Tshwane has launched a book club called Tshwane Book Club Society which is inspired by the dire need for a large scale book club will provide easy access to authors of critically-acclaimed books.
The first book club will be launched tonight in Sunnyside at Li’TheCa boutique restaurant hosted by number one best seller and author of “Betting on Darkie” Mteto Nyati.
Nyati will speak about the importance of encouraging a culture of consuming literature written from their own perspectives.
Founder of Li’TheCa Lindiwe Pholo said the aim of the book club was to inspire a culture of consuming literature particularly written by some of South Africa’s celebrated authors.
“It’s going to be a collective of professionals, academics, great thinkers, and people who love literature.”
“Our aim is to provide an environment where this collective can network and exchange views and reviews on some of South Africa’s notable literary work by authors and visionaries,” she explained.
She said this will help to grow the industry by means of increased book sales as well as augment the appreciation for proudly South African literature.
There will be a bi-weekly club dinner for meetings on Wednesdays held at the boutique restaurant which will feature a keynote address by an esteemed author of a respected book.
Pholo declared that there was no membership to sign-up because it was purely about appreciating literature and inspiring a culture of consuming literature.
“The beauty of this plot is that members and attendees are able to engage directly with the authors of some of their favourite books where they can unpack themes and storylines in a conversation.
This is a unique and rare feature that is not the norm in a conventional book club,” she said.
She said this was a great initiative because she knew so many authors around who really needed exposure because there was so much hidden talent in Pretoria that needed to be unearthed.
With the number of less interested readers and book clubs becoming smaller, Pholo noted that there were a lot of ebooks nowadays and not everyone was inclined to downloading books.
“I myself, am an old school reader and prefer real books instead of downloading books, and even in some bookshops when books run out we get suggestions of downloading and it’s unfortunate that literature has been overtaken by so many things,” she said.
When asked why she chose Nyati to headline the first event she said she really loved and enjoyed his book and when she first saw him at exclusive books she knew she wanted to collaborate on a project with him.
She added that this will be an opportunity for other local authors to sell their books and that anyone can join by looking out for RSVP details on their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages.
