About Jozi Book Fair

Khanya College launched the first edition of Jozi Book Fair (JBF) in August 2009 in collaboration with Botsotso Publishers at Museum Africa. Khanya College will host JBF 2010 at Museum Africa on the 7th, 8th and 9th August.

The overall objective of Jozi Book Fair is to provide a public and visible platform where three key social partners in the promotion of a culture of reading and writing can come together. These social partners are:

• readers in the form of the general public and specific constituencies within this broad public,
• writers and authors, in particular emerging new writers, and
• publishers – in particular small and emerging publishers

The creation of a common meeting space for all the partners is crucial to strengthening small publishers, creating a market for writers, and in creating an opportunity for readers to signal to authors and publishers the kinds of stories they are interested in. The JBF project’s overall purpose is therefore to create an ongoing cycle in which each of the parties reinforce each other and create a strong reading and writing culture.

The activities at the book fair include:

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  Providing a space for between 80 and 100 small publishers to exhibit their products to the public. Established publishers will also be invited to exhibit
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  Providing a programme of seminars, roundtable discussions, and public lectures featuring fiction and non-fiction writers from South Africa, Africa and around the world
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  Providing training workshops on reading skills and writing skills to interested members of the public
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  Providing a space in the programme for a day devoted to Women and Literature to coincide with Women’s Day
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  Hosting a Children’s programme at the fair to encourage reading and writing among children
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  Providing a space for a small publishers’ network meeting, where small publishers will discuss challenges facing small publishers
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  Hosting a discussion forum of Reading Circles and Book Clubs from the various townships around Gauteng and South Africa
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  Providing space in the programme for public libraries to exhibit, to recruit members, to network with small publishers, and to advertise their programmes
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  Inviting a prominent international author to interact with local authors, and to conduct workshops and lectures in other parts of the country
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  Promoting broader public access to books by engaging with publishers to sell books at a discount to members of the public attending the Fair.

The Jozi Book Fair Project

Jozi Book Fair is an annual event in the broader Jozi Book Fair Project of Khanya College. The overall purpose of the Jozi Book Fair project is to contribute to meeting the challenges facing post-apartheid South Africa through building a strong culture of reading and writing that will:

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  Contribute to creating a strong publishing movement by stimulating publishing by small publishers in particular;
• Provide space for the development of a new generation of writers; and
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  Contribute to building democracy and social justice by the creating a strong reading and writing skills base and culture in the country

The specific objectives of the Jozi Book Fair project are to:

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  Develop a reading and writing culture among the broad public, and in particular among South Africa’s poor communities;
• Promote indigenous language publishing
  
• Provide space for small, progressive publishers to showcase their work;
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  Rebuild a progressive publishing network, especially of small publishers in the South and Southern Africa;
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  Profile and promote the emergence of new writers, and those who are generally marginalised, and non-mainstream writers and publications;
• Stimulate / Encourage publishing within social movements and NGOs
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  Stimulate and encourage publishing among and by women, and promote a publishing movement that deals with promoting a gender and feminist movement
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  Provide information about publishing opportunities so as to stimulate new publishing initiatives;
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  Provide a platform for publishers and agents to network, debate, discuss, and plan new projects; and
• Develop an alternative book trade and translations

The activities of the Jozi Book Fair Project include:

1. 
   
   Hosting an annual book fair in the early part of August so as to coincide with national Women’s Day;
2. 
   
   Undertaking an on-going Education and Development programme;
3. 
   
   Creating ongoing networking opportunities for readers, writers and publishers; and
4. 
   
   Providing infrastructure and technical support to small publishers

Through these interventions, the Jozi Book Fair Project intends to build a strong culture of reading and writing, which will create a strong base for civic participation and, thereby, promote democracy.