Over the past few years, I’ve written three children’s books for Book Dash. All with the aim of putting good quality local books into children’s hands so that every child can own a hundred books by the age of five.

One of these books, The Best Thing Ever, was inspired by my son, who on a country walk in Ireland one year, collected a pocketful of rocks and used them to create a beautiful sculpture.

The story of Muzi, who also goes on a trip away from home and makes something special with the items he collects on the way, has captured the imaginations of young children in South Africa and abroad. It has been translated into 13 different languages and brought joy to kids in countries as far afield as India and Korea. All because the story has been generously gifted to children, either by Book Dash itself, other literacy organisations like Shine and Wordworks or online via the Book Dash app or Storyweaver. The book is completely open source and costs nothing to print, translate or distribute.

Recently I went to the Book Dash offices to stock up on more copies of this title and got more than I bargained for. I received a pile of letters and drawings from children who have received this book for free. What struck me was the children’s absolute appreciation for the gift of a book. Some of these kids had never owned a book before.

In a country like South Africa with such dire literacy stats, the Book Dash model is a necessary intervention.

So if you’re at a loss for what to get your loved one for Christmas, consider a donation to this wonderful organisation on their behalf. It will bring the gift of storybooks to little people who can’t afford to buy them and that, in my opinion, is the best thing ever!

Read The Best Thing Ever for free here.

Written by Melissa Fagan, freelance content writer and editor

I help traditional and digital publishers deliver engaging and informative content that resonates with their readers. Internationally qualified writer and editor with 13 years’ publishing experience.

Email me: melissa.fagan@mfedit.com

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As I write this, I’m still smugly high-fiving myself for pouncing on an invitation I saw a few weeks back to attend an intimate evening with acclaimed Indian author Arundhati Roy (in conversation with Rebecca Davis, Haji Mohamed Dawjee and Kim Windvogel). Facebook is certainly good for some things.

When I arrived at the new lecture theatre at UCT last night I could sense the excitement of the audience. I even heard mutterings of equal smugness that these people had nabbed themselves tickets (free, nogal) to the hottest event on this year’s literary calendar.  

When Roy herself entered the theatre, the audience erupted into rapt applause; she hadn’t yet opened her mouth. And when she did,  we hung on her every word. It was like sitting at the feet of a guru – she commanded that much admiration and respect.

The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy’s debut novel came out in 1997. If you haven’t read it yet, do yourself a favour and get a copy. It’s a rich and poetic story set in 1960s Kerala about two small children and a shocking event which reveals the complicated and hypocritical actions of the adults in their world.  It’s the only book I’ve reread three times – it’s beautiful. It also paints a very unflattering and vivid picture of the political and caste system in India, an act for which she has often appeared in court – for “corrupting public morality”. “For further ‘corrupting public morality’”, Roy jokes.  The novel won her a Booker Prize.

Roy’s visit to South Africa is to promote her second foray into fiction: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which I devoured with equal fervour. Her writing is sublime.

“How to tell a shattered story? By slowly becoming everybody. No. By slowly becoming everything.”

The story is an epic journey from the streets of  Old Delhi to its present-day metropolis, to the Valley of Kashmir and the forests of Central India. It is a tapestry of a diverse country played out by characters including a Muslim hijra, an upper-caste Hindu, an officer in the intelligence bureau, a Sikh, a Christian – almost everyone is represented.

“People—communities, castes, races and even countries—carry their tragic histories and their misfortunes around like trophies, or like stock, to be bought and sold on the open market.”

The treat of the night for me was hearing Roy read her own words. If her writing is like poetry, her reading was like music. And in a flash, it was over and throngs of people gathered at the signing table for another piece of this awe-inspiring woman.

Written by Melissa Fagan, freelance content writer and editor

I help traditional and digital publishers deliver engaging and informative content that resonates with their readers. Internationally qualified writer and editor with 13 years’ publishing experience.

Email me: melissa.fagan@mfedit.com

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If you liked this post and you’re passionate about publishing, let’s schedule a meeting to discuss the industry.

About a year ago, my six-year-old son jumped on my Kindle and it died, never to be resurrected.

I figured that with a bookshelf creaking under the weight of real books, I would survive the loss, but I couldn’t let it go and eventually bought myself the Kindle Paperwhite. My sanity was restored.

Being an editor, books are my business and though I love the smell and feel of a real book, I do love my Kindle. Please allow me to explain:

Not only is the Kindle really user-friendly (its designers have thought about everything from how to make it look just like printed words on a page to its nifty size), there are also these five amazing benefits of reading on Kindle.  

1. Everything is at the touch of a button

• I can highlight passages and take notes without feeling guilty about defacing my books.
• I can see ‘popular highlights’ to know which passages other people thought were important
• I can bookmark my spot and ‘dog-ear’ pages I want to come back to. I need never worry about losing my bookmark or my place.
• I can easily search the whole book for a word, phrase or even character name (this last one is particularly helpful when I can’t remember when a character was first introduced – think epic historical novel!).
• And my absolute best: I can look up the definition of a word with a simple tap. No more reaching for that heavy dictionary.
  

  2. A library on the go

These days when I go on holiday, I never have to worry about adding any weight to my luggage; the Kindle’s handy size makes it perfect for tucking into my handbag on the way out the door. And best of all, I don’t even have to first pick my holiday read – I have a library at my fingertips. 

