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Featured Articles

Nal’ibali Calls for Original Children’s Stories in Indigenous Languages

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Nal’ibali Promotes Family Literacy and Reading for Enjoyment on International Day of Families

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Nal’ibali Marks World Book and Copyright Day with Celebration in Soweto

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The art of the spoken word

Sally Mills, Networks and Communications Co-ordinator at Nal’ibali, explores how the work of literacy activist Mpho Khosi inspires literacy: The streets are alive and so are the minds of the young people who walk them. Brisk with triumph, pounding with frustration, clumsy with desperation or tripping with excitement, the streets feel the beat and the urgency of the youth and give rise to a voice…
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Telling stories from the heart

Acclaimed South African storyteller, poet, praise singer and actress, Andrea Dondolo speaks to us about the importance of storytelling mothers: Imagine the scene: It’s that magical and haunting time of day – sunset! Can you hear them? Listen carefully… Stories are like a thumping heart, begging to be allowed to live. Providing a pulse to humanity, our senses come alive with storytelling and, like animals…
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Choosing books for children

Verushka Louw, a children’s bookseller who works at an independent bookshop in Cape Town (The Book Lounge), tells us how important it is to choose the right book at the right time for children: I was a library child. We moved around a lot when I was younger and I did not have many of my own books, so in each new town I soon…
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A conversation to expand mother-tongue thought horizons

Phiwayinkosi Mbuyazi is igniting the minds of teenagers and contributing to the advancement of South African indigenous languages through his translation of scientific books. In this process he has invented almost 500 new isiZulu words. Mbuyazi spoke to us about the importance of nurturing mother-tongue languages in the educational and academic world:   Of all the creatures in the animal kingdom we, the humans, are the only…
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Globalisation and the importance of multi-ethnic stories

Kgebetli Moele, a South African writer best known for his novels, Room 206, UNTITLED, and The Book of the Dead, writes about the effects of globalisation and the importance of engaging with our stories in this multi-faceted country: There was a man who once wrote a book and titled it Cry the Beloved Country, and then another man, amazed by our fake selves, said: “Oh! But…
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Nal’ibali and Jungle Theatre Company find out how stories began

Jungle Theatre Company in partnership with the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign has developed a new production called How Stories Began based on the retelling of this traditional Zulu folktale by local author Wendy Hartmann.  How Stories Began will premiere at the Masque Theatre from 29 June to 3 July 2015 between 10h00 and 12h00 daily with a performance and workshop for children 4 years and older. How Stories Began is set in…
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