It was at university with the pan-African associative movements and my Master's degree in "Africa and Globalization" that I discovered the rich African past and became aware of my cultural alienation. I knew more about the history of France, Great Britain and Belgium than that of Cameroon and I realized that the books of my childhood had largely contributed to it. I realized that children's and youth literature was a powerful tool for building the imagination and identity of

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,