top of page

Recent Posts

Archive

Tags

Categories

Subscribe

Join our mailing list

  • Tanja Nathanael
    • May 25, 2022

An Interview with Christian Elongué from Muna Kalati, African Children's Literature Research Centre



This week we are pleased to feature Muna Kalati, a digital research centre dedicated to the promotion of African children’s literature and children’s book publishing. Christian Elongué, founder and team leader of the centre, kindly responds to our questions below and outlines the centre’s purpose, community, and research opportunities. For those seeking African children’s books for their classrooms, libraries, or research, Muna Kalati is an amazing resource you are sure to appreciate. We encourage you to discover more about Muna Kalati in the interview below and the centre’s website, and hope you will help spread the word about this extraordinary research centre!

 

TN: Could you give a brief history of Muna Kalati?

CE: Muna Kalati is a non-profit association promoting African children's literature through research, policy advocacy, and capacity development. We manage a continental platform where publishers, authors, librarians, and other specialists of children’s books are engaging, equipping one another, and educating on reading and publishing books for children and young adults in Africa. We publish Muna Kalati Magazine, a quarterly publication which gathers the latest news in the African children's book publishing, literacy initiatives, and projects that we carry out across Africa as well as the review and critical analysis of the latest children's book releases.



TN: What is your mission? Did you see the need to serve a particular community?

CE: To increase the visibility, accessibility, and use of African children’s books in Africa and beyond through partnership, networking, and advocacy. We are focusing only on kids and young adults because those niches are very neglected in the publishing industry in Africa. In most African countries, it’s difficult to find professional and specialized children’s book publishers, libraries for children, or bookshops for kids. So we found it necessary to bridge that gap by enhancing digital access to books and resources about children and reading.


TN: Could you discuss some of the international collections or pieces that Muna Kalati has?

CE: We are not a publishing house, so we do not have international collections or pieces. We work with children’s book publishers to increase the visibility of their collections and boost their sales.


TN: Could you highlight 5-7 interesting international finds at Muna Kalati?

  1. We are the first African based international organization specializing in children’s books and literature in Africa.

  2. We have a dynamic team of passionate professionals educators, teachers and cultural activists who have in common a love of children, reading, and languages. The network that we are building throughout Africa has been possible thanks to the members of the advisory committee who deserve our full recognition. These include illustrator Joël Ebouemé, writer Kidi Bebey, literary activist Acèle Nadale, and publisher Akoss Ofori-Mensah.

  3. Since 2017 when we were established, we have been financially sustainable thanks to crowdfunding and income generating activities such as trainings and sales of our products. So, we are not depending on external grants to run our annual plan of activities.

  4. We have published the first reference and scientific book on the children’s book industry in Cameroon.

  5. We have developed several databases of children’s books for four African countries.

  6. We have supported several researchers and at least six PhD thesis on African children’s literature.

  7. We are fast growing and look forward to creating a research centre on African children’s literature and cultural objects for youth.

TN: We are living in the age of COVID where travel is often limited. Are your resources digitized?

CE: Yes. Since 2017 when the organization was created, we have been working remotely and all our resources are accessible through our website: www.munakalati.org.


All the podcasts from Muna Kalati are available on Spotify, Anchor, and Apple Podcasts. Our lectures, trainings, and audio recordings on diversity in children’s literature are on our YouTube channel.


We are an Afropolitan family working remotely from various countries: a president (me, Ghana), an editorial director (Dr. Narcisse Fomekong, France), a children's literature program manager (Adeline Kpotufe, Togo), a resource and partnership manager (Herman Labou, Cameroon), a finance officer (Isaac Appiah, Ghana), a digital communication team (Arthur Kevin, Ghana; Polina Khoroshevskaya, Russia), and a cultural animation manager (Guinaelle Kengne).


TN: Are these accessible to international scholars?

CE: Yes. Our resources are accessible to international scholars and we welcome international collaborative projects on literacy, reading, or children’s book publishing.


TN: Does your centre offer funding opportunities for visiting scholars?

CE: No. We don’t have that capacity for now. But we do offer technical support in terms of creating connections with professionals in the African children’s book industry and also facilitating access to unique resources and opportunities.


TN: What are some ways that children's literature scholars can get involved with your research centre?

CE: They can:

  1. Share their research findings or ideas through blog articles, papers, or op-ed.

  2. Share updates about the progress of their research/work with our specialized children book audience.

  3. Share announcements of events on children’s literature, literacy, or education where Africa’s perspective could be of added value.

  4. Submit book reviews, analysis, or bibliographies of children’s books on diversity topics.

  5. Submit job vacancies, research opportunities, or competition.

  6. All content can be submitted here or via email at content@munakalati.org.

TN: Do you have any special events scheduled in the upcoming year? Do you feature local authors or artists?

CE: Yes. April 29th, we hosted our 14th Muna Kalati Talk on the role of Literary prize in the promotion of African children’s literature. These monthly webinars focus on critical issues affecting the children’s book industry in Africa and beyond. Every December, we have the Reading for Healing project where we reach out to hospitalized and bedridden children to restore their joy through reading and playful activities. Quarterly, we have “Reading for Pleasure” workshops in Togo and Cameroon. This article shares our activities and impact five years after foundation.



TN: What is one thing you want our readers to know about your research centre?

CE: We work with a network of researchers, teachers, and academicians who have one thing in common: a burning desire to increase diversity in global children literature.


 

ABOUT THE INTERVIEWEE: Christian Elongué is an educator, author, and managing partner of Kabod Group, providing professional solutions in knowledge management, eLearning and publishing for local and international businesses and development agencies such as CIVICUS, UNESCO, European Union, International Finance Corporation (IFC), African Union etc. Dismayed by a lack of black characters in books available to African children, Elongué founded munakalati.org in 2017 with the goal of building international recognition for African children’s book authors and increasing access to African children’s books. In 2018, he started publishing Muna Kalati magazine, which is becoming a reference for writers, publishers and illustrators of children’s and Young Adult books. Christian has supported several researchers to undertake research on African Children literature. In 2019, he authored An Introduction to Children Literature in Cameroon, the first ever survey of the children’s book industry in Cameroon. Prior to that, he worked with the French National Centre for Children’s Literature. As a founding member of International Board of Book for Young People (IBBY-Cameroon), he has also spent several years developing literacy and educational initiatives as a means of empowering children in West Africa. In 2021, he was one of the 30 Global literacy Champion and innovators by the International Literacy Association, a global advocacy organization dedicated to advancing literacy for all through a network of more than 300,000 literacy educators, researchers and experts across 128 countries.


Contacts

Tags:

bottom of page