NaionalBook Wek spreads the joy of reading with Westonaria (Gauteng) and Khuma (North West) communities
As the National Book Week campaign continues to spread the joy of reading and urging South Africans to get more books into homes, the one fundamental goal has been to reach all South Africans to ensure that access to books is available to all.
In an effort to expand, enhance and offer balanced public library services the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation brought Overdrive e-books (electronic books)to the community of Westonaria, Gauteng on the 7th September 2016.
Working with the South African Library for the Blind (SALB), Overdrive has now been designed to meet the needs of visually impaired South Africans so that they too, may share in the joy of reading. Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation‘s Head of Library and Information Services, Koekie Meyer emphasized the importance of reading and encouraged everyone to join their local Library. “If you do not value libraries, you do not value information” Meyer added. She concluded by thanking the South African Book Development Council for introducing campaigns such as National Book Week to get more people reading.
In the North West, the MEC for Culture, Arts and Traditional Affairs, Ms. O.R. Mochware officially opened the National Book Week programme for the North West. In her speech, she emphasized the importance of preserving our culture and traditions and said that the book is the best way of documenting these moments and it is important for people to read books so that they can learn more about their cultures.
National Book Week ambassador StoanSeate also raised the importance of the preservation of our cultures, particularly our languages. He reminded the audience of primary school learners and community that it was through reading books that he was able to travel the world. He went further to state that he even toured Europe, the Americas and Asia speaking his own SeTswana language and people were fascinated by it. He finished his talk by imploring South Africans to read.
The North West programme of activities boasted a very diverse audience by far. There were activities planned for able-bodied persons, the visually-impaired, the hearing impaired, the elderly and the disabled persons, who participated from braille reading to arts and crafts.
This really illustrated and reiterated that National Book Week is a campaign for all South Africans.
A reading nation is a leading nation!
ENDS/
For more information, please contact:
Vista Kalipa | OnPoint PR
| 073 673 4678