3. Free classics

And on that note, there are so many books to choose from. There are literally thousands of popular classics that are free to download. The Great Gatsby? Jane Eyre? Mine for free at the touch of a button.

4. Read your own documents

This is an important one for me. The Kindle allows me to read my own files on my device. This is so helpful to me as an editor when I’m reviewing a manuscript. Reading it on Kindle and experiencing the text the way a real reader would, helps me catch errors and get a real feel for the quality of the text.

5. Perfect for night owls

And at the end of the day, when I climb into bed with some pleasure reading, I can rest assured that the side-lit screen and e-ink interface won’t affect the quality of my sleep. Best of all, when my husband turns out the light and I want to finish a chapter, I can … and the next one and the one after that … 

I promise you this is not a plug for Amazon and I do still love the books on my shelf. But it’s time to embrace the future people – go on … buy one already!

Written by Melissa Fagan, freelance non-fiction editor

I help non-fiction publishers deliver award-winning content. I am an internationally qualified non-fiction editor with 11 years’ publishing experience, specialising in education, lifestyle and literacy.

Email me: melissa.fagan@mfedit.com

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If you liked this post and you’re passionate about publishing, let’s schedule a meeting to discuss the industry.

For the past three months or so I’ve been working behind the scenes on one of the new literary festivals on the block – the Jewish Literary Festival – which takes place this Sunday (17 June) at the Gardens Community Centre.  

When asked to volunteer my skills to make this event possible, I jumped at the chance. Why? Because I’m a shameless bibliophile and because the thought of attending (and more especially being involved in the creation of) an all-day event dedicated solely to the love of books is my idea of heaven. It’s the same impulse that guides me away from my errands at the mall and into the nearest bookshop, where I’ll lose myself for hours in the solitary and intimate pastime of flicking through the stories that capture my imagination and deeply inhaling the smell of fresh paper that puffs up from their pages.

So what is it that makes book festivals draw such crowds? And why does a team of unpaid volunteers sign up to put on such an event with no reward other than the pure joy of seeing others flock to author signings, new book launches and panels of writers gathering to discuss how their stories and ideas intersect?

My guess is that it’s the appeal of that rare opportunity of face-to-face interaction between readers and writers. For so many authors, solitude is their way of being in the world and for the hungry reader, this makes book festivals all the more thrilling. At these events, authors are willing to show up and speak about their craft and we as readers get to glimpse the magician who conjures up lives and stories from words. We want to be able to know how they do what they do and we want them to know that they’ve touched us with their stories.

“I loved your book,” we gush at the signing table; it hardly conveys the depth of our appreciation for their words. But I guess it’s the reason why they do what they do and why we merely flock to the places they gather.

Some of the authors you can look forward to interacting with at the festival on Sunday are Rahla Xenopoulos, Gail Schimmel, Stephanie Urdang, Lyndall Gordon, Joanne Jowell, Mark Winkler, Mandy Wiener, Damon Galgut and Rachel Zadok.

See you there!

Written by Melissa Fagan, freelance non-fiction editor

I help non-fiction publishers deliver award-winning content. I am an internationally qualified non-fiction editor with 11 years’ publishing experience, specialising in education, lifestyle and literacy.

Email me: melissa.fagan@mfedit.com

Let’s Connect

If you liked this post and you’re passionate about publishing, let’s schedule a meeting to discuss the industry.

As we celebrate South African Library Week (19–25 March), I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on some interesting facts about libraries around the world.

To start, you’re probably wondering what the answer is to my question. Here it is, along with other interesting facts about libraries here and abroad.

The most stolen library book in the world is the Bible, closely followed by The Guinness Book of World Records.

The South African Public Library in Cape Town, now known as the National Library of South Africa (Cape Town) was the first library in South Africa, established in 1818 by Lord Charles Somerset, Governor of the Cape Colony at the time.

The oldest library still in operation in the world is St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai, Egypt. It was built in the middle of the 6th century.

The largest library is the Library of Congress in Washington DC, with more than 160 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves. The smallest is a bright yellow plastic structure outside 32 Prince Street, New York City. It houses 40 books and has space for just one reader at a time.

According to Guinness World Records, the highest library is the library on the 60th floor of the JW Marriott Hotel at Tomorrow Square in Shanghai, China. It’s situated on the 60th floor, which is over 757 feet above street level.

And finally, the largest overdue fine for a library book was $345.14 (around R4,000). The book in question was a poetry book called Days and Deeds checked out of Kewanee Public Library, Illinois, USA in April 1955 by Emily Canellos-Simms. The book was 47 years overdue.

The good news for you though, is that if you take your overdue book back to your local library during South African Library Week, you’ll pay nothing, whether it’s one day or 47 years overdue!

For more information about libraries in your locale or about SA Library Week, visit the Library and Information Association of South Africa.

Written by Melissa Fagan, freelance non-fiction editor

I help non-fiction publishers deliver award-winning content. I am an internationally qualified non-fiction editor with 11 years’ publishing experience, specialising in education, lifestyle and literacy.

Email me: melissa.fagan@mfedit.com

Let’s Connect

If you liked this post and you’re passionate about publishing, let’s schedule a meeting to discuss the industry.