Zimbabwe had the highest literacy rate in Africa, but it’s dropping quickly. How can you learn to read if you don’t have anything to read?

— Approximately 40% percent of Zimbabweans are under 14 years of age. For them, it’s now or never. — Let’s make sure Zimbabwe reads.

The school in the blowing dust of north-west Zimbabwe is in my mind . . . Classrooms without books, without textbooks, or an atlas, or even a map pinned to a wall. A school where the teachers beg to be sent books to tell them how to teach.
Doris Lessing,
acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature 2007

News & Events

Update on John Gambanga

02 Apr 2016

Wordsmiths master as many genres and media as they have talents.  For forty years, John Gambanga has been a novelist, playwright, journalist, editor, and videographer. Since 1980, Gambanga has mainly… read more

When out-of-print books become just memories

28 Sep 2015

There are so many books we now hold on to as memories. We excitedly talk about them as titles we remember from school or university. Sometimes book titles are peppered… read more

Twin raise funds for rural libraries

24 Sep 2015

Twin sisters Shivani and Shefali Sinha have been captivated by the plight of rural schoolchildren in Zimbabwe and are planning a children’s fundraising fun walk/run around Lake Rotoroa in Hamilton…. read more

Pupils drop out of school as diamond miner fails to pay fees, others resort to menial jobs to raise funds

05 Aug 2015

MARANGE: Several pupils from some 27 schools in the diamond-rich Chiadzwa area have dropped out of school due to the non-payment of fees by gem miner Marange Resources. Others have… read more

No more leaking roof, wet books

06 Jul 2015

TWO years ago, Felicity Mukaikwa (16) was a dejected student just going through the motions of attending school though her heart was not into it. Neither was her mind. So… read more

Two Zimbabwean authors at Durban festival

19 Mar 2015

TWO Zimbabwean authors are part of a select group of 20 writers from South Africa and Africa participating at the Time of the Writer Festival in Durban South Africa. The… read more