here - National Library Of South Africa

Message from the National
Librarian
I
would like to invite all South Africans to join
me as we present the third phase of books
that are considered classics in South African Indigenous
Languages. In 2008, the Department
of Arts and Culture entrusted the National Library
of South Africa with a task to identify and
reprint books which are regarded as classics in
the nine South African Indigenous Languages.
We invited the members of the public, academics,
authors and librarians to assist us nominate
books that they consider classics in their respective Indigenous Languages.
Following on this invitation we received an overwhelming response and
the contribution made by South Africans was enlightening as much as it
was challenging. The panel of literary and publishing experts finalised the
list and started negotiating with publishers, who have always been very
enthusiastic to participate in this exciting project.
In the first phase of the project 27 titles were reprinted, followed by 19
titles on the second phase and currently 22 titles have been reprinted for
the third phase. This adds up to the total of 68 titles in the nine Indigenous
Languages.
This catalogue contains all titles reprinted in the first to the third phase
of the project. The reprinted books were distributed to all the nine provinces’
public and school libraries, arts centres and all centres of information
for easy access to the public.
These books are also exhibited in all national literary events as part of
Preserving and Celebrating our literary heritage Page 7