Golden Baobab is proud to introduce to you, Phoebe Prah, our very own hardworking and talented Programs Assistant. One of Phoebe’s duties at Golden Baobab is to help brainstorm for new and exciting projects that are relevant to Golden Baobab’s mission. One such project was GeeBee the Book Bag which Phoebe did an amazing job spearheading. Here’s her account of how the bag came into existence!

Hi everyone!

Although conceptualizing GeeBee was not easy, it certainly proved to be worthy! At one weekly Golden Baobab meeting towards the end of November last year, the team huddled together en “pensive” mode, thinking and brainstorming to come up with an end-of-year project that would tie together our plans for strategic corporate engagement, children-focused social impact and increased brand recognition. The flow of thinking went a bit like this:

How do we get high quality African children's books into the hands of children this Christmas holiday? How do we begin to build strong, lasting relationships with corporates and have these relationships translate into support for our organization? We came up with a great idea!

When the Christmas season is approaching, corporates give out a lot of freebies to their staff, ranging from cash vouchers to various gifts. What could our gift be? Books seemed likely but how about a book bag? Now that sounds like a Golden Baobab product! We would create an unforgettable book bag with such a cool character that it would be difficult for any company to reject it. We would call our new product: GeeBee the Book Bag.

That was just the beginning! Over the next five days, the Golden Baobab team liaised with our good friend illustrator, El Carna, to solidify the GeeBee character. We wanted GeeBee to be childish but with a quirky edge and an iconic expression that would make it recognizable any and everywhere. El Carna designed GeeBee's face. Then we partnered with some bag makers and printers and just like that our GeeBee the Book Bag was born! We loved the look of our bag’s outer character but the most satisfying part for us was the fact that the contents in GeeBee would go a long way to fulfill Golden Baobab’s vision: a world filled with wonder and possibility, one African children’s story at a time.

If you are reading this and still wondering, “so what exactly is GeeBee?” allow me to explain: GeeBee the Book Bag is an excitable book bag character who shares the joy of reading African children’s books with every child it meets. Each Book Bag is filled with three quality African children’s stories and a bookmark with a message from GeeBee that encourages the bag owner to keep reading African children’s books.

We approached various companies and pitched GeeBee as an “excitable and meaningful Christmas gift” for the children of staff and in the space of three weeks, we successfully sold over 700 books - an impressive feat!  The success of GeeBee was critical as that was the deciding factor as to whether it should be incorporated into Golden Baobab’s overall organizational model.

So this my friends, is how the much coveted GeeBee the Book Bag came to be! 

By Phoebe Prah – Programs Assistant

Golden Baobab is happy to introduce to you, Sena Ahadji, a young African Illustrator who is truly passionate about her art and puts much thought and focus into the works she produces. The Golden Baobab Prize is constantly evolving and we have placed more emphasis on the creation of African stories that will inspire the imaginations of African children. To depict this vision, we sought the help of Sena to create a poster for the 2013 Golden Baobab Prize, on which she delivered marvelously! Let's welcome Sena and see what she has to say.

Hello!

I’m Sena Ahadji, an African Illustrator. From as far back as I can remember, I’ve always loved drawing and no bare surface ever seemed safe around me if I was holding a crayon or a marker!

In primary school, library time was sacred to me; the books I chose to read were heavily influenced by their illustrations. I was always fascinated by the different techniques the illustrator’s used to bring the characters to life. This seemed to determine whether or not it would be a good read.

Studying Illustration and Graphics Design at Coventry University gave me the platform to explore my talent as an Illustrator. It birthed a passion in me for children’s books and my characters tend to stem from unique personalities I come across. My stylistic approach is not always very conventional as I always look for ways to improve and express myself as an individual. My African background also plays a vital role in the way my characters are depicted.

I was honored to be approached by Golden Baobab to design this year’s Prize poster and so I wanted to design something captivating. After researching, brainstorming and sketching down some ideas, I came up with the concept of an African character with a big afro, fascinated with the contents of a book coming to life. The concept was refined each time after getting feedback, until the final creative solution fit the brief!

