The SDG Book Club African Chapter aims to use books asa tool to encourage children ages 6-12 to interact with theprinciples of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a curated reading list of books from around theAfrican continent related to each of the 17 SDGs in—Arabic, English, French, and Kiswahili.
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The 17 STORIES project is an SDG Action Campaign designed to engage and motivate children towards taking action for the SDGs through the literary art of Storytelling.
15-year-old Vivian Omuji’s The Truck Pusher’s Tale is the winner of the 17 Stories project in the SDG Goal 2: Zero Hunger category. Read Omuji's story HERE.
17 Stories Project
5 December 2022
Caption: Author of Rain Rain Go Away, Jethro Orfega and Chineze Amanfo surname
The 17 STORIES project is an SDG Action Campaign designed to engage and motivate children towards taking action for the SDGs through the literary art of Storytelling.
The 17 STORIES project is an initiative of the Nigeria Volunteers Network (NVN) led by Vincent Odigie. The Nigerian Volunteers Network is a partner of the UN SDG Book Club African Chapter. The first in the series is entitled, "Rain Rain Go Away" by Jethro Orfega. Read More HERE
Opinion: How Can Literary Artists and Other Creatives Contribute to Sustainable Development and to the Sustainable Growth of the Book Sector?
5 December 2022
Author of SDG Reading List Book Pick, "Garbage School" Abdullahi Ismaila delivered a paper in response to the panel topic, "How Can Literary Artists and Other Creatives Contribute to Sustainable Development and to the Sustainable Growth of the Book Sector?". Read More HERE
Call for Submission of Books - SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
19 November 2022
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Book Club African Chapter is inviting African publishers/Authors to submit children’s fiction and non-fiction books that relate to the SDG 8: DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH in English, French, Arabic and Kiswahili that help educate children about the SDGs.
If you have books for children within the ages of 6 and 12 years + that relate to Decent Work and Economic Growth – SDG 8, we invite you to submit them. Below are the links to the Google forms in the four main languages. A children’s book in any other African language that relates to SDG 8 can be submitted via any of the submission forms.
The deadline for the submission of the book(s) is 28th November 2022.
Book submissions for SDG 7 were selected and published. To view/ download the reading lists (SDG 1-7), visit:
The SDG Book Club Interview Series explores the inner worlds of the authors behind the exclusive SDG Book Club: African Chapter Reading List book picks.
Scroll down to learn more about the authors who craft brilliant stories that help teach African children across the continent more about the Sustainable Development Goals in creative and relatable ways.
Caption: Christopher Okemwa, author of 'Sabina and the Rain Girl', is one of 17 authors whose books were selected for the UN SDG Book Club African Chapter's inaugural reading lists.
SDG Book Club Interview Series: Q&A with author Christopher Okemwa
Christopher Okemwa is an author and editor of several literary works in Africa and beyond. He self-published his first book in 2004 and in 2015, his novella, Sabina and the Mystery of the Ogre, won the Canadian Burt Award for African Literature. Its sequel, Sabina the Rain Girl, was selected for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Zero Hunger reading list, is fast becoming a popular novella among young people in Africa...Read More HERE
Caption: Harrington Kanyanta, Ilustrator of 'Koko Grows Food', is one of the selected authors for the UN SDG Book Club African Chapter's reading list
SDG Book Club Interview Series: How to Transform Words into Illustrations
The graphic artist Harrington Kanyanta reveals his inspirations for illustrating 'Koko Grows Food' a book selected for the UN SDG 2 Zero Hunger reading list. Born in Zambia, Kanyanta is a graphic artist, ilustrator and ardent advocate of interpersonal skills art. Read More HERE
Caption: Dr. Hamisi Babusa, Kenyatta University administrator and lecturer in Kiswahili and Language Education
SDG Book Club Interview Series talks with Hamisi Babusa, author of 'Kijiji cha Ukame'
