The main event will be hosted in Port Elizabeth from 5-7 September at the Red Location Precinct in New Brighton. The main event is co-hosted with the Eastern Cape Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
This South African Book Development Council (SABDC) initiative, in association with the Department of Arts and Culture, aims to promote the joy of reading among South Africans of all ages.
The book industry and the public are urged to help foster a love of reading among all South Africans, contributing to a higher level of literacy while opening up new worlds and possibilities with the power of the written word. The SABDC urges South Africans to take responsibility to get others reading.
"We all stand to gain. We will have a more informed citizenry, able to participate actively in all aspects of life and when people feel their worth, we are likely to see less crime, greater social cohesion and elements of a winning nation," says Elitha van der Sandt, CEO of the SABDC.
"Look around you. We all have people around us who never owned a book. Go out and buy them a book; not any book, but a book that is relevant to their lives, a book that is easy to understand and most likely to make a difference in their lives."
A number of regional activities will be hosted in the Eastern Cape with the provincial department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture. There will be a mini-National Book Week in Ntabankulu (rural Eastern Cape) from 2 September.
Activities include book debates, reading and poetry. An opening of a modular library in Herschel from 5-7 September and the activities include book discussions and orphanage visits.
The Western Cape Library Services will be hosting a National Book Week programme in Atlantis through the office of the MEC for Cultural Affairs and Sports. Grahamstown will host a Children's Literature Festival in conjunction with Puku IsiXhosa Story Festival from 6-8 September, as part of its celebrations for National Book Week.
kalahari.com will have a 30% sale on all itslocal books during National Book Week and will donate a number of Gobii e-readers as giveaways to National Book Week, as part of its support for the campaign.
The SABDC is also proud to announce a new partnership with the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) for National Book Week 2013. As the reading culture remains minimal, DCS is working towards promoting a culture of reading and writing in its correctional centres and to project reading as a fun activity that expands horizons of knowledge for both offenders and officials.
For more information, email SABDC at az.oc.licnuockoobas@keewkoob.
