News

Books For Africa welcomed supporters, volunteers, partners, and friends to our St. Paul warehouse for our annual Warehouse Party, a celebration of another incredible year of impact and the start of an exciting new fiscal year. This year's gathering celebrated the shipment of more than 2.5 million books to students, schools, libraries, and communities across Africa during Fiscal Year 2026. Guests enjoyed delicious food from Afro Deli, grilled favorites prepared by our dedicated warehouse crew, live music from the Books For Africa warehouse band, and the opportunity to connect with fellow supporters while surrounded by the books that make our mission possible.

Join Books For Africa in Atlanta for an inspiring event dedicated to expanding access to education and creating opportunity through books. This special fundraiser will bring together supporters, partners, and community members who believe in the power of literacy to transform futures.

Books For Africa concluded Fiscal Year 2026 with a remarkable impact, shipping more than 2.5 million books valued at over $19 million to 33 African countries while raising more than $2.2 million to support these efforts. The organization also expanded access to legal and digital resources by delivering 10 Thomson Reuters Law & Democracy Libraries and 96 computers and tablets loaded with more than 320,000 digital books. This success was made possible through the dedication of more than 9,000 volunteers, generous donors, and strong partnerships across Africa despite significant cuts to federal international development funding.

Come celebrate summer with Books For Africa at our annual Warehouse Party on Saturday, July 18, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at our warehouse in St. Paul. This free community event brings together supporters, volunteers, partners, and friends for an afternoon of connection, celebration, and fun. Enjoy African food, live music from the warehouse band, special guests, and activities for all ages while getting an inside look at the impact your support makes possible. No RSVP required. We hope to see you there!

Books For Africa spent the first week of June in Washington, DC, meeting with African ambassadors, U.S. congressional leaders, the African Union, donors, and development partners. Highlights included participation in African Union events, advocacy meetings on Capitol Hill, and the annual Summit Society Reception hosted by the Kenyan Embassy. The reception welcomed donors and diplomatic representatives from 10 African countries and featured the distribution of Merck/MSD e-readers loaded with medical resources for healthcare professionals across Africa. The visit strengthened relationships with key partners and generated new opportunities to expand Books For Africa's impact across the continent. Executive Director Patrick Plonski called the meetings highly productive and an important step toward increasing the shipment of books and educational resources to Africa.

Books For Africa hosted in Minnesota last week H.E. Constance’s Gaspar, Ambassador from African Union to the U.S., and H.E. Agostinho Van-Dunem, Ambassador from Angola to the U.S.  Both spoke at our annual fundraiser.  We were pleased to have them update our Books For Africa community about issues and trends in Angola, and across the African continent.  We look forward to continued collaboration in the future with these ambassadors to ship more books to Angola, and across Africa. We raised over $191,000 to ship more books to Africa. Thank you to all of our donors who helped to make this happen!