I believe the role of an Illustrator is to provoke and assist ones imagination to push its boundaries. As my skills continue to expand, I hope you will find more of my illustrations all over! There are endless possibilities and opportunities I endeavor to explore and I look forward to working on some interesting projects and making my print as an African Illustrator.

Sena Ahadji

A very big welcome to our 5th and final Search Hero, Allieu, from Sierra Leone! Allieu has a soft spot for book characters who emerge victorious despite the adversities they go through in their stories. He also loves a certain sport, can you guess which one?

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am Allieu S. H. Kamara, a member of PEN International, Sierra Leone Chapter. I am the Administrative Secretary of the Chapter which is known as the Sierra Leone PEN Centre. I have practiced journalism over a period of 15 years and I have recently registered a newspaper called the ‘EDUCO NEWSPAPER.’ 

What is your day job and what activities do you enjoy in your leisure time?

My daily job at the Sierra Leone PEN Centre is planning and executing the day to day activities of the centre. I like watching football and listening to music when I have free time.

Let’s take our readers on a trip down memory lane. What did your 8 year-old self want to become in future and were they in any way influenced by the books you read?

I’ve wanted to be a journalist since I was a small boy so I'm happy that my dream came true! Though I have read many books, I already had a passion for journalistic activities, especially research and reporting.

This is the tough one: Who was your favorite storybook character growing up?

When I read stories, I always admire a hero/heroine who strives hard to succeed despite difficulties in his/her adventure. An example is the popular primary school book, ‘Chike and the River,’ authored by the late African literary giant, Chinua Achebe. The main character in the book, Chike, became successful at the end of his ambitious story.   

What would be your biggest dream for African children’s literature?

When every African child has access to a variety of supplementary readers in schools at all levels, I would be the happiest man in the literary circle! This is because research has indicated that a child who can read and write, learns more and is more likely to stay in school. As a result, this child has a greater ability to contribute to economic prosperity. As a student/pupil masters the mechanics of reading, instructions expand to address reading and writing for critical thinking and the use of knowledge gained to solve real problems. 

How does it feel to be named a Search Hero for the Golden Baobab Prize?

It means a lot to me to help in promoting African literature, writers and reading. Also, it would mean suggesting and advising literary institutions on organizing writers’ workshops and publishing reading materials.

What kind of superpowers will you be contributing to enhance the Golden Baobab Prize search for captivating African stories for children?

Encouraging both published and aspiring writers to add to African literature and enrich its value. At PEN Sierra Leone, we have established a Writers Forum. The forum encourages people to come up with unpublished manuscripts so that writers can meet as peers to share experiences and new and aspiring writers can meet with established writers for tips and guidance relating to their works.

Where can people connect with you on the World Wide Web?

People can connect with me on www.pensierraleone.org. We share this website with PEN International.

Well Sierra Leone, there you have it! Look out for Allieu, Search Hero No. 5 for the Golden Baobab Prize!

Say hello to Search Hero Lynn from South Africa! Lynn has an active imagination; she likes to muse about the existence of extraterrestrial life. Let's have a chat with her to find out more!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I live in Cape Town, I am passionate about literacy and writing and yes, I believe UFO’s are real!

What is your day job and what activities do you enjoy in your leisure time?

I’m a Healthcare administrator and I enjoy reading and writing. Books always take me to new worlds and allow me to experience new things.  Reading is King!

 Let’s take our reader on a trip down memory lane. What did your 8 year-old self want to become in future and were they in any way influenced by the books you read?

My 8 year-old self wanted to be a lawyer but I don’t know if it’s because of the books I read. I have always had a passion for law, history and education.

Who was your favourite storybook character growing up?

It would have to be all the characters of the MoloSongolo series. They are all so interesting!

What would be your biggest dream for African children’s literature?

I want African children’s literature to get widespread exposure but ultimately getting African kids reading.

