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At the SCBWI meeting held on Tuesday 20 November 2007 at UNISA Penny Hochfeld discussed the Exclusive Books IBBY SA Awards.

Exclusive Books, in association with IBBY S.A., has taken on the sponsorship of the award for the best original children's picture book or illustrated children's story book published in South Africa.

For the EXCLUSIVE BOOKS IBBY SA AWARD for 2007, they invited submissions of books published between 1 January 2006 and 30 June 2007. Fifty-six entries were received and evaluated by the jury.

The jury consisted of various people associated with publishing of children’s books as well as experts in Fine Art and book illustration. Other members comprised the Chairperson of IBBY SA, the IBBY SA Executive member responsible for the awards portfolio, and members co-opted from the areas of design, public and school libraries, academic librarianship, and book-selection for children.

The rules require that the award is for a picture book or illustrated children’s story book adjudged the best in the period of adjudication. The writer and illustrator must be South Africans, whether living in South Africa or not; or non-South Africans living and working in South Africa. The book must be an original work written in any of the official South African languages and it must have been published in South Africa.
Importantly, the award is given to a book that is recognisably South African in character.

The shortlist of five titles was published some weeks before the final award was announced. The award was announced at an Exclusive Books event on 11 September in Johannesburg.

Robin Malan announced that the Exclusive Books IBBY SA Award was awarded jointly to:

The Cool Nguni (written by Maryanne Bester, illustrated by Shayle Bester, published by Jacana Media) to award and reward adventurousness and a quirky sense of fun in the jaunty image projected through both text and illustrations.

Fynbosfeetjies (written by Antjie Krog, illustrated by Fiona Moodie, published by Umuzi) to award and reward professional excellence and artistry in both the writing and the illustration of the funky fairies.

Ouma Ruby’s Secret (written by Chris van Wyk, illustrated by Anneliese Voigt-Peters, published by Giraffe Books Pan Macmillan) for the humanity and the homespun South African authenticity of both text and illustrations.

UTshepo mde / Tall enough (written by Mhlobo Jadezweni, illustrated by Hannah Morris, published by Electric Book Works) for the magic of its story and the sophistication of its illustrations.

Zanzibar Road (written and illustrated by Niki Daly, published in English by Pan Macmillan and in Afrikaans by LAPA Uitgewers) for the professionalism and experience of the writer and illustrator as much as for the fun he has and gives young readers.

Excerpt from presentation by Robin Malan (Chairman of IBBY SA) at Awards Event held on 11 September 2007.

The award will be made every second year, from 2007 onwards. Exclusive Books and IBBY SA hope that this new Award will encourage the publication of wonderful new South African children's books, as it rewards talented authors and illustrators.

IBBY SA has announced that the following books have been selected as IBBY SA’s Honour List to be presented at the IBBY World Congress in Copenhagen in 2008 as having made a significant contribution to recent South African literature for children and young people:

Author: Afrikaans
Jaco Jacobs: Suurlemoen (LAPA Uit-gewers, Pretoria, 2006)
Jaco Jacobs het hier daarin geslaag om op oortuigende wyse ’n regte, egte tiener-verhaal te vertel. Die sestienjarige Tiaan Fourie, saam met sy ‘partner in crime’, die baskitaarspeler en moeillkheidmaker Zane le Roux, word aangemoedig om hulle band vir die Rumoer-kompetisie in te skryf deur die musiekonderwyser. Hulle kry uiteindelik toe ’n vocalist en ’n drummer. Jaco Jacobs het ’n lewendige, vermaaklike en genuine jeugverhaal geskep met genoeg opwinding en humor en ’n sterk spanningselement om jong lesers te vermaak. Die karakters is werklik tieners; die styl lig, gemaklik en onderhoudend. Jaco Jacobs word geluk gewens met ’n oortuigende leesbare en toeganklike jeugverhaal.

Author: isiXhosa
Mhlobo Jadezweni: UTshepo mde / Tall enough (Electric Book Works, Cape Town, 2006)
Tshepo is a boy who wishes he was as tall as a beautiful tree. He plants himself in the ground, waters himself, and magically grows into one. But, as a tree, he soon comes to realise why it’s good to be a little boy, at least for now. Told in isiXhosa, and accompanied by an English translation, this book is about the worries of growing up and belonging. The story is funny, poignant and surprising, and fuses the mythical and the domestic in a quintessentially African fairytale. (from the publisher’s information sheet)

Author: English
K Sello Duiker: The Hidden Star (Umuzi Books Random House, Cape Town, 2006) (posthumously)
K Sello Duiker’s last novel, edited after his death by publisher Annari van der Merwe as a tribute to her friend and author, is something of a milestone for South African literature for young people. Eleven-year-old Nolitye takes upon herself the quest to bring together again the separated pieces of a magic stone that will both reveal and heal. So, yes, this is a fantasy story every bit as much as any in the great classic tradition, but the achievement lies in this fantasy being embedded in a uniquely South African reality: every taste, sound, sight and smell in the novel smacks of South Africa, and, specifically, of Phola township in Gauteng. Its authenticity is unassailable. We are the poorer for the loss of a talent such as Sello’s; but South African literature for young people is undeniably the richer for the survival of The Hidden Star.

