Dr Gcina Mhlophe’s launches two of her books in Braille, in collaboration with the South African Library for the Blind

Dr Gcina Mhlophe’s launches two of her books in Braille, in collaboration with the South African Library for the Blind

Storyteller extraordinaire and author, Dr Gcina Mhlophe launched her books in English Braille; Nozincwadi: Mother of Books and will be launching An African Mother Christmas soon. This great achievement has been made possible through the partnership between her NGO Gcinamasiko Arts & Heritage Trust (GAHT) and the South African Library for the Blind (SALB) who so generously sponsored the translation and printing of these books. They came together on the 11th of September 2021 under The Storytelling Tree at the Bluff Showgrounds, Durban to officially launch these publications, with the support of eThekwini Library Services. The Nozincwadi book in particular celebrates 20 years this year along with the Nozincwadi Literacy Campaign which was celebrated on World Book Day, April 2021 and this launch serves a continuation of this celebration.

The CEO of SALB, Mr. Mandla Ntombela attended with a delegation from SALB to do the official handover of the books to Dr Mhlophe along with eThekwini Library Services, a special needs school and the KZN Society for the Blind. A reading from the Braille books was done by Mnelisi Zungu and Cebolenkosi Makhaza from the blind community in Durban. Amongst storytelling and poetry performances by Siyabonga Ndlela and Kwazi Ndlangisa, the talented blind musician Mr. ‘Chaos’ Sizwe Nzimande performed alongside Cebolenkosi Makhaza and also shared their stories. Struggle Stalwart, Mr. Sam Moodley attended the event and gave an address and author, Ms. Deborah Ewing will be gave a brief talk about her most recent publication.