This year celebrations for World Book Day began on the 22nd of April with a special breakfast at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town, hosted by the Publishers? Association of South Africa and sponsored by the paper manufacturers, SAPPI. The special guest at the breakfast was author Allister Sparks and was attended by approximately 100 invited guests.

On World Book Day itself the Centre for the Book hosted a series of events that began with a panel discussion on the "teaching of South African literature in our schools." Although it was unfortunate that two of the designated panel members, namely Phumla Satyo of the Western Cape Education Department and Audrey Simpson of Glendale High School, were unable to attend, the discussion was driven by the presentations of Shaun Viljoen of Stellenbosch University's Department of English and Geraldine Goldblatt, Curriculum Advisor at the Western Cape Education Department. Educator Natalie Williams of Cape Town High School brought along her class to attend the discussion and the students made a very active contribution to the debate. The discussion was attended by approximately 40 people in total. The debate focused on the use of Richard Rive's novel, "Buckingham Palace: District Six" as a prescribed text in Western Cape schools and the responses of learners and educators to its presentation.

This was followed by a lunch-time panel discussion on the "seductions of romantic fiction" with Chanette Paul, a prolific author of romantic fiction in Afrikaans, Mary Watson, a writer who also teaches in the Department of Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, and Helen Moffett, Research Fellow at the African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town. The discussion was moderated by Nellekè De Jager, publisher at NB Publishers. The discussion focussed on the positives and negatives of romantic fiction and addressed questions relating to the gender-specific nature of the genre and the gender and class profiles of the readers of romantic fiction in South African, amongst others. The event was attended by approximately 20 people. While the attendance was slightly disappointing, the debate was particularly vigorous and provides the opportunity to explore this subject at another occasion.

In the afternoon a special ceremony to celebrate the culmination of a youth creative writing competition was held. Earlier this year 41 teachers and 4 librarians representing 22 schools and 3 public libraries from the Cape Peninsula were brought to the Centre for the Book to participate in creative writing workshops conducted by renowned writing teacher, Anne Schuster. In accordance with the theme of "A non-stop journey" the teachers and librarians were expected to return to their particular environments and conduct workshops with their Grade 7 and 8 learners who would submit their entries of poems and/or stories to a special competition organised by the Centre for the Book. Over 213 entries were received and from these 10 were chosen by a panel as the best submissions. Apart from receiving a wonderful book hamper which consisted of books donated by publishers, New Africa Books, Oxford University Press, Penguin, Heinemann, Maskew Miller Longman and Jacana, the learners were also given the opportunity to recite their work to an audience of over 100 teachers, parents and fellow learners.

The audience was also treated to a musical performance by Niquita Arendse, a young actress and attends Wynberg Girls High School. A short address was thereafter delivered by former Junior Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Robyn Roodt, followed by an address by radio and television personality, Natalie Becker. This is the second consecutive year that Natalie has taken time out of her busy schedule to attend the ceremony on World Book Day and the young learners are always encouraged and comforted by her words. Other special guests at the ceremony included Anne Schuster who facilitated the workshops for teachers and librarians, Tasia Rosser, who most generously allowed her illustration to be used as the poster image for World Book Day this year and author James Matthews who celebrates his 75th birthday later this year. Members of the World Book Day Committee who also attended were Colleen Meinert of EDULIS, Rudayba Khan of EMEP and Nazma Vajat of Rylands Public Library. As with 2003, nine of the selected young authors were female and one, male. This year, however, we had three poems and seven stories with two contributions in Afrikaans, two in Xhosa and six in English.

During the early evening we hosted a special talk by Dr Helen Moffett of the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town. This was a repeat of a talk delivered at the UCT Summer School earlier this year. Due to its popularity at the Summer School, it was thought that it was a very good opportunity to have her present it again on World Book Day. The talk focussed on the connections between the popularity of the novels of Jane Austen and the recent work of Helen Fielding, namely the media phenomenon of "Bridget Jones' Diary." A large audience of in excess of 100 people attended the lecture, and the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies at UCT assisted in soliciting donations in support of the Friends of Observatory Public Library. A substantial amount of money was collected for this most laudable cause. The final event of the evening, "The First Impossible South African Book Quiz in English," was preceded by drinks and snacks before quiz questioner, Robin Malan, proceeded to test the literary knowledge of Michael Crouch, Dianne Case, Kole Omotoso and Henrietta Dax of the "Dog-ears," and Pamela Jooste, Brian Wafawarowa, Henrietta Rose-Innes and Gus Ferguson of the "Bookmarks." After score-keeper Ashraf Johaardien tried his best to keep a record of the score, the "Bookmarks" came out victorious after lagging behind for most of the quiz. Attendance exceeded 100 people and the overall popularity of the event is a compelling enough reason to consider it as an annual event for World Book Day.

World Book Day was also celebrated at other centres around the country. The Free State Provincial Library Services organised a very special event at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein on Monday 19 April 2004 with a programme that included a discussion with authors, Zubeida Jaffer and Letlapa Mphahlele in conversation with Ginn Fourie, mother of a victim of the Helderberg Tavern bombing in 1994. Mphahlele was the person within the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) who ordered the attack. Another discussion with authors Carina Hugo-Diedericks and Chris Van Wyk focussed on the realm of children's literature. The Gauteng South branch of the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA), hosted a book donation ceremony on World Book Day. The ceremony at the Alberton Public Library celebrated the donation of books by NB Books, Van Schaiks, Fascination Books, LAPA and Exclusive Books to 188 libraries in the Gauteng South region.

At the Sandton Public Library the Johannesburg City Library Services organised an event which included a story-telling session by Dieter Glassen, music by the Festive Ensemble Orchestra and a dialogue between former radio and television personality, Adrian Steed and writer and humourist, James Clarke. The library is situated on the newly-renamed Nelson Mandela Square.

In Pretoria LIASA also hosted a books evening at Exclusive Books in Brooklyn Mall.

Van Schaik's Booksellers organised a session of writers' visits to two of their bookstores in the Western Cape. At the Parow store patrons were treated to readings by Edwina Fransman, Elias Nel and Dianne Ferrus, while at the Rondebosch branch, Chantel Erfort read from her work.

The celebration of World Book Day 2004 was indeed a "non-stop journey!"

Mark Espin
Projects Co-ordinator