Literacy Blog

Omphile is a 13-year-old Grade 7 learner at Prinshof School for blind and visually imapired children. She has congenital glaucoma and therefore has limited eyesight. Omphile has always enjoyed reading – perhaps because everyone else in her family reads – and would like to encourage adults and older caregivers to help other blind or visually imapired children experience the joy she has found in...

Reading and telling stories are important activities that encourage children to develop their imaginations, excellent memories and increase their vocabularies. As part of our broader ‘Story Power’ campaign, we embarked on a two-day programme of ‘Healing through Stories’ workshops designed to use stories – written, told and read – to help children to make sense of their hardships, in a fun environment where play...

This Women’s Day we salute local librarians, teachers and literacy activists for being inspiring change-makers in their community. The literacy librarian: Edith Khuzwayo Edith Fezeka Khuzwayo, the Managing Librarian at the Murray Park Library in the City of Johannesburg, is one of those community members who should be celebrated not just on Women’s Day but every day of the year. In addition to managing the day-to-day running...

Youth Month is a good time to reflect on the past. Our past. It is when we take a moment of silence to remember those who died to liberate us. It is important to remember. And stories are an essential part of remembering. Stories enable us to view past events as if we were part of it. As readers, we are able to step into...

With US paediatricians now prescribing reading with children as part of their essential care, Malini Mohana speaks to local experts to see how they think the power of stories can shape children’s social, cognitive and emotional wellbeing. Storytelling is the primal way in which human beings organise and compartmentalise their experiences. We’re not just narrators of things that happen around us; we’re also the narrators...

They're just words on a page, but books can take you places and open up worlds of wonder, enlightenment, and imagination for your children. This June, Gus Silber reflects on the role his own father played in shaping his future through books and stories and the power of parents to pass on this important tradition. I grew up in a house without walls, and a...

South African author Linda Rode is well known in the children’s book world as an avid collector and lover of fairytales. Having authored three prize-winning children’s books of her own, compiled and contributed to a further 12 children’s anthologies and translated numerous of books and stories for children, her storytelling style is perfect for reading aloud: Since it’ll be three to four years before the...

Award-winning South African author Maxine Case reflects on the role of intergenerational storytelling in preserving family history and supporting children’s literacy development: During the school holidays, my sisters and I would join our cousins at our grandmother’s house. With 10 children underfoot, Ma had little time to devote to any of us, but she was fond of me. Like her, I was a bookworm. Ma knew...

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...

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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Helping blind and visually impaired children discover story worlds

The healing power of stories

Women's month: Literacy superwomen

South African stories for South African youth

Reading to young children: The cognitive benefits

Calling on dads to pass on a love of reading this Father's Day

In praise of reading aloud

How family storytelling helps us grow

A conversation to expand mother-tongue thought horizons

Choosing books for children