Originally from Kenya, Dr. Hamisi Babusa, Kenyatta university administrator and lecturer in Kiswahili and Language Education, is also founder of Babusa TV, an online Kiswahili channel which testifies to his passion for developing content for children. Hamisi Babusa is also a creative writer and an academic writer, with several books to his name. With more than twenty years of writing experience, Babusa's book 'Kijiji cha Ukame' was selected for the UN SDG Kiswahili Inaugural Reading List...Read More HERE
Caption: The author of 'Monkey Business', Chukwuemeka Iroegbu Chukwudi
SDG Book Club Interview Series meets with Chukwuemeka Iroegbu Chukwudi
Born in Lagos (Nigeria) the author of 'Monkey Business', Chukwuemeka Iroegbu Chukwudi, has been a writer for nearly thirty years. He has written articles, news reports/features, short stories and poems for publications and competitions. Indeed, some of his poems have succesfully won awards. His first book, 'Monkey Business' was selected for the SDG 1: No Poverty inaugural reading list. Read More HERE
SDG Book Club Africa Interview Series with Ama Worla (Ewurama Bennin), Author of 'Kayim’s Quest for Good Fortune
Ama Worla is an educational administrat
Caption: Ama Worla author of Kayim's Quest for Good Fortune
or, author and a trainer who brings color to the learning process through stories, dialogue, and games. Motivated by her children’s love for her storytelling, Ama was inspired to help children learn important lessons about life by reading about capabilities of people just like them. Ama Worla's book 'Kayim's Quest for Good Fortune' is included in the Inaugural English Reading List: SDG 1 No Poverty. Read More HERE
Caption: Lorato Trok biographer of "Rosina Sedibane Modiba: A Dream Denied", one of the books that was recently selected for the SDG 5: Gender Equality reading list by the SDG Book Club African Chapter
SDG Book Club Interview Series: Lorato Trok
In the latest entry of this series, we speak to Trok whose book Rosina Sedibane Modiba: A Dream Denied is on the English SDG 5: Gender Equality Reading List
Lorato Trok is an early literacy consultant and expert in developing reading for pleasure books for young children, especially in African languages. She has 20 years’ experience in publishing, writing, translation, editing and story development in children’s literature. Read More HERE
Caption: Derkyi’s writings are guided by his belief that as writers, we hold the keys to harnessing our past and present to define our future.
SDG Book Club Interview Series: Godfred Edusei Derkyi
“Adventures of Hurricane & Tornado - Episode 1" is dedicated to the realization of the SDGs and recently made our SDG 4 Quality Education Reading List. The book's author, prolific writer Edusei Derkyi is the author of several books including "Aboakyer - The Hunt of the Efutu People", "Ramblings of My Mind - an Anthology of 45 Life Poems" and "Yaaba - A day in the Life of an African Child".
Derkyi's love for music has led to him incorporating songs into his works - a reflection of the pivotal role music plays in the everyday life of the African. Read More HERE
Caption: Yemisi Egunjobi, writing under the pen name DE GOMEG is a Nigerian, a writer, editor and publisher. She is the author of Village Girl in Town
SDG Book Club Interview Series: Yemisi Egunjobi
In the latest entry of this series, we speak to Yemisi, whose book "Village Girl in Town" is on the English Reading List for SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.
Yemisi Egunjobi, writing under the pen name DE GOMEG is a Nigerian, a writer, editor and publisher. She is the author of Village Girl in Town, a book pick for SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation. She is a Fulbright Fellow who studied ‘Writing and Publishing Children’s books’ at the University of Washington, USA. She has her name on at least 70 published books in English, Yoruba and French. Read More HERE
Caption: Author of Rude Awakening, Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha
SDG Book Club Interview Series: Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha
We recently spoke to Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha whose book Rude Awakening is on the English SDG 5: Gender Equality Reading List. Mbadugha is a multiple award-winning author with a natural flair for the arts. She wrote her first unpublished novel at the age of six and has been writing poems, scripts, short stories, and songs since then, which were mainly for leisure.
