Cumbria Libraries, Reading Africa
To tie in with this year's Black History Month, Cumbria Libraries held a month long, countywide reader development initiative called, Reading Africa, building on the initial South African Book Development Education Trust (SABDET) promotion which was launched earlier in 2004.
In addition to the obvious link with Black History month, the aims of the Cumbria Libraries' project were to raise awareness of and to actively promote African literature and culture throughout libraries via displays and promotions, and to enliven libraries and raise cultural awareness through a programme of literature, music, dance and storytelling events using artists whose strong links with the continent informed their work.
Sets of the SABDET promotional packages were bought and these included attractive and eye-catching posters, banners, postcards and booklists. This promotional material formed the basis of book and media displays within Cumbria's main libraries. The displays featured the titles highlighted within the SABDET Reading Africa booklists, as well as fiction and poetry by a wide range of African writers, and non-fiction titles about the art, culture, history, and geography of the continent, in addition to music CDs and videos/DVDs.
Thanks to a successful bid to Arts Council England (North West a programme of activities was also secured for Cumbria's main libraries, featuring Pete Kalu (novelist, poet and storyteller); Kuzari (African drumming duo Zozo Shuaibu and Sam Maitland) and Miso'shi Efua Proctor (Ghanaian artist and storyteller).
Pete Kalu did a range of sessions including storytelling for groups of primary school children, a workshop session with a group of 6th form English and drama students, and two open evening sessions for adults where he talked about his African links, his writing and his experiences of growing up as a young black person in Manchester. He also read extracts from his writings, which included short stories, poems and selections from his novels and radio plays.
Kuzari literally rocked libraries with a series of twelve 1 hour drum workshops around the county, which included music, singing and dancing as well as giving young people from nursery age through to Year 11, as well as teachers and library staff, the opportunity to try playing a range of drums and African percussion instruments.
Miso'shi's sessions were held during the half term holidays and attracted enthusiastic audiences of 5 to 10 year olds, and their parents, as she got them singing, dancing and playing musical instruments. She also talked about life in Ghana, and told traditional African tales.
Overall, a total of 22 events took place in 9 libraries during October, attracting audiences ranging from nursery age children to adults in their 70's, and libraries reported that the displays attracted a great deal of interest, generating numerous requests and the need to keep topping them up.
The job of evaluating the whole initiative is now underway, but initial feedback from the evaluation forms suggests that the aims of the project were met, and the written and verbal feedback was extremely positive and encouraging. Many people commented that their awareness of African literature and culture had been raised or broadened, and several people reported that as a result of attending one of the events, they were now encouraged to try some books by African writers.
Time to start planning another project for next year...?!
Helen Towers
Dec 2004
