Ba re e ne re Short Story anthology campaign meets crowd funding targets.
Ba re e ne re, an educational nonprofit based in Lesotho that promotes increased literacy, creative writing and artistic exchange as well hosts an annual literature festival in the Southern African nation. Ba re e ne re is the equivalent of “Once upon a time” in the Sesotho language.
At the beginning of October, the Ba re e ne re Literary Festival team announced that they were looking for funding for a new anthology that would contain stories in both English and Sesotho. The new anthology called “Likheleke tsa puo”, meaning “wordsmiths” in Sesotho would be launched at their annual festival in December. The team was looking for US$900 for the project with the costs assigned in the following way;
- $520 will go to the book printing
- $100 will go to book editing
- $100 will go to the book’s design
- $100 will go to the book’s registration
- $80 will cover transaction fees
You check out their appeal’s YouTube video below.
Those who wanted to contribute to the campaign had the following options if they wanted to contribute and what you got in return;
$5 – Rea leboha
Respect! We will thank you on our website and facebook page.
$8 – eBuka
You’ll get an ebook version of the short story collection.
$15 – Likheleke tsa puo
You will get a physical copy of the Likheleke tsa puo book.
$30 – E tekennoeng
You’ll get a copy of the physical book signed by the editors and the writers.
$50 – Lebitso la hau
You’ll get a copy of the physical book printed with your name in the acknowledgements and signed by the editors and writers.
$100 – Mofani
We’ll thank you publicly by name at our official book launch in Maseru on 9 December 2016 and you’ll also get a copy of the book with your name printed in it, signed by the editors and writers.
$250 – Official Sponsor
You’ll be credited publicly as an official sponsor of the Likheleke tsa puo book launch event, named in promotional materials and the highlights video of our 2016 festival. You’ll also get a copy of the book with your name printed in it, signed by the editors and the writers.
$500 – Morepolli
Morepolli is a Sesotho word we created to mean “someone who challenges power through creative expression”. We invite you to confront the biases of mainstream colonial and corporate publishing by supporting this independent book featuring local voices.
Going this route to raise funds isn’t as effective as you would think with only 20% of campaigns getting their funding to run the projects. So you can imagine that the team in Lesotho must have been quite chuffed as they announced on their twitter that they had met their targets.
Our Lesotho Story Anthology is fully funded thanks to your generous support! There are now only 5 days left to… https://t.co/TDhwQ68FY0
— Lesotho Literature (@barelitfest) November 1, 2016
They had as of writing this post raised US$1,055 from 22 backers with two days to go in the campaign. Not bad.
Maybe this is an option we can look at more keenly to raise our funding for future literary projects?