Her novella Rude Awakening is one of the three novellas in her series Beyond the Trial, where all three novellas are published as stand-alone books. Read More HERE
Caption: Mwanawetu Mmuni is a Tanzanian author. Her books include Usimwacheatoke, Nifikirie, Nadhariayamaishayamtinamtu, and others.
SDG Book Club Africa Interview Series: Mwanawetu Mmuni
Mwanawetu Mmuni is a Tanzanian author. Her books include Usimwacheatoke, Nifikirie, Nadhariayamaishayamtinamtu, and others. Kilimochetu, Kiburichaponzakichwa, Ukutiukuti, Safari yaMikumi, Hadithizakarneya 21, Ken naKandi, Jifikirie, Jumannekatikamsituwamaajabu, Unamjuahuyu? Come with me, Umebadilika.
She writes in various genres including adventure, historical books, romances, African culture, children's literature, bio-books, biography and economics, philosophical magazines in Kiswahili. Mwanawetu's book 'Ken Na Kandi' is included in the Kiswahili Reading List for SDG 4: Quality Education. Read More HERE
Caption: Dr. Okediran is currently the Deputy Secretary-General (Africa) for the Union of Writers from Africa, Asia and Latin America
SDG Book Club Interview Series meets with Wale Okediran
The Esteemed Okediran has published till date, fourteen novels, many of which are on the reading lists of a number of Nigerian universities. His highly acclaimed novel, Tenants of the House, which is a fictional account of his years in the House of Representatives was the 2011 Co-Winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature.
In an interview with the SDG Book Club African Chapter, Dr. Okediran spoke on his extensive experience in the literature world and his book "Corona Tales" which was selected for the SDG 3: English Reading List. Read More HERE
Caption: Olubunmi Aboderin Talabi is the founder of publishing house Clever Clogs Books and convener ofthe Akada Children's Book Festival
SDG Book Club African Chapter Interview Series: Olubunmi Aboderin Talabi
Olubunmi Aboderin Talabi is the founder of publishing house Clever Clogs Books and convener of the Akada Children's Book Festival. She is also Chairperson of the Association of Children’s Authors & Illustrators of Nigeria. Passionate about creating visually engaging, culturally relevant content for children, she has a desire to see steadily increasing literacy rates within her community.
'Why Do You Wash Your Hands?" is included in the reading list for SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) as an Honorary Indigenous African Language book. Read More HERE
Caption: Dominic Maina Oigo, author of 'Hatima Ya Musa'.
SDG Book Club Interview Series converses with Dominic Maina Oigo
Dominic Maina Oigo is an author, editor, translator, and a final year student at Kenyatta University, Kenya. He is also the current Secretary-General to the University Organization for Kiswahili Students in East Africa, Kenya Chapter, and an active member of the International Human Rights Art Festival African Chapter. His book, 'Hatima Ya Musa' has been selected for the inaugural Kiswahili reading list addressing the theme: No Poverty - SDG 1. Read More HERE
Caption: Author, Naomi Adjei
SDG Book Club Interview with Naomi Adjei
Adjei authored "Nii Noi, the Sanitation Officer", which was selected for the SDG 6: Clean water and Sanitation English Reading list.
As part of our ongoing interview series, the SDG Book Club African Chapter caught up with Adjei to discuss her love of writing children's books, the SDGs and the current state of literature in a technology-centred world. Read More HERE
Caption: Bijloo illustrated the SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy Reading List book pick, "An African Legend".
SDG Book Club Interview with Adriaan Bijloo
Bijloo illustrated the SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy Reading List book pick, "An African Legend".
In 2021, he received the “Vlag en Wimpel” award for the illustrations he created for the book “Hoe alles begon” (How Everything Started). The “Vlag en Wimpel” is an award for the best illustrations created by an illustrator in that year. Right now, Bijloo is working on a graphic novel about life on other planets which will be released in 2023. Read More HERE
Caption: Author, Maya Fowler
SDG Book Club Interview with Maya Fowler
Maya Fowler is a South African novelist, editor and translator, currently living in British Columbia, Canada. Though she speaks several languages, she works in English and Afrikaans, a South African language that developed out of Dutch in southern Africa.