How does it feel to be named a Search Hero for the Golden Baobab Prize?

It is a true honour, and I will dedicate my time to fostering the ethos of the Golden Baobab Prize.

What kind of superpowers will you be contributing to enhance the Golden Baobab Prize search for captivating African stories for children?

I am planning to start a blog, and the first post will be LITERACY IN AFRICA. I will tweet and just get a dialogue going and get more people on board to support, assist and make us GROW.

Where can people connect with you on the world wide web?

Via twitter @Ling83

Well South Africa, there you have it! Look out for Lynn, Search Hero No. 4 for the Golden Baobab Prize!

 A very big welcome to Search Hero Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed from Nigeria! Zahrah loves to travel, read and do a whole bunch of other things. Read her interview and find out what they are!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, in a diverse household with a father from Nasarawa in Northern Nigeria and a mother from England via St.Kitts in the West Indies. I grew up surrounded by shelves filled with books, music constantly playing, delicious Nigerian and Caribbean food and great conversation, which is probably why those are some of my favourite things in the world.

What is your day job and what activities do you enjoy in your leisure time?

For nearly four years I have been a PhD student at the London School of Economics where I research and teach on gender and the urban aspects of international development. When I'm not being an academic-in-training, I blog through bookshy about African literature and book culture. Some of my favourite things in the world to do for fun are to read, draw, create playlists with different songs based on my mood and/or the occasion, take photos of the things in cities people tend to ignore, travel, and have great conversation and laugh over good food with friends and family. One of the things I love doing the most, however, is curling up on the couch (usually with a cup of tea) and watching series. Right now I’m watching Scandal and Arrested Development, and catching up on The Vampire Dairies (I never said it was all great TV).

Let’s take our readers on a trip down memory lane. What did your 8 year-old self want to become in future and were they in any way influenced by the books you read?

I wanted to be a cartoonist. Although I loved reading all types of books as a kid, I absolutely loved comics and my favourite was Asterix. I also loved Archie, but that might have been in secondary school. Others I loved to read when/if they were available were Garfield and Friends, Beano, Dennis the Menace, and Peanuts. These comics greatly influenced my desire to become a cartoonist, especially Asterix. I remember one afternoon being bored after I had read one of my comics (probably for the 100^th time) and decided to try and copy one of the characters in them. It might have either been Obelix or Panacea (his love interest). While I never did go to art school, I still harbour the dreams of an 8-year old who wanted to draw the cartoons in the comics she read.

This is the tough one: Who was your favorite storybook character growing up?

This really is a tough question! It’s pretty hard to choose a favourite but I was the hugest fan of Roald Dahl’s novels. I read them all, which is why it’s so hard to pick one. There’s the Big Friendly Giant, The Grandma from “The Witches”, Matilda, the adorable Mr Hoppy in “Esio Trot”, and even Fantastic Mr. Fox. Yet while Roald Dahl had some amazing heroes, he also had some memorable villains. The Grand High Witch from “The Witches” scared me as a kid, and there was Mr. and Mrs. Twit from “The Twits”.

What would be your biggest dream for African children’s literature?

For a child that is 8 years old in 2013 being asked 20 years from now, “Who was their favourite storybook character growing up?” and being able to reply – a famous character in an African novel.

How does it feel to be named a Search Hero for the Golden Baobab Prize?

Very surprised, extremely honoured and ready for the challenge.

What kind of superpowers will you be contributing to enhance the Golden Baobab Prize search for captivating African stories for children?

Probably not the coolest superpower, but resourcefulness, that way I can use everything I am given (hopefully in a creative way) to contribute to the Golden Baobab Prize search.

Where can people connect with you on the world wide web?

Blog: bookshybooks.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter: @bookshybooks

Facebook: bookshy

Tumblr: Africanbookcovers.tumblr.com

 Well Nigeria, there you have it! Look out for Zahrah, Search Hero No. 3 for the Golden Baobab Prize!