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


LOS ANGELES, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- 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



SOURCE  Artists for a New South Africa