Fowler, author of "An African Legend", spoke to the SDG Book Club African Chapter about her SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy Reading List book pick among other subjects. Read More HERE
Caption: Nelia Landman, is a publisher who is representing Oxford University Press who wrote, illustrated and published, "Reduce, Reuse,
SDG Book Club Interview with Nelia Landman
Nelia Landman studied publishing at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She has worked at both academic and educational publishers, and joined Oxford University Press, Southern Africa, in 2012.
Landman talks to us about how Oxford University Press brought to life, "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!", a book that speaks to SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. Read More HERE
The article series consists of short papers on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from an African perspective, presented and/or published. It provides our African authors on the continent with the opportunity to participate very directly in the global conversations around the challenges afflicting our continent.
Let me begin by thanking Olatoun Gabi-Williams, initiator of the African Perspectives Series, Founder, Borders Literature for all Nations, UN SDG Book Club African Chapter Publicist and Management Committee Member, for availing us this much needed platform that enables us to share details about the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Culture Promoters (NBRP) in Nigeria. This article will be written from the perspective of NBRP’s potential to contribute to the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, UNSDGs.
About NBRP
NBRP emerged on the Nigerian national readership promotions scene in February 2023 with the following stated aims and objectives:
To bring together book clubs and reading promotion organizations in Nigeria for shared readership advocacy.
To serve as a platform to encourage more Nigerians to read.
To collectively project and present the interest of book clubs and reading promotion organizations in the book chain.
To cooperate with other organizations in the book trade with a view to forging more beneficial relationships and partnerships between readers and the rest of the book chain actors.
Achievements So Far and Gains Recorded
Awareness creation: Book Clubs matter
We believe that our most significant contribution to the reading and books ecosystem so far, is our helping to register in the minds of more and more swathes of the Nigerian population as well as in the public consciousness, that book clubs exist here and that they are needed for achieving critical national development goals. The nation’s population should patronize and use them.
While this has been done through various platforms, media and engagements over the years, the peak of our awareness-raising activities has been our Lagos Book Walk activity undertaken to flag off the tenure of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial and culture capital, as the Nigerian National Book City 2023. The Lagos Book Walk took place on April 27, 2023 and included among other activities and schedules, the presentationof the 10-point Lagos Book Charter: Suggestions for Improving the Reading Culture in Lagos to officials of the State Government. The document was the product of extensive consultations among stakeholders in the books and reading ecosystem that comprised publishers, authors, booksellers, librarians, authors and reading promoters.
One of NBRP’s tracks to achieving its goals is walking the collaboration path. This is based on a simple reasoning that book clubs as aggregate assemblies of readers do not exist as completely autonomous islands unto themselves. They need books produced by other stakeholders and they equally need reading spaces.
Our collaboration initiatives have therefore seen us join with other book ecosystem players like the Nigerian Publishers Association, the Booksellers Association of Nigeria, the Association of Nigerian Authors, the Nigerian Copyright Commission and the Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria in organizing the annual Nigerian International Book Fair. It has also seen us signing MOUs with agencies and organisations like the National Library of Nigeria, the Nigerian Library Association and the Committee for Relevant Art, CORA, in relation to setting up book clubs in libraries countrywide and undertaking joint book advocacy engagements.
No blind walking: The imperative of data-gathering
Before we got into the field, one of our biggest concerns was not wanting to play the wild card. We saw that we were working in a field where for various constricting reasons, guesses and assumptions were being generally used in place of statistics and we decided to do something about it. This is why one of our first public projects was a commitment to data gathering. The result was the Preliminary Survey on the State of Reading Infrastructure in Nigeria that was presented to stakeholders at the Nigerian International Book Fair in 2022. We also conducted a second survey on the reading habits of Nigerians in the Lagos area.
