Beverley Naidoo
Beverley Naidoo’s first children’s book, Journey to Jo’burg, was banned in her birth country South Africa until 1991 but it was an eye-opener for many thousands of readers worldwide about life under apartheid. Having celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010, it is now read as a universal story of two children whose love and courage cannot be crushed. Beverley’s many awards include the Carnegie Medal for The Other Side of Truth and the Children’s Africana Book Award for Burn My Heart, adapted for a national stage tour by Trestle Theatre in 2010.
Books for younger readers include S is for South Africa, an alphabet of poems with photographs by Prodeepta Das; The Great Tug of War about the trickster hare Mmutla and a retelling of Aesop’s Fables, both illustrated by Piet Grobler. Baba’s Gift written with her daughter Maya Naidoo is illustrated by Karin Littlewood. Beverley was the South African nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2008.
