News

In our last blog we spoke about the relevance of libraries. While we delved into why libraries are still relevant today, we didn't answer the question of "Where do libraries get their books?" So, how does a book enter the public domain (in other words, get into our hands)? Getting an idea from an author’s imagination into the hands of the reader requires careful curating and a host of people are involved, but one of the most vital roles is that of the Publisher.  

There's not much more to it, other than this thought, "How can we expect our readership to buy local books, if we don't choose local first?" We choose to lead the way. 

Kingsmead College, a leading girls’ school in Johannesburg, is proud to announce that entries are open for the second KBF Young Writers’ Competition.  Celebrating the talents of young writers across our country, the competition is open to children aged 6 – 18. 

Once upon a time... Those four words hold so much promise for young ears. A time for them to leave behind reality and allow their imaginations to take them to fantastic places, in the safe company of a parent or parents. How many of us remember, with fondness, these words?

Big and scary! That's probably the first thing that kids think of when dinosaurs are mentioned. This begs the question, why are kids so fascinated by dinosaurs? There have been some learned opinions given as to why children find dinosaurs so intriguing*, and we dug into the evidence to come up with the most likely four reasons that kids love them. 

Our focus at Imagnary House is on the kinds of stories that children and young adults enjoy. More so than older audiences, children are very quick to pick up when they are being preached to. That's why we would like books to put the story front and centre, to facilitate the development of imagination. 

Kingsmead Book Fair launches Young Writers’ Competition - open to all school children in South Africa. Kingsmead College, a leading girls’ school in Johannesburg, is proud to launch the inaugural KBF Young Writers’ Competition.  Celebrating the talents of young writers across our country, the competition is open to school children aged 6 – 18. 

Comic books, in the form we know them, are relatively new, first making their appearance in the 1930’s, having developed from comic strips in newspapers. In current times, comic books are becoming more accepted as a form of literature as well as a teaching tool, despite nagging naysayers. 

At Imagnary House, we love to support the wonderful efforts of other publishers, authors and illustrators within the publishing industry, especially when those efforts are targeted at relieving the stress of explaining a worldwide pandemic to our children. In this vein, we are happy to guide our readers to the freely available digital version of Coronavirus: A Children's Book.  

We’ve been shortlisted for the Bologna Prize for Best Children’s Publishers of the Year! The award is of a very respected class in the industry because there are only six publishing houses per year that are awarded with the title (one from each designated geographic area). The Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year highlights publishers who are at the forefront of creativity and innovation. 

We are a boutique publishing house for kids' books and young-adult literature in South Africa, and we're calling for manuscript submissions. Send us your novels, picture books, and more!

Get excited! On the 1st of July 2017, we're opening up our submissions, and are looking to build up our publication list for the next 2 years. We're looking for stories that are fun and imaginative, but also address current societal issues for children. We want simple stories that mean something and can feed positively into our children's futures. However, we're not after didactic or educational texts, and definitely lean towards manuscripts that can travel.