Thank
you so much SFA. What you are doing is just absolutely
wonderful and I am so honored to be a part of helping
in this way. You are a jewel! Keep me updated on everything.
Deborah Simpson
As
an author, one of the main reasons I write is
to entertain people, to make them happy, and give
them a world they love being in and escaping to.
Beyond this
dream, that a book can help a fellow human being along
the path to literacy is an incredibly beautiful, meaningful
and deeply rewarding gift. I am very, very proud and
truly honored to be a member of Shadow Forest Authors.
–Rai Aren, co-author of Secret of the Sands
I
am pleased to be a member of the Shadow Forest
Authors. As an author I love the idea of books
winging their way to every corner of the
globe.
I love to think that one of my books might enrich someone’s
life, as writing those books have enriched mine.
As a reader, I know I would forsake TV, computer, radio,
and movies before I’d give up books. Other forms
of entertainment and intellectual pursuit will sometimes
enhance the book, but they will never replace it. Thank
you, SFA for this opportunity to be a part of bringing
pleasure to others through books. Eunice Boeve
I
love SFA because the more we can encourage others
to read books the better. Reading serious fiction
and books for intelligent readers has declined
drastically
in the last ten years or so. I love sending books to
others and encouraging them to read. SFA helps wonderfully
with that, and provides me with a little publicity as
well. Great venture. Keep up the good work. Joe Cowley.
What
a wonderful idea - I am delighted to contribute. Everyone
should have a pile of unread books beside their bed!
Trish
Clark
Although
my name is nothing special, but still I want to
help in my own little way and be a part of this
great endeavour. I admire and respect your attentiveness
to those who are in needs.
I
really am so happy to be a member of Shadow Forest Authors.
God bless you, SFA!
Ernesto Pangilinan Santiago
Be a VIP Supporter.
Typoglycemia
Believe
it or not, you can read it.
I
cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was
rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to
a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht
oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is
taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset
can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas
thought slpeling was ipmorantt.........................
Introduction
Welcome
to Shadow Forest Authors
The Fellowship of Authors and Supporters for charity.
Our
mission at SFA, to encourage
every author worldwide
and from every genre to donate just one copy of their title to fill
a void in reading materials and get both paperback books and
e-books where they are urgently needed. Authors and supporters standing
together to make a difference, our humble shadows speaking volumes.
What
do SFA Authors and Supporters contribute?
SFA
authors donate a copy of their title to a SFA beneficiary, who places
books in much needed hands. See Support Us and
Contact pages for information and to enlist on SFA.
Everyone
can help
SFA supporters can Adopt an author or authors, purchasing their titles
to be donated to our beneficiary.
Encourage Authors by leaving comments
Join our Forum
Spread the word about SFA and our beneficiaries.
Sign up for our newsletter. See our Support Us page for
information.
SFA
Beneficiaries The Anthony Robbins foundation, Got Books, Book
Aid International and World Public Library have agreed to be SFA
beneficiaries and support our venture to get books where they are
needed.
Other foundations will also be listed with their approval. For more
information, see our Beneficiaries page.
Listen
to what Patrick Stewart has to say.
Sean
Astin on the National Centre for Familly Literacy NCFL
The
cost of Illiteracy in Asia.
End
Our Literacy Crisis
The only practical, proven way to guarantee every child or adult
student can learn to read English and End Our Literacy Crisis.
'Let's End
Our Literacy Crisis', the title of a revolutionary book, tells
it all and we can end the illiteracy crisis! This book convincingly
answers questions, based upon the most statistically accurate
and extensive study ever commissioned by the U.S. government.
92 million U.S. adults, 47% of them, cannot read and write well
enough to hold an above-poverty-level-wage job. A later study
proved that 40% or more of the employees in most U.S. businesses
are functional illiterates. Statistics from other countries are
almost certain to be similar.
Let's End
Our Literacy Crisis also explains:
(1) Seven reasons why most of us do not realize how extensive
functional illiteracy is.
(2) How serious the financial, emotional and physical problems
that illiterates must constantly endure.
(3) How illiteracy is costing each U.S. adult who can read at
least $3700 each year for government programs that illiterates
use, for higher consumer prices because of the cost of recruiting
and training functional illiterates, and for their mistakes and
inabilities in the workplace, for juvenile delinquency and crime
directly related to illiteracy. English illiteracy in other countries
undoubtedly incurs similar costs.
