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International Research Society for Children's Literature |
Klein Kariba Resort, Warmbaths |
Sunset soiree: meet South African authors and illustrators: During the conference, delegates will be able to meet South African authors and illustrators. This will happen during the sunset sessions, on Tuesday (21st); Wednesday (22nd) and Thursday (23rd) between 18:00 and dinner, which will be at 20:00. A few new books will also be launched. Programme: Tuesday 21 August 18:00-18:45: Images of Africa:
launch of The 18:45-19:30: A Stars of Africa launch: Lesley Beake 19:30-20:00: Youth theatre in South
Africa: the new Wednesday 22 August 18:00-18:40: Launch of Yebo, Jamela! by Niki Daly 18:40-19:00: "Walking with a leopard": Leon de Villiers 19:00-19:20: Kabelo Kgatea: observations by a 19:20-20:00: Lets talk (work)shop by Piet Grobler Thursday 23 August 18:00-18:20: Hamilton Budaza talks about and shows 18:20-18:40: Fabulous Fundudzi by Cicely van Straten 18:40-19:00: The picnic by Joan Rankin 19:00-19:30: Author in search of her story: Elana Bregin 19:30-20:00: Children’s picture books - a
neglected tool Launch of The Waterbearer by Dianne Hofmeyr Dianne Hofmeyr will launch her new book, The Waterbearer (Tafelberg). The Waterbearer is the story of Maji, who sails down the East Coast of Africa with his tradesman father in their dhow, and who is then captured by warriors from a great inland kingdom somewhere in the interior of Africa (which one later realises is Great Zimbabwe). According to the publishers, never before has a writer succeeded in making ancient Africa seem so exotic and exciting as Dianne Hofmeyr has done here. A period from the history of the African continent, that to all intents and purposes is lost in the mists of time, suddenly comes alive before the reader’s eyes. Dianne Hofmeyr is one of the best-known and most successful writers for young people in South Africa. She has won numerous awards, among them various Sanlam Awards and even the M-Net Award for Boikie, you better believe it. Images of Africa from The Waterbearer Dianne will do a presentation of images and music that inspired her in the writing of The Waterbearer. These images are taken from all over Africa and are almost the backbone of the book ...old crumbling buildings up the East Coast, dhows, etc. For more information on Di Hofmeyr Launch of My mother hates television by Lesley Beake Lesley Beake is a multi-award winning writer of books for children and young adults. She has won many awards in South Africa and her international awards include, for the book Song of Be, a Children’s Book of Note in 1993 and the Best Book for Young Adults in 1994, by the American Library Association. Forty-five of her books have been published in South Africa. Her books have been published in ten countries overseas and translated into eight different languages, including Japanese and Swedish. Locally, one of her books has been translated into thirteen African languages. My mother hates television is a contemporary story about two children, Njeri and her young brother Jeff. They are TV addicts and while their mother spends many long hours on her studies, they vie for access to the family’s TV. The story has an ironic twist that children will enjoy - when Njeri and Jeff discover that their hard-working, dedicated mother has her weaknesses. But along the way, Njeri and Jeff make an even more important discovery. Lesley Beake will launch this, her latest book, at the conference. Launch of Nozincwadi - Mother of Books by Gcina Mhlophe Gcina Mhlophe is South Africa’s premier storyteller. She is a pioneer - promoting storytelling, reading and writing in an age when many children’s vision has been narrowed by television, films and computers. Gcina is a TV and radio personality and she has travelled extensively in Africa and beyond, presenting our rich storytelling tradition wherever she goes. Gcina is also a published author. She has produced a number of books for children and has dedicated her expertise to the production of collections of stories for newly literate adults. Nozincwadi - Mother of Books was inspired by the author’s aunt, a strong woman living in a South African village, who couldn’t read, but who knew instinctively that books have power. Nozincwadi was a leader in her community. She urged the children to read and learn and when an opportunity to develop her own literacy came along, she set aside her fears, took up the challenge and discovered the freedom that reading brings. The book is beautifully illustrated in full colour and will help to carry Gcina’s message about the importance of reading with her as she tours South Africa on her new campaign. Gcina will be launching her book at the conference, so conference-goers can look forward to some powerful and moving entertainment. Gcina Mhlophe’s and Lesley Beake’s books are the two latest titles in Maskew Miller Longman’s exciting new reading series, Stars of Africa. The series, for primary