#PressPrint
Over the past 18 (yes, 18!) years, we have provided the cutting edge of critical, adventurous and independent South African literature.
Having secured, through a buy-out, a future for the company in August last year, we are now the only major South African publishing house that is independent and owner-managed. But thanks to the pandemic, we are facing a potentially ruinous few months with no income at all. Even though we have slowly started trading again we only get paid for these sales at least two months after they have happened.
We need your support to keep the firm alive, to pay fair salaries, to keep publishing and to continue to pay our printers and suppliers.
This year we plan to publish another 50 titles that will disturb, provoke, stimulate and entertain. Our children’s books come in all colours and languages. Our natural history titles are a source of reference and inspiration for nature lovers. Our non-fiction titles investigate, uncover and frequently change the way we see the past and imagine the future. Our fiction tells the truth about South Africa.
The Jacana Literary Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation, runs literary competitions: the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award for best poetry in all languages; the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award; and the Gerald Kraak Award and Anthology, a collection of exceptional works which explore, interrogate and celebrate the topics of gender, sexuality and human rights. We were the original publishers of The Caine Prize for African Writing.
Through the JLF and our publishing, we give voice to the unusual, the brilliant, the queer and the brave. We’re independent of spirit and by inclination. We have claimed the freedom to publish what we like and to never ever have to shut up, so that we can continue giving you, the readers, books that are urgent, necessary, shape-shifting and mind-expanding.
But now we need your help. We have a responsibility to keep on publishing, but we face an alarming few months without any income. Our applications for government funding have come to naught.
By donating an amount of R30 per month for a year you can help us #PressPrint, and keep the books flowing. If you would prefer and feel able to donate a once-off amount that would be lifesaving.
We’d like to acknowledge your support, and every one of your names, should you wish, will be added to a list of donors printed at the back of each book we publish during the next year.
Ten per cent of all contributions will be donated, in books, to community libraries.
Please help us to keep going and to keep publishing!