Multiple award-winning author Stacey Fru, 10, has hailed her book launch in Cape Town a success after completing her four-day tour in the city.
Stacey, author of 'Bob and the Snake and Smelly Cats', launched her latest book at St Joseph Marist School on Friday.
Stacey spent four months writing her second book, 'Bob and the Snake'.
Wits University vice-chancellor Adam Habib wrote its foreword.
The Johannesburg-based young writer was honoured with the 2016 National Development Agency Award for Best ECD Publication 2015: Special Mention Category for her first book, Smelly Cats.
She wrote her second book Bob and the Snake at 8 and, before she turned 9, she had accumulated three awards for her books and her work.
According to her mother, Victorine Mbong Shu, Stacey has written seven books.
During her visit to the Cape Times newsroom yesterday, Stacey said: “It takes inspiration, hard work and focus to be an author.
“The trip to Cape Town has been a wonderful experience for me and my mother. The schools we visited have been very interactive and have supported me by buying copies of my books. One of the schools will be donating money to the Stacey Fru Foundation.
“This money will fund my ‘African Book a Child Campaign’ and help me give African books and books by African authors to more children. The tour has been very great. Seeing the different places and mountains and the view is very amazing. Some main key moments are when I talked to the children and I see the look on their faces, I know that I have made my mark.”
Her mother said they had received “overwhelming support”.
“It goes a long way - especially here in the Western Cape. We found a lot of enthusiasm. There is that disparity between children - those who really want to make it in education and those who cannot make it."