school children across sub-Saharan Africa, showcases writers and illustrators from Africa and explores the themes and experiences of the continent. Conference-goers can find out more at the Stars of Africa display at the conference. Youth theatre in South Africa: the new approach * Multi awardwinning author of youth novels and Arts Editor BARRIE HOUGH and multi-acclaimed actress / director/ producer/ playwright LIZZ MEIRING have found a paticular synergy in adapting his novels to the stage. Their approach is fresh, unconvential and highly succesful as it resonates with young audiences from all cultural backgrounds. This unlikely, and decidedly off-beat pair explain how they make the magic happen. Launch of Yebo, Jamela! By Niki Daly The second book about spunky, little Jamela will be launched by Niki Daly. Niki is perhaps South Africa’s best-known children’s book author-illustrator abroad and has just been chosen as South Africa’s candidate for the Hans Christian Anderson Award. Yebo Jamela is a book that is quintessentially South African, down to the smallest detail - and this is something that is not easy to find, what with all the translated British picture books that other publishers put on the market. Christmas is drawing near and Jamela’s mother decides to go and buy a chicken from Mrs Zibi. If they feed it well, it will be fat and nice by Christmas time. Jamela accompanies her mother on the chicken-buying expedition and suggests calling the chicken Christmas. But by the time Christmas comes, Jamela has made a pet of Christmas. And as the ladies at the hairdressers where Jamela and her mother and Mrs Zibi fetch up after the "wild-chicken chase" all agree: one does not eat one’s friends! A book filled with humour and warmth and wonderfully upbeat. It shows the vibrant colourful life of the township without taking the reader on a guilt trip. Niki Daly is a Capetonian with a chequered career in the best possible sense of the word. He spent many years living and working abroad as children’s book illustrator. He taught at the Art Department of the University of Stellenbosch, founded the children’s book imprint, "Songololo" for David Philip Publishers and played a huge role in the development of an indigenous picture book tradition. He is one of a few South African authors/illustrators who makes a living solely from his books. For more information on Niki Daly Walking with a leopard: Leon de Villiers talks about his work Leon de Villiers is the published author of three youth novels and one illustrated children's book. His second novel: Die pro, won three awards. He is a teacher who sometimes writes fulltime. He lives in Potchefstroom in the North West Province. For more information on Leon de Villiers Kabelo Kgatea: observations by a debutant My name is Duncan Kabelo (Mabinogotsholwa) Kgatea, born on 31 January 1961 in Madigo (North West Province). I am married to Caroline with two kids. I joined Anglo Platinum Mines in 1980 as an underground employee and was identified by the internal affairs department after writing article and poems for our in-house magazine. After my first novel had won me a Sanlam Youth Literature Award for 2000 I was assigned an office job. I am a member of the Setwana Authors Association in South Africa Lets talk (work)shop by Piet Grobler Piet Grobler has been working as illustrator and artist for the past decade after studies and brief careers in theology, journalism and graphic design. His activities include a monthly comic strip with Philip de Vos in Insig, an Afrikaans magazine, editorial illustration for newspapers, women's magazines and corporate publications. He has designed posters for South African arts festivals and international exhibitions of South African illustrations. He regularly illustrates and designs covers for prominent South African publishers and has exhibited his work in galleries in various South African cities and towns as well as Bologna, Bratislava and Tokyo. Piet recently decided to focus mainly on children's book illustration, his favourite genre.For these he has been awarded, amongst others, the Tienie Holloway Medal (South Africa), the Octogone de Chêne (France) and a silver medal in the Noma Concours (Japan). He has illustrated more or less fifty books, most of which are for children. Piet Grobler regularly shares his love of picture books with children by involving them in art workshops. The workshops thematically link to books illustrated by him. He hopes this might help in creating visual literacy and a love for books in a society where a thriving book culture is not yet a reality. This presentation includes slides of workshops held at the Stellenbosch University Gallery, the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and the International Youth Library in Munich, and slides of illustrations from the books on which the workshops were based. Hamilton Budaza talks about and shows his work Hamilton Khulekile Budaza was born Cape Town. He first showed an interest in art during early childhood