(4) Most importantly, it details a proven method of completely
and permanently ending most English illiteracy, not only for 92
million or more Americans but also for hundreds of millions of
English-speaking people around the world who cannot read English.
As you may
know, English is used by more people as a native or as a second
language than any other language in the world. This method of
ending English illiteracy has been recommended by dozens of scholars
of English and of other languages for 247 years and has been proven
effective in more than 300 languages, but it has never been tried
in English! In 295 of the 300 languages, 95% of them, the students
became fluent readers in less than three months. It requires most
of the 53% of U.S. students who become functionally literate from
two to four years of the present reading instruction.
How will all
of us who can read benefit by ending our literacy crisis?
You will greatly benefit if you are concerned that a friend or
relative is or, after the presently inadequate schooling, may
become functionally illiterate and want to spare them the suffering
and problems illiteracy brings.
You object to needlessly paying a comparatively large portion
of your income for illiteracy, at least $3700 each year per U.S.
adult.
You are a teacher who is frustrated by knowing that about half
of your students will never become fluent readers with present
teaching methods.
You have financial interest in an organization being hurt by functionally
illiterate workers.
You have financial interest in an organization which prepares
or sells written material , since functional illiterates are not
customers of the organization.
You have financial interest in an organization being hurt by competition
with more literate foreign workers.
You feel compassion for 92 million in the U.S. and 100s of millions
elsewhere who are functionally illiterate in English.
You want to improve communication between language groups and
thereby lessen many of the international conflicts.
Read Bob C Cleckler's
book - Let's end our illiteracy Crisis -
Get one also for a friend.
Global
Literacy Progress Masks Sharp Regional Gaps
Tuesday, 7 October 2008, 12:43 pm
Press Release: United Nations
Global Progress In Literacy Masks Sharp Regional Gaps, UN Report
Finds New York, Oct 6 2008 6:10PM
Global literacy rates continue to rise but some regions are still
lagging sharply behind in the campaign to ensure that everyone can
read and write, a United Nations report released today finds.
The report, from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), says the world literacy rate should
reach almost 87 per cent by 2015. The number of illiterate adults
has also fallen by nearly 100 million in the past 15 years.
But the report – released at the halfway mark of the UN Literacy
Decade (2003-2012) – notes that certain regions, particularly
South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, are struggling to keep
up with progress elsewhere and called for new strategies to improve
literacy rates in those parts of the world.
“As we begin the second half of the United Nations Literacy
Decade, the international community must seek new ways to work with
marginalized populations for whom traditional approaches have proved
ineffective,” said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura.
While the period of 2000-2006 pushed the global adult literacy rate
up from 76 per cent to 83.6 per cent, UNESCO said such figures mask
considerable regional disparities.
For instance, 75 per cent of the 774 million illiterate adults live
in only 15 countries – including Bangladesh, Brazil, China,
India and Nigeria. And in some sub-Saharan African countries, the
number of non-literate adults has increased in recent years by approximately
30 million.
The literacy gender gap also remains almost unchanged, with 63 per
cent of illiterate adults at the end of 1994 being women compared
to 64 per cent in 2006.
Under such circumstances, three quarters of the 127 countries for
which projections were calculated will miss the Millennium Development
Goal (MDG) of halving adult illiteracy rates by 2015.
Several initiatives have been undertaken by the UN agency to boost
the promotion of literacy, including three plans to improve the
management and adaptability of literacy programmes and a series
of regional and sub-regional conferences in 2007 and 2008 which
gave new momentum to policy focus on literacy.
The other recommendations in the report include the need to boast
national government and donor organization funding, while improving
the delivery of literacy programmes, notably by adapting teaching
methods to diverse contexts and demands.
Meanwhile, a lunch will be held tomorrow with the participation
of First Lady of the United States Laura Bush, UNESCO’s Honorary
Ambassador for the UN Literacy Decade, marking the launch of a new
publication entitled The Global Literacy Challenge.
In Seoul, a UNESCO conference – “Building Equitable
and Sustainable Societies in Asia and Pacific: the Challenge of
Adult Learning” – will be held from today until 8 October
to review key issues in adult learning and propose strategies to
renew policies and action.
Today in Paris also marked the signing of a memorandum of understanding
for a strategic partnership between UNESCO and the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB), which aims to undertake joint activities
in Latin America and the Caribbean in areas including capacity building
for the achievement of Education for All (EFA).
Thanks for visiting us, call back soon, as this site will be updated
regularly.
