by Gwyneth Perry- Senior Librarian, Weltevreden Library
International Literacy Day has been celebrated annually since 1967, with the agenda of creating a more literate and sustainable society.
City of Johannesburg Libraries hosted various events for Literacy Day and the Weltevreden Park Library was one of the libraries to take part in the celebrations.
Weltevreden Park based author, Sam West, was invited to launch her newly published novel, No Trace, at the library during one of its regular Tea & Inspiration mornings. The public was invited to attend and various members of the Welteveden Park community came to support her and hear about the new book.
Ms West gave a detailed description of the processes she went through in having her book published, including the decision about whether to go the traditional publishing route or to take the step of self -publishing her book. She took the self- publishing route as it gave her more autonomy on all the steps and time- frames involved.
It was very interesting to hear about the numerous stages of editing that were required, before the book could finally be published. The draft had to be edited seven times in total. She also had to make decisions about the cover design and the most affordable route to take, in this regard.
Getting into the author’s mind and discovering how she decided on the plot, the setting and various other aspects of the book was very enlightening. Ms West shared how she went about doing research for the novel and how she connected with other authors who were able to help her in getting the novel factually correct.
Overall, it was an interesting and inspiring event. The Weltevreden Park Library is hoping to hold other book launches for aspiring authors, as a way of getting their books out into the world and making local community members aware of them.
The need to promote literacy and a love of reading is inculcated in libraries. Ensuring further literacy amongst members of society is a vital task for all libraries in the City of Johannesburg as well as by libraries further afield and throughout the world.