and partly self- taught as well. Hamilton began art classes at Community Arts Project in 1977 under the guidance of Cecil Skotness. His main interest was sculpture and lino-cut. In 1980-81 he was awarded a scholarship to study and practise fine art at the Academia Di Belle Arte at Perugia in Italy. On his return he put much effort into running art classes for young people at Community centres around the Cape flats. Besides participating in many group art exhibitions, he has attended quit a number art-workshops, including the Thupelo art workshops. In 1995 we was invited to conduct a banner design workshop in London and produced a banner that was unveiled by the Queen as part of the AFRICA 95 festival. The banner was a gift from Mr Nelson Mandela. He is a founder member of various art groups such as Vakalisa, Committed artists, Khanya mural collective and Imbumba arts and crafts. In 1977 he was on an exchange arts programme for three Months at Indianapolis in United States of America and had a one-man show. He has curated a number of exhibitions around Cape flats. He is still producing his art, doing book illustrations, banner design, mural painting and art commissions. His art works depicts the daily living conditions of people especially in the townships and rural areas. For the programme I will be talking about my art- work, explaining processes/ techniques that I am using , showing examples and a mini show of my artworks and books I have illustrated which will be for sale. Fabulous Fundudzi by Cicely van Straten Cicely Anne van Straten (nee Luck) grew up in East and South Africa and the UK. Her formative years were spent mostly in Kenya where her grandparents were settler farmers, and in Uganda where her father was connected with Makere University. Her family's African roots as well as her grandfather's anthropological researches in Kenya in the 1920's have given her a fascination with African folklore and mythology which is mirrored in her writing and her research. Her master's dissertation "The fairytale as paradigm of inner transformation: a comparative study of European and African tales, is concerned with the rich folkloric culture of South Africa which has been lost to many of its children during a period of rapid cultural change. From a young age she was absorbed by fantasy writing. She would like to see fantasy literature that is truly African in its setting emerge for the children of Africa. "Becoming a children's book illustrator
occurred late in my life. It was never my ambition. Yet, all the things I
enjoyed and all the experiences I had, pointed in one direction. The
rather unusual training has helped and enriched my ability in my
"new" profession. The biggest surprise came when my own stories
were published. I never planned to be a writer. Everything was unexpected,
and fun like a picnic. The combination of story and illustration is like
creating a theatre production. This has increased my fascination with
children's picture books. Author in Search of Her Story: Elana Bregin Elana Bregin gives an overview of her work, explains why she prefers to write for young adults and shares some of the dilemmas of being a white SA writer in the Post-apartheid moment. Elana Bregin is a Durban-based author, best known for her award-winning Young Adult titles, which include The Kayaboeties, The Boy from the Other Side and The Red-haired Khumalo. Her hard-hitting magic realist novel, The Slayer of Shadows, was awarded The English Academy’s Percy Fitzpatrick 2000 Award for Youth Literature. She also has several children’s stories published in the UK, including The Magical Bicycle, A School for Amos and Now We Are Free, which forms part of the prestigious Amnesty International Dare to Be Different collection published by Bloomsbury. Elana holds an MA in English cum laude from the University of Natal, where her thesis examined colonial and other representations of the Bushmen. She currently works as a freelance writer, lecturer and editor, and is particularly committed to enabling the emergence of new South African writing voices. Educated in Zimbabwe, Senegal and the Netherlands, Elinor Sisulu combines training in history, English literature, development studies and feminist theory. She has published studies of women's work in Zimbabwe and as a freelance writer and editor for the past nine years. In 1994 she published an award winning children's book The Day Gogo Went to Vote. She is a member of the South African Children's Book Forum and has been instrumental in the establishment of a Children's Literature Network in South Africa. Elinor is currently writing the authorized biography of legendary South African leaders, Walter and Albertina Sisulu Other authors and illustrators Piet Grobler will present a slide show about his work and Alida Bothma will talk about and exhibit her work. The authors Kabelo Kgatea, Leon de Villiers, Riana Scheepers and Cecily van Straten will also talk about their work.
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