Culture of Reading Campaign

South Africa has a high rate of illiteracy and a low reading culture which is informed by socio-economic issues in the country, few libraries especially in townships and villages and the fact that most people are unable to afford to buy books especially for leisure purposes.

The Jozi Book Fair is particularly aware of the challenges and one of the primary aims of Jozi Book Fair is to stimulate the development of a reading culture within the working class, in communities, schools, educational institutions and the general public amidst all these challenges.

Jozi Book Fair aims to achieve this through getting involved and supporting activities and initiatives that are geared towards the development of literacy within townships.

Partnerships

• Libraries – Interacting and networking with libraries in Gauteng. Inviting them to the fair and working with them in various events and activities.

• Literacy organisations – Networking and working with literacy organisations in their projects with the overall aim of supporting the development of a reading and writing culture.

Activities

• Reading and writing workshops – Jozi Book Fair will host readings & writing skills in different regions within Johannesburg and surrounding areas

• Fostering relations with library users - organised group of readers within libraries and beneficiaries/constituencies of literacy organisations are profiled and given a platform to discuss and network at Jozi Book Fair events.

• Book launches – Book launches and literacy related events like arts festivals have been held and will continue to be held to keep the momentum of the fair going. .

• Children's section – An interactive programme of reading, writing to drawing with the aim of encouraging and supporting children to see the value in literacy .

• Meeting the author -- To encourage non-published authors as well as people who are interested in writing to get in touch with published authors and to get their work to be evaluated by the author.

• Story-telling and Reading – This is targeted at children between the ages of 6 and 12, and is aimed at introducing them and their parents the world of books and stories. A special emphasis will be on indigenous language literature and story telling.

• Readerthon Competition - This competition aims to promote an interest in reading.

Jozi Book Fair will run these activities in partnerships with other organisations, institutions and individuals. The process and the concept of encouraging the culture of learning will continue to be fostered and endorsed by the Jozi Book Fair and remains one of the priorities of the fair itself.

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