News

Books For Africa hosted two events celebrating modern African literature on October 9, 2010. The first was a Conference on African Literature at the Humphrey Center at the University of Minnesota, featuring a panel discussion and readings from three distinguished authors: Alexandra Fuller (Zimbabwe), Uwem Akpan (Nigeria), and Billy Karanja Kahora (Kenya). Thomson Reuters was the Presenting Sponsor. Click on the link above for more info and to view event photos...

In April of 2010, U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda Stuart Symington and a group of Peace Corps Volunteers delivered 22,000 BFA books to 41 schools in Rwanda. The container was funded by the U.S. Embassy and USAID/Rwanda, in consultation with the Ministry of Education. Officiating at a book distribution at Groupe Scolaire Mukamira, Ambassador Symington told the students, "“Learning is good and interesting when you share with others. Make sure you read those books to your brothers and sisters." Click on the link above for more info...

Minnesota Public Radio recently did a great story on Books For Africa in conjunction with last weekend's Conference on African Literature. Click on the link above to read or listen to the story...

Books For Africa Executive Director Pat Plonski recently visited the offices of Book Aid International in London, England, to share ideas and discuss opportunities for collaboration in shipping more books to children in Africa. Pictured here is the Book Aid team.

In May of 2010, a BFA container of books was distributed at Kidera Primary School and Tororo Girls School in northern Uganda. Seth Eggessa of the Roseville Rotary in Minnesota spearheaded this project. Seth is originally from Uganda and funded the book shipment with the help of several Rotary clubs and Ameriprise. Click on the link above to view a slideshow of the books being given to the students in Uganda...

Click on the link above to view a video from BFA Executive Director Pat Plonski's visit to Malawi, one of the poorest countries in Africa, in July of 2010. Books For Africa partners with the Malawi National Library Service to distribute books throughout the country, and conducted school visits with the Library Service. This video clip is from a visit to a tobacco plantation school and library outside of Lilongwe. You can see that the students at this location are poor, but are eager and excited to learn and have a very nice library courtesy of Books For Africa and the Malawi National Library Service.