I never know that one of these “national weeks” is coming up, unless I read about it on a blog or hear about it on radio. I mean, when was the last time anyone you know consulted an actual (paper) calendar about anything?
Besides, these types of days only appear on some obscure government website, so very few people know about them anyway.
The point is, the Department of Arts and Culture has declared the 3rd to the 8th of September this year is National Book Week:
South Africa commemorates National Book Week every first week of September, it is an initiative of the South African Book Development Council (SABDC) in collaboration with the Department of Arts and Culture.
The commemoration coincides with International Literacy Day on 8 September. The main purpose is to encourage reading to the general public, increase awareness of the importance of reading for the development of the nation and to promote publishing industry skills for the benefit of South African and African authors.
This makes me wish more and more that the person who is keeping the library’s only copy of Spilt Milk would bring it back, and that the librarians would stop hiding Half of A Yellow Sun from me…
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I’ll read those one day, but until then I have to power through the last few chapters of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, and get into Auma Obama’s And Then Life Happens.
Not to sound like a humblebrag or anything, but I have been reading all year: I didn’t wait for some random week in September to nurture my imagination and expand my vocabulary with the help of choice authors, but, you know- whatever.
Go out and read! And if you need a little more incentive, take a cue from Anele:
Nkhensani Manabe 