The publishing history and production patterns of picture and illustrated South African children’s books published from 2000 - 2020: an empirical study

Abstract

The world we live in is constantly changing, resulting in new challenges. Over the past decades, there have been numerous developments in the children’s books industry. In an in-depth literature review it was learnt that book publishing plays an important role in any literary system and can be regarded as a mirror reflecting changes in the political, social, economic and cultural systems. Picture and illustrated books have a unique place in children’s literature and are considered an important subsystem of children’s literature. The publishing scenario of South African children’s books published in the 21st century is not well documented. Various attempts have been made over the years to compile bibliographies of South African children’s books. These lists provide valuable information on the publishing of South African children’s books. However, no comprehensive list of South African picture and illustrated books published since 2000 could be traced. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap and to give prominence to this field by providing a statistical mapping of the material production of picture and illustrated books, the state of publishing, trends and production patterns. A production profile of South African children’s picture and illustrated books provides evidence of the publishing history of children’s books. The production profile takes the form of an enumerative bibliography, the core of the production profile. An enumerative bibliography lists precisely what was published in a given period or genre, or by a particular author and illustrator. To address the question How can a production profile of South African children’s picture and illustrated books expose the state of publishing, production trends, and production patterns in this genre from 2000 to 2020? statistical-quantitative empirical research is used. This study contributes to an understanding of the important role of different role players in the production of picture and illustrated books and provides valuable information on the state of publishing of picture and illustrated books. The findings provide historical insight into the nature and production patterns of picture and illustrated books and reveal changes, trends, relationships and developments in the first two decades of the 21st century.