Cape Town - The Children’s Literature Festival was a celebration of children’s literature and also an opportunity to see the wonderful work the Heartlands Sanctuary does in caring for unwanted babies and young children.
The event took place at the sanctuary’s home in Somerset West. Heartlands’ main priority is to provide basic needs to children emotionally, physically and financially.
The event celebrated so many authors and illustrators’ respective work dedicated to children’s literature, with ticket proceeds, donations and funds going towards the sanctuary’s maintenance.
The Heartlands Baby Sanctuary CEO, Monica Buitendag, said: “It’s an expensive service that we provide because it’s not just a place of safety for the children, it’s a lot more than that. It’s not just about maintaining the facility, but it’s the nappies, toiletries and formula we need to buy too.”
The event format included the authors and illustrators talking about their life’s work, while there were many interactive events for the children, including pottery classes, jumping castles, and an art table.
Founder and director of the festival, Darryl David, said it catered exclusively to celebrating children’s literature.
“Most of the time, children’s literature is featured at the front end or the back end of a major festival. We decided to bring it centre stage because we believe children’s literature is as important as other forms of literature,” he said.
Proceedings concluded with the awarding of the SA Children’s Laureate Award, a new award to honour the country’s top writers and illustrators for their significant contributions to children’s literature.
The goal of the event was to not only showcase children’s literature, but for the sanctuary to get the support it needs to fund its work. More information about the sanctuary can be found at http://www.heartlandsbaby.org/.