Commonwealth Foundation Director announces donation to South African mobile library
Award of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize 
Franschhoek Literary Festival, 18 May 2008
Speech by Dr Mark Collins, Director,
Commonwealth Foundation
Minister Pallo Jordan, High Commissioners, Excellencies, Colleagues on the Podium, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Welcome to the Franschhoek Literary Festival and welcome to the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Awards. It is a measure of the growing stature and significance of these awards that we have such a prestigious audience here today, and I thank you for joining us in this celebration.
And before I proceed any further I want to express my thanks to those who have made this event possible. In particular Franschhoek Literary Festival Directors Christopher Hope and Jenny Hobbs, James Woodhouse and the Festival Committee, and the many community sponsors; Minister Pallo Jordan and staff at the South Africa Department of Arts and Culture, and our major supporters the Macquarie Group Foundation.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Commonwealth Foundation was established by governments in 1965 to strengthen the role of civil society in nation-building and to increase cultural exchange and understanding. The Commonwealth Writers' Prize is one of our most important programmes. Now in its 22nd year, it attracts more and more entries - over 350 exemplary works of fiction this year.
What is it that attracts entries to this prize? Well first of all, it is the structure of the prize. By offering prizes for Best First Book and Best Book, we are not only rewarding some of the finest writers on the planet, but we are also giving encouragement to new writers struggling to find their footing in the literary world.
Secondly it is the international nature of the Prize. By dividing the prizes between four regions of the world, covering South East Asia, Australasia and the Pacific, Southern Asia and Europe, Canada and the Caribbean, and Africa, we have created an international prize that few if any other prizes can match.
And thirdly it is the judging process. The awards are judged by regional judging panels who truly know their countries, their writers and their readers. The Chairman of Judges, Nicholas Hasluck, will say more of this in a moment.
But the reputation and caché of the Writers Prize is also increasing because it is a product of the Commonwealth. There are those who associate this name only with the past and question its purpose. But they are misguided because today's Commonwealth is a forward looking and progressive organisation in which 53 countries, large and small, rich and poor, work together to promote democracy, sustainable development, respect and understanding between their 1.8 billion people.
As a former Secretary-General, Sonny Ramphal once said, the
Commonwealth cannot negotiate for the world, but it can help the world negotiate. There is a huge need for greater co-operation between countries, in addressing climate change, tackling extremism and of course tackling the inequities of poverty. And this is why more and more countries enquire about joining the ranks of the Commonwealth.
The term Commonwealth itself speaks to our main objective, common wealth. But we must be careful to appreciate what wealth really means. The Millennium Development Goals define poverty as living on less than a dollar a day and indeed this brings home the stark divides that exist. But there are other forms of wealth than money, and other forms of impoverishment than lack of it.
Above all, poverty is about a lack of choice and a lack of control over one's own destiny. And what greater and more fundamental force for choice, dignity, democracy and self-respect can there be than the ability and opportunity to read and thereby understand options, express oneself and take decisions?
Almost one third of countries in the UNDP Human Development Report have an illiteracy rate greater than one in five people, and of those countries, two thirds are in Africa. Across the Commonwealth as a whole, at least 20 countries have illiteracy rates greater than 20%.
And how can literacy be addressed without access to books? We hear a lot about the digital divide, but what about the book divide? Surely this is just as important and in many ways easier to tackle.
And this is why, as part of the legacy of bringing the Commonwealth Writers Prize to Franschhoek, the Commonwealth Foundation is contributing SAR100,000 towards the purchase and equipping of a mobile library to serve rural schools in the region. And the only condition of the grant is that the library must contain copies of all the books by our winning Commonwealth Writers here today!
I should now like to invite Jenny Hobbs to accept the cheque on behalf of the Franschhoek Library Fund.
Thank you very much indeed.
