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Dear Readers, Booksellers are the curators of our local community’s primary knowledge resources. This is more of a calling than a job. It is not for the faint-hearted nor those averse to risk. In fact, as with our compatriots on the front-lines of the war against Covid-19 in medical care casualty wards, few in this profession would be practising for the sake of self-enrichment. It is a higher desire than profit to educate our young, inspire our adults and exercise the minds of our aged. Our doctors depend on books, so too every facet of our lives is influenced by readership. If it were not so, every post-apocalyptic scenario would not depict freedom of speech and information as being essential […]

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The Alliance for Academic Success sent a letter to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr Blade Nzimande, requesting for textbooks and learning materials to be classified as Essential products during the Covid-19 lockdown. In this letter the Alliance extend their understanding and support to the measurements taken to flatten the Covid-19 infection curve. They, however, requested and explained why the availability of textbooks and learning material to students are necessary  and should be considered as Essential Products. [Read more]

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Image: Evan Wise/Unsplash In light of rental obligations with no income realities, all SABA members are facing at the moment, SABA sent a letter to the Chair of the South African Real Estate Investment Trust (SA REIT) Association. SA REIT presented the retailers with a proposal suggesting they defer April and May’s rent and amortise it over the next 6 months. That means a rental increase of 33% for the next 6 months. SABA responded to SA REIT on behalf of all its members. [Read more]

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Three-hundred-and-twenty-eight published South African authors, academics and readers wrote an open letter to President Cyril Ramaposa to make all books available for trade from 1 May 2020 at Level 4 of Covid-19 Lockdown. [Read more] Image: Jonas Jacobsson/Unsplash

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The Library and Information Association of South African (LIASA), the Professional Body for Library and Information Services (LIS) in South Africa, remains in full support of our South African government and the efforts to address the worldwide SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We actively appeal to our members and the wider Library and Information Services sector to adhere to the current regulations and guidelines well knowing the impact on the sector and on its ability to continue providing information and reading services to communities. LIASA continues to assert the intrinsic value of reading and so this is a loss to us all. We note that in the easing of the national lockdown to level 4 that “educational” books only will become available for […]

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PEN South Africa’s Open Letter to President Ramaphosa to allow the selling of books during Lockdown Stage 4 was signed by more than 3 000 people within 36 hours. Many prominent authors added their signatures to the appeal, including Nobel winner J.M. Coetzee, current Poet Laureate Wally Serote and other internationally renowned names such as Breyten Breytenbach, Damon Galgut, Zakes Mda and Deon Meyer. The letter expressed concern about the survival of the South African book trade, which was already under strain prior to the Covid-19 outbreak: “We as a country are at great risk of losing not only our booksellers, but our publishers too. We are concerned about the jobs that will be lost, as well as the loss […]

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With lockdown biting hard in the bookselling business, publisher Melinda Ferguson was determined not to just sit by and watch. Shortly before the first lockdown, Prof Pumla Dineo Gqola joked on the publisher’s WhatsApp group about writing a ‘coronavirus book’, and so the idea was born: all 17 writers on the group were challenged by Ferguson to deliver material within 10 days, which within hours turned into 7 days. ‘It was crazy. Everyone agreed. I’m not sure how that happened because there were a few real dawdlers in that group. Next thing copy was coming in and I just started editing furiously, briefing a cover and throwing crazy deadlines at the NB teams, who were all working from home and […]

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When President Ramaphosa announced the first lockdown due to coronavirus on 23 March, it was clear a book industry already under pressure would face extraordinarily difficult times. March sales figures were somewhat saved by the Christmas-like rush in the 3 days before lockdown started, but April loomed long and empty. Most bookshops and publishers were forced to cut April salaries by 20-30%, while staff had to work frantically from home to keep the wheels turning. Independent retailer Graffiti Books & Stationery in Montana, Pretoria, was hit with a double whammy when their shop was flooded during lockdown, causing damage of around R15 000. Publisher Pan MacMillan had to postpone their biggest publication of the year: Justice Dikgang Moseneke’s memoir. The SA […]

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Initially, employers lodged claims under TERS by emailing a designated UIF email address. However, to simplify and expedite the application process, the UIF has recently developed an online portal to lodge claims under TERS. To assist employers in lodging a claim under TERS using the online application process, the steps to be taken are as follows: Step One: Go to Website Enter the URL https://uifecc.labour.gov.za/covid19 into any web browser. Step Two: Register as User Register as a user by clicking on the “Register” button which appears on the top left of the application system homepage. The employer will have to register as a user of the online platform by providing certain information such as, for example, the employer’s UIF reference […]

