'THE TAILOR OF PANAMA' PREMIÈRE

Book and film enthusiasts, corporate donors and other beautiful people will be gathering at Cinema 6, The Zone, Rosebank on Wednesday 5 September for the première of John le Carré's The Tailor of Panama, directed by John Boorman and starring Pierce Brosnan, Jamie Lee Curtis and Geoffrey Rush.

The event was specially requested by Le Carré and Boorman to help fund First Words in Print, a brilliant initiative of the Centre for the Book which aims to give every pre-school child in South Africa a set of picture and story books in their home languages.

The project is designed to promote a reading culture for young children, giving all our children a common literary background and greatly improving school readiness. At the same time, First Words in Print will provide much-needed work for local writers, illustrators and publishers.

The event begins at 6.30 and signed copies of Le Carré first editions will be auctioned before the movie is shown at 8. Exclusive Books, who have donated the refreshments, will also have a full range of Le Carré books on sale.

For tickets at R250 each, please phone Jenny at 011 788 1787.

THE FIRST WORDS IN PRINT PROJECT

The Centre for the Book in Cape Town is the umbrella body for book development in South Africa. Its slogan is: 'Building a Nation of Readers'.

First Words in Print is a pioneering and innovative project which aims to ensure that all very young South African children have access to the stimulation of picture books and story books in their own languages.

The project will vigorously promote a reading culture and provide our children with a shared literary heritage, a vital foundation for healing the severe rifts in our society that were caused by apartheid.

A major aspect of FWP is that for the first time books for babies, very young and pre-school children will be written, illustrated, translated and published by South Africans. A similar initiative in Britain has shown that the increase in family literacy and library use, as well as the better performance by children once they reach pre-school age and older, is remarkable if the very young have books at home.

In the first phase, 30 000 babies and very young children from disadvantaged backgrounds in rural and urban areas should be reached. The project will work in partnership with public libraries, clinics and crèches, which will distribute the FWP literature and give most children their first access to books. These partners will also play a vital role in exposing parents and other care-givers to the importance of reading books with their children.