The recent Department of Basic Education and UNICEF South Africa Study revealed that 43% of households in South Africa have zero access to books. The 2023 National Reading Survey, launched by the Nal’ibali Trust on 13 June 2023, found that two-thirds of homes with children under age ten do not have a single children’s book, and only 10% have more than ten books. This means most South African children arrive at school without important early home learning experiences. We are in conversation with Roscoe Williams, programme director of Read2Rise about how they are promoting literacy in under-resourced communities in South Africa.