From the 9th to 12 September 2021, Muna Kalati was represented through its Director Christian Elongué at the 37th Ibby Children’s Book International Congress In Moscow, under the theme «Great Big World Through Children’s Books: National and Foreign Literature — Role, Value, Impact on Young Readers in Different Countries». It was an opportunity to explore diversity of themes, characters, issues in children’s literature of the world, to discuss cultural variety which doesn’t pr

Le programme AFCD (Alliance Franco-Camerounaise de Dschang) vacances pour enfants du 02/08/2021 au 28/08/2021, a été une occasion très spéciale pour les tout-petits. Pour cette édition, 41 enfants ont répondu présent à l’invitation, un chiffre largement supérieur à celui de l’an dernier. C’est une initiative qui a donné la possibilité aux enfants de s’exprimer, d’accroître leur curiosité et de donner le meilleur d’eux-mêmes selon un programme d’activités bien pensée et tai

Translation is a way of increasing the amount of reading material for African children. ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart’. - Nelson Mandela Translation is an act of re-creation, sharing and reciprocal development between readers and writers of different languages. The potential of translation to greatly increase output with minimal effort is clear. Not all, however, feel c

The growing interest in bilingual education in sub-Saharan Africa has highlighted an urgent need for reading material in African languages. Increasingly, parents and educators, conscious of the strategic value of indigenous language on identity construction, encourage or educate children to know and speak at least one local languages. However, parents are usually faced with many challenges whenever they attempt to find bilingual books in their local languages.

The International Publishers Association (IPA) is accepting proposals for projects to develop reading culture beyond the classroom in Africa, with grants from the USD 200,000 Africa Publishing Innovation Fund (APIF) on offer to the best ideas. The 2022 APIF theme of cultivating reading culture is intentionally broad to attract a wide range of innovations. Examples could be developing the publishing value chain (authors, illustrators, translators, literary agents, booksellers,

We hope that one of these 37 apps and websites would satisfy your needs to access African books or original stories for your kids or teenagers. If you know any other platform with African content or stories for kids or young adults, please do let us know in comment.

tacey Fru, a South African International Multiple Award-Winning Child Author named a 2020 Global Child Prodigy. She is a Philanthropist and Activist whom at the age of 12 was honoured by the Egyptian President as one of 5 Most Promising African Youths in 2019. The now 13-year-old Stacey wrote her first book “Smelly Cats” at age 7. Since Muna Kalati is promoting Children and Young Adult authors, it was an immense pleasure to gather her views in this regard. In this interview,

The low literacy rate in Africa can be attributed to a few things: lack of adequate teacher training and overall investment in training, where teachers teach what they were taught as children rather than keeping up with the evolution of education, access to tools and reading resources for children as a result of poverty, and poor school literacy programs and curriculum planning.  There are, however, organizations and creative initiatives that have taken the future of Africa’

The problem is that, unfortunately, those that write in African languages remain invisible, their works are hardly ever reviewed or translated. Publishing venues are limited and getting published is one of the most infuriating challenges of writing in African languages. There are hardly any publishing houses devoted to African languages. So writers in African languages are writing against great odds: no publishing houses, no state support, and with national and international

While it’s important for everyone to read literature from around the world, if you are of African descent, it’s a great idea to give your child an understanding of the various cultures in the continent early in their life. This is especially important if you don’t live in the continent currently. With that being said, here are five African children’s books that we recommend.

Skin We Are In is a landmark South African book for children (and grown-ups) on the subject of skin colour. Published in 2018, it was co-authored by an artist and a scientist, both South African luminaries – the author Sindiwe Magona and the anthropologist and palaeobiologist Nina Jablonski. Here they talk about how – and why – the book came about.

Here’s a curated selection of 62 fiction and non-fiction titles to check out now.

Considered the first Queen Mother of Benin, Idia was the mother of Esigie, the Oba (king) of Benin between 1504 and 1550. A great warrior and wise queen, she is believed to have saved the entire kingdom of Benin in a time of war and turmoil. Thanks to Nigerian-Canadian author Ekiuwa Aire, children can now relive the highly revered Nigerian queen’s story from a real African perspective.

Sisulu says the best marketing for a book is other people’s opinions, and thus the foundation’s website is a review hub and search engine for children’s books in South Africa’s 11 languages. On the site are a range of picture books, fables and tales, poetry, rhymes and riddles as well as educational books (fiction and nonfiction). Puku also stages a number of events such as the Puku Story Competition and the Story Festival.

Frau Dr. Anna Stelthove-Fend, who has tremendously contributed to facilitate access to quality children's books in The Gambia by...

Johanes Yerima was one of the most important artists of the Bamun kingdom, both under Sultan Njoya (1892-1933) and his son Seydou (1933-1992). The very first African "comic book" dates from 1932, produced by Yohanes Yerima, whom a critic considers to be the "true first Cameroonian and African comic book author in history" . To better understand its contribution, we place you in the historical context in which it has evolved.

Une culture intellectuelle s’impose et ceci n’est possible que si la lecture est l’affaire de tous, placée au centre des préoccupations....

From the 29th August 2019 to 1st September 2019, Christian Elongué, founder of Muna Kalati, presented the work of the organisation during...

Many parents want their kids to develop a lifelong culture of reading and writing. But from the desire to the reality, there are huge...