Thabiso Mahlape is a publisher with Jacana. She recently launched a new book imprint, BlackBird Books, which seeks to provide a platform and publishing home to both new voices and the existing generation of black writers and narratives. Thabiso believes that relevant South African stories are the key to a culture of reading: When I was about five or six, I didn’t know about books, about reading for...

The team behind the Nal'ibali supplement come from all walks of life, but they all share one passion: the love of language and literature. As the only bilingual resource of its kind in South Africa – the supplement offers the children and their caregivers the opportunity to enjoy stories and read material in English, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho and Afrikaans thanks to these linguistic wizards....

This month, the Nal'ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign celebrates the 100th edition of its popular literacy supplement produced in partnership with Times Media. As the only bilingual resource of its kind in South Africa, it bridges home, community and school to promote and enable reading for joy and personal satisfaction among children and their parents or caregivers in African languages and English. Available in five different language combinations,...

In his insightful book, The Rights of the Reader, Daniel Pennac comments: “When someone reads aloud, they raise you to the level of the book. They give you reading as a gift.” People who love reading know the precise value of that gift, and how to access it. But there are those who cannot read, both children and adults. In days gone by, storytelling and,...