Who We Are
Golden Baobab is an arts and culture literary nonprofit that seeks to increase African representation in children’s storybooks. We discover, celebrate and support African children’s writers and illustrators through our literary award, the Golden Baobab Prize. Through this prize we offer publishing opportunities and skills development to the most talented children’s writers and illustrators we find.
Golden Baobab’s mission is to provide African writers and illustrators opportunities to create and publish new children’s storybooks. Over the next decade we want to see more African story books available and accessible in marketplaces around the world.
In 2015, Golden Baobab’s work expanded into the establishment of the children’s publishing house, African Bureau Stories. Based in Accra, Ghana, African Bureau Stories was set up by one of our founders, Deborah Osei-Agyekum, to publish beautiful, high quality children’s fiction from across Africa. African Bureau Stories serves as a publishing partner to Golden Baobab and provides opportunities for our writers and illustrators.
The Problem We Solve
Across the African continent, there are scarce opportunities and resources for writers and illustrators who want to create children's storybooks. This means that many talented African children’s writers and illustrators do not have the necessary opportunities to grow their skills, publish their books and get them into the hands of children locally and internationally. This causes a problem: children across Africa having fewer culturally-relevant story books available to them. It also means readers around the world do not have enough opportunities to experience Africa through children’s books created by Africans. And finally, the children’s publishing industry remains underdeveloped until more opportunities can be created.
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Our Approach
We develop opportunities for African writers and illustrators to create more children’s storybooks. We do this through:
The Golden Baobab Prize - A prestigious annual literary award that discovers and celebrates Africa’s best talent in writing and illustrating children’s literature.
Publishing Program - We connect the best writers and illustrators discovered through the prize to publishers locally and internationally for opportunities to produce their children’s storybooks.
Development Opportunities - We offer training opportunities to writers and illustrators as creative and technical resources to improve their craft.
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We promote African representation in children’s literature.
