All around the world, trails of magic and pixie dust are left by book fairies in the form of books.
The Bookfairies is a global community cause run by volunteers. According to Emelia Govender they have around 12 000 fairies in over 100 countries. “I together with my two children, Siân and Tayden, are the official Bookfairy in Cape Town and Durban. We manage the various campaigns. We celebrate Independent Author Day, International Women Day, book launches, movies (based on books) launches like ‘Little Women’ and ‘The Secret Garden’ and social media platforms.”
“We are fairies. We like to be a bit mysterious and let the magic take over of finding a book (wrapped like a gift, with a ribbon, a note and our sticker) at random spaces and not actually seeing the person leaving the book. We do have mini Bookfairies that we share to encourage parents to show their children and to inspire the love for reading.”
This lovely initiative started five years ago with Emma Watson leaving books on the London Underground and then Cordelia, who is the chief book fairy and lives in the UK, got together with Emma to do a massive book drop for International Women’s Day, March 8, 2017. From there on it evolved from just being in the UK on the London Underground to all over the world in so many different countries. Emma Watson left 100 copies of ‘A Handmaid’s Tale in Paris’, the ‘Little Women’ books in London, books in Scotland for the COP, and the Duchess of Cambridge bookfairied the ‘Hold Still’ book.
Anyone can be a book fairy. “You go onto our website, which is www.ibelieveinbookfairies.com and you order your stickers. The only pre-requisite is a sticker, but there are ribbons, badges and the famous green tote bag that Emma Watson carries on her book drops.” It’s also free shipping.
You order your stickers and you can either get a book off your bookshelf or take any book you have, new or secondhand, put a sticker on the front, a little note with a ribbon around the book and you leave it in a place, where there is a lot of people walking past, so the book will be found. They try not to bookdrop religious or books that are too political.
Emelia says she have done book drops indoors and outdoors, whilst grocery shopping and at restaurants where she eats out at. There is no special travelling required with being a book fairy.
Emelia herself has done book drops in Durban, Johannesburg, as well as in the USA and Europe including Paris, where a South African book, signed by a Durban author was found and taken to Spain. “And from there hopefully we will be tagged where it is next!!!”
Emelia says they either use their own books from their personal shelves, buy from independent bookstore, book sales, or get books donated by international publishers, local and international authors, friends, family as well as worldwide organizations like @worldofbooksltd who sent them books for International Women’s Day and Pride Week.
“We received donations from Clarke’s Bookstore, and the Women Zone Library at the Arts Theatre and from the Durbanville Primary School, grade 5 class.”
Bookfairies do this as they love spreading the magic of reading and it’s a joy to them when authors, finders and publishers acknowledge and support them.
Emelia started being a bookfairy together with her children because they love books and reading. “That is the first reason. The second reason is we love Emma Watson. Thirdly, we thought how wonderful it will be to find a bookfairy treasure. We noticed that there was no local bookfairy so we thought why not us? Fourthly, by magically spreading our love of books/reading we are contributing and making a small difference.
‘In Believing in Bookfairies’ has enriched our lives and has made a positive difference in so many ways.
I have recently published a children’s book called ‘The Magical Adventures of Cyan: I believe in book fairies, do you?’ A loving tale of determination, kindness and realistic challenges. All children deserve to see themselves in the books they read. My aim was to write a book that represent a variety of backgrounds.”
She thinks it’s important for children to make connections with the lives of the characters and see themselves represented in stories.
“We need to get diverse books into the hands of our young readers.”
By ordering this book, you can make more diverse, inclusive stories like this one possible, as well as showing the book world that representation for the communities are in fact in high demand. Not forgetting highlighting the magic of the bookfairies.
Whether a person is buying this book for your child, loved one, to donate or just to support, they are making a difference in the book space.