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Schools won’t resume in May 2020. Senior officials will start on Monday 4 May to prepare for the return of pupils. School management will go back on 11 May and teachers on the 18 May. Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says the school calendar’s been adjusted to save the academic year. Each province will have its comprehensive plan for the reopening of the schools. [Video: Minister Angie Motshekga’s speech] Image: Element5 Digital/Unsplash

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Image: Harinath R/Pixabay The Department of Basic education on 18 April, announced the postponement of the May/June Matric examination. More than 350 000 part-time learners some who did not meet the pass requirements and others who want to rewrite to improve their marks will have to wait until November 2020. [Read more]

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All higher education institutions (public and private universities and  TVET colleges) will remain closed under lockdown level 4. This decision was made to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus and to save the 2020 academic year but not at the expense of saving lives. The risk of an early return to 2.5 million students and staff are far too great. Minister Blade Nzimande said that the 2020 university academic year could be extended into early 2021. The 2021 academic year will align with the plans of the DBE regarding the organisation of the Grade 12 examination. TVET colleges have to re-organise their 2020 academic year. No student will be left behind. This depends on the development of the pandemic. […]

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With lockdown eased to level 4 and hopefully continuing to open up, managers have to prepare for open up shop. Here are post-lockdown to-do list guidelines and suggestions. Permits, where applicable Deep clean premises (public facing surfaces, multiple times a day) Order sanitiser at doors (preferable single entry/exit) Masks/visors for staff (or see through Perspex screens mounted on counters) Contact-less payment methods Email receipts/ invoices Gloves for staff (difficult to handle money with gloves but OK for back office/receiving) Floor markings for queues (1 m spacing) Social distancing training for staff Thermal scanners to check temperature Covid-19 tests for staff (at Dischem) TERS claims Insurance Laminated poster of government rules where Public toilets are available, touchless sanitary equipment (soap dispensers, […]

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Retail space everywhere is being disinfected regularly … including Bookstores.

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Good ideas are few and far between in the shackles of lockdown, but the creative team at LAPA publishers put their heads together to come up with the wonderful idea of Tippie-branded masks. The much-loved character, the creation of illustrator Zinelda McDonald, features in the Learn To Read series, and will now help to make ‘masking up’ just a tad less scary for young readers. Sylvia de Wet, CEO of LAPA, gave some insights as to how it all came about: ‘We made the masks by combining a lot of creative people in the process and we all did our magic from home. Our production team was in contact with an enthusiastic entrepreneur with a vinyl printer at home, and […]

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With the coronavirus steadily spreading around the globe, the first sign of things to come was the postponement of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in February. The fair was supposed to take place from 30 March to 2 April, and was initially rescheduled for 4 to 7 May this year before being called off completely on 11 March. The London Book Fair, which was to run 10 to 12 March, announced on 4 March they were cancelling until 2021. This left many South African publishers who regularly attend the fair either stuck in London or forced to cancel their travel plans. Those who had travelled faced 14 days of quarantine upon their return. While SAPnet reported an 8,6% decline in […]

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Iconic Afrikaans publishing house LAPA was sold to Penguin Random House South Africa in February, where it will now function as an imprint and independent division of the global giant. Their offices will remain in Pretoria, while the Cape Town arm of the publishing house will be based at PRH’s premises in the Mother City. Sylvia de Wet will continue in her role as Managing Director at LAPA. LAPA’s history stretches back to before the Second World War, when J.P. van der Walt founded Springbok Biblioteek under the erstwhile Unie-Boekhandel. In 1958 his son, Manie van der Walt, joined the company as the managing director and in 1961 the publishing house was renamed J.P. van der Walt en Seun (Edms.) Bpk […]

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When this year’s edition of Kwazulu-Natal’s most popular literary festival (originally scheduled to run 16 – 21 March) had to be cancelled due to coronavirus fears, the organisers had to think outside the box. Participants had already been paid, and readers were looking forward to interacting with their heroes. According to Marlyn Ntsele, the conversion from a physical festival to one hosted across social media platforms, turned on a dime: ‘We did not give ourselves much time, because we did not want to lose the momentum. Luckily the festival was already active on most social media channels. We needed a day to brainstorm and make choices between all the options and applications we could use.’ The program consisted of a […]

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