National Book Week 2010

We were particularly privileged to be invited to make a presentation as the first event of the very high profile National Book Week, held in Museum Africa in Johannesburg, and opened by the Minister of Arts and Culture. Under the umbrella of the South African Book Development Council, we were able to invite policy makers and representatives from all sectors of the book value chain. The presentation by Viv Edwards & Marriote Ngwaru on African language publishing for children: where next? on 10 September 2010 was attended by over 60 people from all over South Africa.Valuable discussion and feedback from Book Week events will help us to refine our final report and other publications arising from the project.

Language in Africa SIG

Mariote Ngwaru is due to deliver a keynote presentation on the project at the annual meeting of the Language in Africa SIG of the British Association for Applied Linguistics at the University of Bristol, 21–22 May 2010.

Stories Across Africa in Cape Town

The members of the steering committee of Stories Across Africa met to discuss progress in the project since the last meeting at the University of Reading in March 2009. Enthusiasm for the project continues undiminished in spite of serious obstacles. The group were joined by the Chief Executive of New Africa Books which holds the international rights for the Little Hands Books that lie at the heart of the project. The discussion centred on the importance of releasing these rights so that the Stories Across Africa team can continue to promote the books in their regions.