Guardians of Literacy

Guardians of Literacy

On 16 May 2011, we held our first World Book Day Charity Event in Pretoria at the National Botanical Gardens. Under the slogan ‘Words for a living—Words for a life’, we aimed to bring people who use words for living together with the public. It was to be an opportunity to foster collaboration between all these different word-users while simultaneously raising public awareness and collecting books for charity.

As it turned out, it poured with rain on the day, which wasn’t the best weather for an open-air event. Still, a few dedicated booksellers, authors, poets, actors, students and publisher’s representatives gathered with blankets, umbrellas, and books. We didn’t quite have the turnout we planned for, but it was not bad for a start.

The real success was that, despite the weather, we managed to collect just over R20 000 worth of books for underprivileged children. This was a true collaborative accomplishment. We received contributions from Helco Promotions, Book Promotions, BK Publishers, Pan Macmillan, Exclusive Books Kolonnade and members of the public.

After the event we had enough books to donate to one school library. But finding a good candidate was more difficult than we anticipated. That is not to say that there aren’t enough schools in South Africa that desperately need books. The problem was finding a school that had bookshelves and a system to catalogue and regulate the books. No matter how much we wanted to, it wasn’t practical to give books to an institution that couldn’t manage them.

We decided to go on 8 June to Makonyama Primary School in Hammanskraal. Computers and portable book cabinets had been donated to them previously, so they had the facilities but not the books. While we were at the school, we read to children and explained to them the importance of valuing and taking care of books. In exchange, some of the children read to us and sang to us. It was an indescribably rewarding experience.

We want to do this again next year, only bigger. For that we have to start now. What we’ve realized is that infrastructure is just as important as the books themselves. If any of you have bookshelves, old computers, or books that you would like to donate, or even if you simply want to stay informed of any developments, please email us at guardiansofliteracy@gmail.com

The Eighth Instalment—The Last Instalment?

Instalment 8 of Wispish is up, which means we've arrived at the end of The Citizen newspaper serialization. It has done its job. It has showcased Wispish to the public. Now it is time to find a publisher for the novel.

To be honest, I feel bad for leaving you hanging at the end of chapter 2. The really good bits are still to come. Further along there are chariots and artworks, makeup and mushrooms, dancing and leathercraft, hair-raising adventures and rats doing very strange things indeed. But all good things must come to an end.

And here below is Bananjo playing out another week.

Meet the Entire Cast!

Part 7 is up. Click on 'Newspaper Clippings 7' in the left sidebar to read about falling asleep, waking up alone and being chased by an impossible giant rat.

Oh, and be sure to check out the 'Dud Pictures' page. There you will find some fun stuff.

Enjoy! 

Over 1000 Hits!

Over 1000 hits in just one month! Amazing! Thank you to everyone for the support and the comments. There's still plenty more to come. More story, more illustrations, more fun. See you on Thursday for more Wispish.

A Serial! A Real Serial!

Welcome to all of you just joining the blog, and welcome back to all the rest. Under 'Newspaper Clippings 5', to the left you will find the latest installment of The Discoveries of Wispish. It now officially feels like a serial. A Real Serial. Who has those anymore? My deepest thanks to Bruce Dennill, editor of the Citivibe supplement at The Citizen Newspaper, for running segments of my novel week after week. I know it takes up half a page. Huge!

Right, the schmaltzy stuff is over.

If you want some background to the novel, read the page titled 'Where Do Dragons Come From?'

Enjoy

Where Do Dragons Come From?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story behind the serialization of my novel, The Discoveries of Wispish, I would like to bring you up to speed. Being a hospitable sort of blogger, I don’t want anyone roaming around here feeling lost and asking themselves perplexedly, “Where am I? What’s all this about?”  And, “What is this Wispish? Is that even a real word?” Or, the absolute worst, “Where’s the stuff about wasps?”

I couldn’t in good conscience let that happen to you, so hereunder is a bit of background.

Well, it’s like this. It all started four years ago with a snippet of writing penned in a lonely café (or should rather I say a scribble in a coffee shop during the quiet time between breakfast and lunch?)  Anyway, I showed it to someone I greatly admired, who knew I sketched as a hobby, and he said, “I think you should put down your pencils and pick up a pen.” I couldn’t let that gem go to waste, so I decided to give it a shot.

“Complete rubbish” would be understating how bad I was at writing. I lacked focus, motivation, skill; so naturally anything longer than a snippet fell to pieces. And then, the person I greatly admired died.

I think it was out of a desire to honour him that I became serious about learning to write. I started at the beginning. I read everything I could find on style and grammar and even some stuff on rhetoric. But book learning doesn’t easily translate into the feel and ear that an author requires. So, I played. I played until I could write 1000 words, and then until I could manage 2000 words, and then until I could submit a short story for publication. Which I did, and twice I was rejected. But the third time I tried, Something Wicked, a horror magazine, accepted my story A Letter to a Friend.

Right, moving swiftly ahead, skipping lots of boring stuff. So there I was, I had finished my second attempt at a first novel, and I was considering sending it off to some publishers, when I heard about The Citizen Book Prize, a prize jointly presented by Pan Macmillan and The Citizen newspaper, and it just so happened that they were soliciting young adult fantasy submissions.

In a nutshell, I submitted The Discoveries of Wispish along with a synopsis, Pan Macmillan shortlisted my novel, The Citizen newspaper ran my synopsis along with eight others, the public voted, and I won.

Sadly, Pan Macmillan decided not to publish. Fortunately, The Citizen newspaper chose to push on, back the underdog, if you know what I mean. Every Thursday for a limited time they will be running a serial, showcasing segments of my novel along with some of my illustrations. Then, with their kind permission, I add every week’s clipping to this blog for the world to see.

So now that you are up to speed, I have a small request. You see, I’m approaching the book industry in reverse order: first I win a prize, then I find an audience, and finally I get published. I need your help with the second portion, and all you have to do is go the top left of the blog, click on the Newspaper Clippings tabs (1, 2, 3), read and hopefully enjoy. Oh, and leave a comment if the urge takes you. That’s it.

By the way, ‘Wispish’ is a real word. Or at least I think it is. 

Extra Stuff

I've been doing a lot of character design for the illustrations that accompany the Wispish serial in The Citizen, and there are plenty of duds along the way. Those drawings that don't quite capture the charaters in the novel, but that don't suck too badly, I will post under the Dud Pictures page. I already added a picture of a dire rat demurely holding its tail. Do have a look.