Book Aid International celebrates 50 years
2004 marks the 50th anniversary of Book Aid International - the UK-based charity which gets books into the hands of the world's most disadvantaged and educationally deprived readers. To celebrate this event they hosted a party at the UnderGlobe, underneath Shakespeare's Globe on 23rd February 2004, with generous sponsorship from Pearson.
Guests included the authors and illustrators who have contributed to Book Aid International's 50th birthday book, published by Puffin. Jacqueline Wilson, Shirley Hughes, Tony Bradman and Jean Ure are among the contributors who came along to join the celebrations. The book is a collection of short stories for children entitled 'Eating Words for Breakfast' which goes on sale at £5.99 from World Book Day, 4th March 2004. All royalties go to Book Aid International.
The book celebrates the universal appeal of story-telling and the magical world that reading opens up. It includes contributions from Eoin Colfer, Benjamin Zephaniah, Michael Morpurgo, Jeremy Strong, Dick King-Smith, Adele Geras, Beverly Naidoo, Shirley Hughes, Jane Ray, Harry Horse, Satoshi Kitamura and Nick Sharratt.
Lord Hurd asked guests at the birthday party to offer their support for Book Aid International. He explained, "Books are part of our leisure and part of our lives. We mustn't forget what a marvellous invention books are. Book Aid International is an organisation which responds to need in some of the world's poorest countries. They don't have a message or a bias except that books can open windows in people's lives which would otherwise stay closed."
Book Aid International's work demonstrates the power of books in making a significant, practical difference to improve the lives of people and nations. The charity provides short term solutions to crisis situations - sending out English language books to help fight illiteracy. Book Aid International is equally committed to longer-term solutions and works with communities worldwide to build up local publishing and bookselling projects.
Each year, Book Aid International distributes over 600,000 books to libraries, hospitals, refugee camps and schools. Over 300,000 of these books are children's books. The charity operates in 30 countries.
The partygoers also heard about the huge need for books with a speech from one of Book Aid International's African partners. "Teachers in Uganda have to cope with classes ranging from 100 to 800 pupils. One can rightly call these congregations rather than classes" said Phenny Birungi, who recently retired as Director of Uganda's National Library. "As many as 12 school children share one text book and children's readers are hard to come by. As a result literacy and comprehension rates tend to be low."
Despite these grim statistics the charity has much to celebrate. During its first 50 years, Book Aid International has reached an estimated 100 million readers around the world.
Notes:
'Eating Words for Breakfast' goes on sale on World Book Day, 4th March 2004. It contains stories and poems from writers in Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria and Palestine as well as some of the UK's best loved authors and illustrators. It will retail at £5.99 and all royalties will go to Book Aid International.