Translator:
Russell H Kaschula: Emthonjeni trans-lated into isiXhosa from his own English Take Me to the River (New Africa Books, Cape Town, 2006)
Professor Kaschula has earned the respect of isiXhosa-speakers in the academic world; and he now adds to the small but growing body of stories in isiXhosa for young teenagers. Chance and the recent history of South Africa make the young black boy Zama and the young coloured boy Pieter next-door neighbours. But they make their friendship themselves. And it is the kind of friendship that proves it can withstand a number of severe tests and challenges. The author is unafraid of tackling social issues that are potentially controversial – and even divisive. He skilfully harnesses them to serve his theme of individual human bonds bringing and keeping people together.


Illustrator:
Anneliese Voigt-Peters: Ouma Ruby’s Secret by Chris van Wyk (Giraffe Books Pan Macmillan,Johannesburg, 2006)
This story is taken from Chris van Wyk’s memoir about growing up in Riverlea in Johannesburg, Shirley, Goodness and Mercy. He has rewritten, for a young audience, a story about his beloved grandmother Ruby. One day he meets his Ouma in town and she buys him two books. For her birthday two weeks later, he writes a letter which he wants her to read out. She makes the excuse that she does not have her glasses with her. His mother takes him aside and quietly tells him that Ouma Ruby cannot read. This gentle, very real story is sensitively illustrated in fine watercolours by Anneliese Voigt-Peters. Her images capture the essence of the neighbourhood and houses and the extended family inhabiting the boy’s world. A book to be treasured as a fine example of how an illustrator who knows her material and the environment in which the story takes place can produce illustrations typically South African in a quiet reassuring manner. She is highly applauded for this little gem of a book.

Taken from Lona Gericke's article in the IBBY SA Newsletter No 45, October 2007.

The ALA-APA has put their rural library salary survey (pdf) online. This comes from the ALA Committee on rural, native and tribal libraries of all kinds. Here are some highlights.

• The libraries themselves define what rural means. This can be tiny towns or larger towns that are very remote or just outside the city limits. The responding libraries were in Alaska, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas Montana, Pennsylvania and Soth Carolina. Oh, there’s also one rural librarian in Wyoming, hi Laura!
• As far as technology, yes some of these libraries are still on dial-up. They also have populations with lower incomes and educations than in bigger libraries, according to some librarians.
• One librarian describes the isolation “You really notice the isolation when you get an overdue e-mail or fax for an Interlibrary Loan book that has not even arrived yet. The bar and the library are the only source of entertainment in a tiny, isolated town.”
• Resident and non-resident differentiation is something important to think about when your population doubles during tourist or fishing season.
• On page 16 “What are the feelings about rural library staff salaries? Should they be higher?” I feel that this is a weird question. Who doesn’t want a higher salary? Most librarians responded that of course they should be higher but where is the money going to come from? The word “pathetic” came up more than once. One respondent “The salaries in rural areas definitely lagged behind others in my experience. We used to joke that it was worth $4,000 to have the clean air and clear skies.”

And then something weird happens and many of the comments in the “Have you heard about rural libraries that have raised their salaries?” (itself a really weird question, in my opinion) are copied from the previous question which makes for weird reading and pads out the survey in an odd fashion. So, upshot, some interesting things to consider, but I really wish there had been more representation from other states. I’m not entirely sure that what works for Alaska will play in Iowa and I am sure that some of the issues we have in Vermont are not at all the same as the ones they have in Kansas. That said it’s good to remember that there are many libraries in which getting a raise to $10 an hour (by cutting their education expenses) is a truly big deal. I’m hoping that someone in ALA comes out with some analysis and/or conclusions or projects from this. As it is it’s an informative but not very surpising data dump. [libact]

I find I can’t choose examples of what not to do from the sweet, sincere people who entered the contest. There were a couple that kind of asked for it, though. So... some tips:

1. If your first two lines are so rhythmic that they could be the start of a limerick, they’re almost certainly too rhythmic.

2. You probably don’t want to start your manuscript with a run-on sentence.

3. Have your manuscript read by someone who knows a lot of slang, just in case you’ve given a tall pointy structure a vaguely Asian-sounding name which to other people is a term for male genitalia.

Thanks to all for playing!

Here are a few that I have a slightly uneasy feeling about, but I'd keep reading. And after all, that's the main thing.

Donald owned a purple vulture, a green vulture, and a deep blue pillow-eating vulture.

No matter where she went her bubbles drew a crowd, but Molly always knew she was more than just bubbles.

My brother has a giant head. He keeps it in the closet.

My mom wanted to know how the cow got in my room. As if that was the strangest thing that happened all week.

In an old Italian villa near the cold Anchovy Sea
Lived two ordinary onions both as bitter as could be.

Like Moses, Meemaw had Ten Commandments.

The smell of death drifted from the woods.