Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales to be Produced as Audiobook Featuring Archbishop Tutu, Gillian Anderson, America Ferrera, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Alan Rickman and Jurnee Smollett, Directed by Alfre Woodard

  ARTISTS FOR A NEW SOUTH AFRICA TO PRODUCE, HACHETTE AUDIO TO PUBLISH AND

     DISTRIBUTE IN '09 TO BENEFIT PROGRAMS SERVING AFRICAN AIDS ORPHANS



    LOS ANGELES, July 17 /EMWNews/ -- In honor of Nelson Mandela's 90th

birthday this week, Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA) announced plans

to produce an audiobook version of Nelson Mandela's Favorite African

Folktales, an award-winning book of legendary tales hand-picked by the

Nobel Peace Prize laureate. An array of celebrated, award-winning

performers are donating their talents to the charitable endeavor; those

already signed on to voice stories include Gillian Anderson (Emmy/Golden

Globe winner; X Files), America Ferrera (Emmy/Golden Globe winner; Ugly

Betty), Whoopi Goldberg (Oscar/Tony/Emmy/GRAMMY(R) winner), Samuel L.

Jackson (Cannes/BAFTA/Independent Spirit winner and Oscar nominee; Pulp

Fiction), Alan Rickman (Emmy/Golden Globe winner, Rasputin; Harry Potter

film series) and Jurnee Smollett (Critics Choice/ NAACP Image Award winner;

The Great Debaters). Nobel laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu will

record a special message to the world's children that will be featured on

the audiobook.



    Emmy/Golden Globe winner/Oscar nominee Alfre Woodard, who co-founded

ANSA in 1989, will serve as Creative Director of the audiobook. She said,

"I was privileged to be with Nelson Mandela recently in London, where he

challenged us, saying, '... our work is far from complete. Where there is

poverty and sickness, including AIDS, where human beings are oppressed,

there is more work to be done ... after nearly 90 years of life, it is time

for new hands to lift the burdens. It is in your hands now.' With this

audiobook, ANSA pays tribute to our friend and our hero, Nelson Mandela, on

his 90th birthday. It will take the hands of all mankind to lift that

burden and carry on the work. We hope you will join in and support this

effort."



    The audiobook, slated for a Summer 2009 release, will be published and

distributed by Hachette Audio, a division of Hachette Book Group USA, one

of the largest and most respected publishing groups in the world. Proceeds

will benefit the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF), a South African

organization founded in 1995 to improve dramatically the way society treats

its children; and ANSA, which works in the U.S. and South Africa to combat

HIV/AIDS, provide comprehensive assistance to children orphaned by

HIV/AIDS, advance human rights, educate and empower at-risk youth and build

bonds between both nations through arts, culture and the shared pursuit of

social justice. Both organizations are working to address the impact of the

AIDS pandemic on children in South Africa, which has more people living

with HIV/AIDS and more children orphaned by the disease than any other

country.



    Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales was first published in 2002

in hardcover internationally by NB Publishers and in hardcover and

paperback in the U.S. by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., which have granted

worldwide English language rights for the audiobook to ANSA and Hachette

Audio. Individuals and companies involved in the effort have donated

services or waived fees to allow a maximum amount of proceeds to benefit

the charities. In addition to waiving all sales and distribution fees,

Hachette Audio will donate 100% of proceeds to ANSA and NMCF, and NB

Publishers has waived fees so additional royalties can benefit NMCF. The

CDs and audiobook packaging will be manufactured by Ivy Hill/Cinram, which

is donating a significant portion of their services. Time Warner

intellectual property attorney Bradley Silver is contributing his legal

services to ANSA, in line with Time Warner Inc.'s pro bono endeavors. The

actors and creative director are fully donating their talents, as are

two-time GRAMMY(R) winner Gavin Lurssen, who will master the audiobook, and

Gregory Robinson, who will handle the mixing and sound effects.



    "We're deeply grateful to our generous partners and to the gifted

artists who are helping bring these remarkable stories to life," said

ANSA's Executive Director Sharon Gelman. "Our goal is to create an

audiobook that can be enjoyed by people around the world, increasing

awareness of Africa's rich cultural heritages and creating a better future

for South Africa's most vulnerable children."



    In his original foreword for the folktale collection, Nelson Mandela

wrote, "It is my wish that the voice of the storyteller may never die in

Africa, that all the children of the world may experience the wonder of

books." With the forthcoming audiobook edition of Nelson Mandela's Favorite

African Folktales, his vision comes full circle, as the timeless tales he

selected return to the great oral tradition that allowed them to be passed

down for centuries, and will now enlighten and entertain children of all

ages the world over.



    For more information: http://www.ansafrica.org