Carole Bloch is currently (in 2025) Extraordinary Professor in Language Education at the University of the Western Cape. She is a South African early childhood education expert literacy specialist and advocate for multilingual children’s literature. She founded and directed PRAESA (Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa) which received international awards for promoting reading. Carole co-founded the Nalibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign. As an author Bloch has contributed to children’s literature, notably creating the ‘Little Hands Books for Babies’ series in 2014 – the first books for babies in all 11 of South Africa’s official languages. Her publications often focus on early literacy development in multilingual settings.
