In late October 2022, four creative volunteer teams from Namibia worked in just 12 hours to create beautiful Namibian children’s books that can be freely translated, printed and distributed by anyone. 

The first BookSprint Namibia event was sponsored by the German embassy and the Goethe-Institut. 

In teams of three, each consisting of a writer, illustrator and graphic designer, and children’s and young adult author Nasrin Siege as the editor for all teams, four books were created in Windhoek in 12 hours of joint work.

The four books are titled, ‘Open yours, Minda’, ‘Myra’s Friends’, ‘Who tickles Tula?’, and ‘I want to be…’. 

These books will officially be launched today at the Goethe-Institut, starting at 11h00.

The BookSprint is based on the Book Dash project that was developed in South Africa because organisers believe every child should own 100 books by the age of five before they enter school.

These books may be published free of charge.

All books are richly illustrated and will be printed with a print run of 1 000 copies that will be distributed free of charge in libraries, kindergartens, primary schools and at the Goethe-Institut