province was given the mandate to select and co-ordinate its own celebrations. But it seems a budget, or lack thereof, is a major issue for some. Busi Dlamini of the Library and Information Services said: ”We did not have the budget for it and so we didn’t really organise a world book day as such.”
Anderson says: ”It is a big excuse to do nothing. You don’t need a single cent to do this.” Everything organised by the centre was done through sponsorship and donations from across the board. Sponsors and donors include various members of the media, booksellers and publishers. According to Anderson, it is imperative to ”do your own fund-raising”.
Some celebrations are at least being organised in the North West province. Simon Mataboge’s bookstore, D&D Books and Gifts, has invited approximately 2 000 schoolchildren from various primary schools to celebrate by giving them free books. These are books they are to receive free of charge from publishers. As a member of the South African Booksellers’ Association, he has also been invited to the convention centre in Mmabatho to display books, sell them at discounted prices, and even give some away. Mataboge believes that reading is very important, ”especially in Africa, because kids must know that they cannot survive without reading. I am a keen reader myself, I was built by the book. I was not able to travel to the United States to meet Martin Luther King and others, but I learnt about them through books.”
The purpose of celebrating World Book Day in South Africa, is ”to focus the nation’s mind for just one day on the importance of reading and writing. If we are going to develop our country through a common culture, then reading is a very big factor,” Anderson says. As she points out, one cannot get very far in life without reading, even if it’s a newspaper, and so we need to encourage children to read.
It is estimated that 12-million people in South Africa are illiterate. In making its contribution towards fighting illiteracy, the centre has included nine adult learners in the celebrations. These individuals are to read their stories and talk about how being able to read has changed their lives.
Other events include discounts from major bookstores, and Kalahari.net, (the South African online bookstore), will be introducing readers to the world of online shopping.
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, April 4, 2000.