National Book Week, which runs from 7 to 13 September 2020, is South Africa’s official reading awareness week, celebrated every year during the first week of September. Initiated eleven years ago, it is run by the South African Book Development Council in collaboration with the Department of Arts and Culture.

In celebration of the National Book Week which coincides with the International Literacy Day, Rare Books Librarian in Special Collections, Thundeza Mafungwa, highlights the importance of literacy for children in every language, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which “created a disruption in literacy and learning throughout the world as schools and libraries had to be closed for a length of time. Literacy gaps that existed prior to the pandemic were exacerbated.”

Read Thundeza Mafungwa's blog post Literacy, a shared goal.