Latest news with #BookDash
TimesLIVE
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
Calling all Cape Town creatives: apply to take part in the next Book Dash
Cape Town creatives, are you ready? Join Book Dash on a rollercoaster creative joyride to create new children's books in 12 hours! Book Dash is a South African social impact publisher of free books for very young children. They believe that 'Every child should own a hundred books by the age of five'. To that end, Book Dash gathers creative professionals who volunteer to create new, African storybooks that anyone can freely translate and distribute. They employ their unique, 12-hour book-making methodology to create beautiful new books in just one day. Then, they share with the world, on their website and in physical format for children to own. The next Book Dash event will take place in Cape Town on Saturday September 20 from 9am to 9pm. Writers, illustrators and designers are encouraged to apply and use their creative superpowers to work together, make new books, and change the world! This is a volunteer-based event, and no one gets paid for their participation on the day: the books are our gift to the world.
The Star
04-05-2025
- General
- The Star
No books, no future: The cost of neglecting early childhood literacy
Deb Zelezniak | Published 2 hours ago Can a nation thrive if its youngest citizens grow up without books? The answer should be obvious. Yet in South Africa, more than 40% of households have no books at all. The situation is just as troubling within early childhood development (ECD) centres, where 61% have fewer than 10 books available, and only 56% provide age-appropriate reading materials across different age groups. Access to books in early childhood is not a 'nice-to-have' - it's the very foundation of all future learning and development. But we are failing our children - a fact made painfully clear by the now all-too-familiar statistics: 80% of Grade 3 learners cannot read for meaning, and the country ranked last out of 57 nations in the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) . Behind these numbers are millions of children growing up without the most basic tools for learning - not just books, but the chance to hear stories and connect words to ideas. This lack of exposure robs them of far more than literacy: it stunts their cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial development. Children who miss out on these foundational experiences are more likely to fall behind academically, drop out of school, and face greater vulnerability to poverty and economic exclusion later in life. No one expects a child under five to read independently. But this vital developmental window - from birth to five - is when children learn how to learn. They must begin to explore books, listen to stories, and recognise that symbols on a page represent sounds, meanings, and imaginative worlds far beyond their own. These early encounters with books build essential life skills, from critical thinking and emotional regulation to numeracy, empathy, problem-solving, and creativity. As importantly, they nurture a lifelong love of reading. Without this foundation, children begin their academic journey at a disadvantage. For many, that gap only widens as they move through the system. Book Dash notes that even a single book can dramatically improve a child's school readiness compared to peers who have none. The good news is that this is a solvable problem. Civil society is already responding. Organisations like the Santa Shoebox Project have installed more than 220 reading corners in ECD centres around South Africa, creating inviting, book-filled spaces where children can develop a positive association with reading. But these efforts, while impactful, are only scratching the surface. Scaling such solutions will require broader support, particularly from the government and the private sector. Encouragingly, the recent national budget speech included promises of increased support for the ECD sector. It's a step in the right direction, but also long overdue . Decades of underfunding mean that properly resourcing and registering ECD centres - let alone filling them with relevant, multilingual books – remains a major challenge. Whether this new funding will directly improve access to books is still unclear. If we're serious about addressing South Africa's literacy crisis, we must stop treating it as a problem that begins in school. It starts long before then. By ensuring every child has access to books from the earliest years, we can nurture not only readers but thinkers, dreamers, and doers. The building blocks are simple. The return on investment is life-changing. The time to act is now. Deb Zelezniak, CEO of the Santa Shoebox Project
Daily Maverick
26-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
No VAT, all slash; South Africans gatvol of GNU drama; and picking the next pope
The Weekend Wrap No VAT, all slash. Inside the IDT CEO's R22m assets splurge. And how the next pope will be elected. 'Only game in town': Treasury must now slash the fat with no hike for the VAT After years of squandering and providing a swelling army of cadres and their kin with government jobs and contracts — not to mention outright stealing and looting — there are simply no other trees to shake in the hope that money will magically fall from the canopy. By Ed Stoddard VAT deal means GNU stays — just in time as new survey shows South Africans are gatvol of the drama A midnight deal that saw the National Treasury drop the VAT increase and reach a possible out-of-court settlement on the DA's VAT case has probably saved the Government of National Unity. By Ferial Haffajee Cash properties and new SUVs – inside Independent Development Trust CEO's R22m assets splurge The Independent Development Trust's newly constituted board has passed a resolution calling for lifestyle audits into the entity's executive management. Daily Maverick unpacks several property transactions and vehicle purchases that might pique the investigators' interest. By Pieter-Louis Myburgh for Scorpio Eleven things we learnt about the GNU from Tony Leon's new book, plus some gossip Tony Leon was part of the DA's negotiating team in the formation of the Government of National Unity — and his new book contains a juicy account of the behind-the-scenes action. By Rebecca Davis VAT Increase Scrapped: Political Win or Economic Gamble? Behind the press conferences and political posturing, one question remains: how will the government cover the R75-billion gap? Daily Maverick's Yeshiel Panchia explains. Reporting by: Yeshiel Panchia Turning the page — how early book access can transform South Africa's future On World Book Day, South Africa's early literacy crisis takes centre stage. As the country grapples with a deep literacy divide, grassroots initiatives like the Santa Shoebox Project and Book Dash are showing that change is possible, starting with a single storybook. With community involvement, mother-tongue stories and the gift of book ownership, they're planting the seeds of lifelong learning in the hands of the youngest readers. By Takudzwa Pongweni On what grounds are the legal challenges against the contentious NHI Act being fought? The National Health Insurance Act has been subjected to five legal challenges. Who are the challengers and what are their grievances? By Tamsin Metelerkamp Our brains are being fried — here's why (and what to do about it) Digital dementia is a thing – and it's getting worse – but there are ways to push back without throwing your phone in the ocean. By Dominique Olivier Gift Leotlela's 100m performance shows South Africa's sprinters are ready to take on the world 'I've never had a South African senior title. This is my first.' Gift Leotlela stunned a packed field, including Bayanda Walaza and Benjamin Richardson, at the Senior National Track & Field Championships on Thursday. By Keanan Hemmonsbey Seven climate tipping points that could change life as we know it This Earth Day, the warning signs are impossible to ignore. Evidence is mounting that several Earth systems are on the verge of breaching their tipping points. Scientists warn that triggering them poses grave threats for our planet's life-support systems. There is still a window of opportunity to prevent this breach but it's closing faster than we realise. By Our Burning Planet How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave Holding a conclave to elect a pope is a tradition that goes back centuries. By Mathew Schmalz Mosquitoes are the world's most dangerous animals, but here's why they shouldn't all disappear Wouldn't it be better for us all if mosquitoes disappeared. One answer is that it would save about 500,000 lives per year, but that's not the whole story. By Shüné Oliver Daily Mini Crossword Quickie Play here. Fynvleis and wildspastei, the heart of the Karoo in a pie This was my recipe of the Year in 2022, a traditional game pie (wildspastei) made with fynvleis. Karoo tradition, first in a pot, then in a pie. My dear friend Sandra Antrobus taught me how to make fynvleis, and she was always very precise about how to cook things. Especially this. It passed muster. By Tony Jackman Subscribe to First Thing to receive the Weekend Wrap in your inbox every Sunday morning. If you value the work our journalists do and want to support Daily Maverick, consider becoming a Maverick Insider. Support DM
