South African Children’s Literature Conference

SA Partners, together with Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature and Graduate School of Library & Information Sciences, are pleased to announce a unique, one day professional development seminar on South African children’s literature.  The conference will take place on the Simmons campus on Saturday, July 12, 2008.

Special guest speakers will include:

Sindiwe Magona, a South African author, poet, playwright, story-teller, actor, and inspirational speaker who recently retired from a career with the United Nations. She is the author of 18 children’s books including The Best Meal Ever! and Life is a Hard but Beautiful Thing.

Elinor Sisulu, a journalist, academic and daughter-in-law of Walter and Albertina Sisulu. The need for preserving history through stories was her main motivation for writing the children’s book, The Day Gogo Went to Vote, which won numerous awards, including the African Studies Association’s Best Children's Book award.

and Donnarae MacCann, an academic specializing in African and African diaspora children’s literature.  Her co-authored works include Apartheid and Racism in South African Children's Literature, 1985-1995 and African Images in Juvenile Literature: Commentaries on Neocolonialist Fiction.  

Lectures and breakout sessions will cover topics such as the importance of South African children’s literature, an exploration of the Western tendency to essentialize the African experience, the role of books versus technology in a globalized world, and an overview of the rich storytelling tradition of southern Africa.

As a very special activity, Sindiwe Magona will perform an example of traditional South African oral storytelling.

South Africa Partners’ Masifunde Sonke: Let Us Read Together book project will be showcased, and the books, along with guests authors’ other works, will be available for sale.

Please mark your calendars now for what is sure to be an informative, interesting, and enjoyable day!