PEN South Africa and PRAESA’s Dialogues on Children’s Literacy and Literature

Photograph: Swedish Minister of Culture and Democracy Alice Bah Kuhnke speaking at the ‘Raising key issues for transforming children’s literacy and literature’ dialogue, January 2016.

This year PEN SA and the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) are continuing their partnership with a series of dialogues on children’s literacy and literature as well as looking at publishing the isiXhosa and isiZulu translations of George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking.

The first of these dialogues, ‘Raising key issues for transforming children’s literacy and literature’, was held in January in honour of Swedish Minister of Culture and Democracy Alice Bah Kuhnke. Last year, Bah Kuhnke presented PRAESA with the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) in Sweden.

The speakers included Bah Kuhnke, Carole Bloch, Ntombizanele Mahobe, Palesa Morudu, Mike van Graan, Xolisa Guzula, Genevieve Hart and Elinor Sisulu. The topics ranged from the importance of stories and creating a national reading culture to the position of literature in South Africa’s cultural policy. Read about the discussion here.

In March, PEN’s Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee met in Johannesburg where Carole Bloch presented on the work that PRAESA has done to promote and support the development of children’s literature in South Africa. Watch Carole’s presentation here.

The dialogues aim to address the need for policy change in the areas of children’s book publishing and language policy in education as contributing to the growth of a vibrant and sustainable multilingual reading culture in South Africa.

If you would like to be informed about upcoming dialogues please contact us on communications@pensouthafrica.co.za.