Namibia Youth Book Fair (NYBF)
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The Namibia Youth Book Fair (NYBF) will be the first of its kind and is initiated by the Franco Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC) and the Goethe-Zentrum Windhoek (GZ) in collaboration with Yambeka Children Media and is partly funded by the Elysée Fonds, a French-German cultural fund. The partners have developed the idea of a Namibian Youth Book Fair in an effort to help develop a reading culture among children and the youth in Namibia, and with the aim of sensitizing the general public on the importance of reading and writing.
The NYBF is open to the public and will offer a wide range of events like workshops, book launches and storytelling. The book launches will be accompanied by various youth and children’s book publishers‘ exhibitions. All relevant publications of recent years will also be considered for the Namibia Children’s Book Award which has been revived by the Namibia Children’s Book Forum.
During the NYBF the famous storytellers and artists Gcina Mhlope, Pedro Leitão and Véronique Tadjo will be perfoming in both storytelling sessions and readings. Gcina Mhlope will give an interactive presentation on how to tell a story, targeted at parents, teachers, aspiring storytellers and writers from all walks of life, followed on Saturday by her engaging storytelling of the Queen of Imbira. Véronique Tadjo will read from Chasing the Sun, an anthology that brings together stories from across Africa, while Pedro Leitão will engage children in the audience in interactive storytelling.
Already in September the Comicbook Creation Workshop took place and gave participants the unique opportunity to create a 2-page comic under the supervision of renowned Namibian artist Erik Schnack in collaboration with writer and filmmaker Oshosheni Hiveluah. The resulting comicbook will be launched during the Youth Book Fair on 26. October. Already since 11 October the exhibition „Speech Bubble“ is open to the public at the FNCC’s Blue Frog Restaurant. The exhibition displays the results of the Comicbook Creation Workshop.
The Book Fair will also provide educational institutions with creative ideas that will help them take a leading role in encouraging young people to become active and imaginative readers.
All schools and teachers are cordially invited to pass by with their classes and join the Book Fair during the weekend and especially on Monday, 29th October 2012.
Against the background of the overwhelming success of last year, the Goethe-Centre invites children to another exciting „Spooky Reading Night“, where they can listen to stories in German and English and spend the night at the Goethe-Centre together. Children will need to be registered prior to the event by their parents at the Goethe-Centre.
In concert with the Namibia Youth Book Fair, Namibia’s international cultural centres are launching Namibian Youth Reading, a book donation program to ensure children in underprivileged schools throughout the country have access to quality literature. The public is invited to bring good quality used books, any time during the year, to the Goethe-Centre, FNCC, American Cultural Center, and the Portuguese Embassy’s Diogo Cão Language Centre. Our offices will collect and distribute the books to primary schools, multipurpose centers and libraries around the country on a semi-regular basis.