Sustaining, energizing, populating book clubs and building more functional capacity within NBRP
This is one area where we have pushed quite hard, deploying a combination of virtual and physical tools. It began with our Whatsapp platform where almost on a daily basis, we share beneficial information, opportunities regarding book clubs, reading promotions trends and allied matters. We also have our quarterly training sessions designed to help our members and affiliates upscale their methods while also encouraging the setting up of new book clubs in cities and schools countrywide. Our last major activity in this regard was the formal induction of some 22 new clubs on the sidelines of the 61st National Conference and AGM of the Nigerian Library Association that took place in Akure, Ondo State in July 2023. Notably, one of the newly set up clubs was that of the National Library branch in Akure. The yearly AGM and Conference of NBRP is another much valued capacity building forum.
As part of our deliberate effort to ensure that the reading promotions train impacts different spaces and strata across Nigeria, we have a rotational Nigerian National Book Clubs City scheme that encourages the concentration of our work within a given city/state per year. The beneficiary city is chosen in a bid process that peaks during the Annual General Meeting and Conference of NBRP and upon being declared successful, the successful city is supported to carry out reading promotions activities within its broader state area for at least one calendar year.
Uyo/Akwa Ibom enjoyed this grace in 2021 and 2022. Lagos is the current beneficiary and Yenagoa/Bayelsa has already being chosen as Nigerian National Book Clubs City 2024. The 2025 Host City is to be chosen during the 2023 NBRP AGM and Conference in Lagos in September, 2023.
NBRP and the SDGs
The work we do at the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Culture Promoters in Nigeria fits in very well with the themes and objectives expressed in SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth. This goal calls attention to the imperative of sustained, inclusive sustainable economic growth and full, productive employment and decent work for all. In addition, we are persuaded that it strongly resonates with SDG 4 - Inclusive, Equitable & Quality Education. This is more so as this goal advocates the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Through encouraging a culture of foundational grounding in literacy and the reading enterprise; through continued supplemental reading during formal school engagements; through imbibing and practicing life-long reading as a continuing engagement for all of the population, NBRP is helping to ensure the nurturing of a population of people primed to be a net-contributor to national wealth creation in a replenishable, continually value-adding chain all through the span of their lives.
Richard Mammah is an experienced editor and manager with a demonstrated history of working in the books and publishing industry. He possesses skills in writing, publishing, advertising, editing and media relations. He is a strong business development professional with a B.A and M.A in English and Literary Studies from University of Calabar, Nigeria. Since February 2020, he has been the
President of the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Promoters in Nigeria (NBRP). NBRP was founded in February 2020 as a non-profit to develop, promote and sustain a reading culture in Nigeria and to serve as an umbrella organization for Book Clubs in the country. He currently serves as the President of the elected Executive Council that runs the affairs of the organization. The council’s achievements include:
● Launch of 774 Book Clubs and Libraries Project, a campaign to ensure the emergence of at least one book club and a properly equipped library per local council area in Nigeria.
● National Book Club City project where a city in the country that has an active NBRP presence gets to be garlanded to serve as the focal point for reading promotions initiatives countrywide. Uyo was the pioneer holder of the status for 2021 and 2022. Lagos took over the status of National Book Club City on April 23rd, 2023.
The Network of Book Clubs and Reading Promoters (NBRP) is a partner of the UN SDG Book Club Africa
ABOUT THE AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES SERIES
The African Perspective Series was launched at the 2022 Nigeria International Book Fair with the first set of commissioned papers written and presented by authors of the UN SDG Book Club African Chapter. The objective of African Perspectives is to have African authors contribute to the global conversation around development challenges afflicting the African continent and to publish these important papers in the SDG Book Club blog hosted in the Stories section of the UN Namibia site. In this way, our authors’ ideas about the way forward for African development, can reach the widest possible interested audience. The African Perspectives Series is an initiative and property of Borders Literature for all Nations
Download the complete English reading list HERE
Download the complete Arabic Reading List 
Download the complete Arabic Reading List 
Author of SDG Reading List Book Pick, "Garbage School" Abdullahi Ismaila delivered a paper in response to the panel topic, "How Can Literary Artists and Other Creatives Contribute to Sustainable Development and to the Sustainable Growth of the Book Sector?". Read More HERE
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