// Books that you should add to your reading list //
Greetings good people, and #HappyAfricaDay to you who's reading this. I hope you spent your day well, and shout out to all those that were rocking their African attires (including myself). I sincerely hope that you don't only wear it on Africa day. Today I was privileged to attend a book launch at the University of the Free State before going to work. The name of the book is called "Facets of Power - Politics, profits and people in the mining of Zimbabwe's Blood Diamonds", edited by Tinashe Nyamunda (who was present at the book launch) and Richard Saunders (based in Canada). I was then inspired to share with you a list of books that I would suggest you read.
The following 5 books are definitely worth adding to your reading list, so I hope you enjoy them:
1. Sweet Medicine
First up, we got "Sweet Medicine" by Panashe Chigumadzi. She's a Zimbabwean, based in South Africa, and this is her first novel, which is basically "a story of a young woman who finds economic and romantic security through 'other worldly 'means". The book was published late last year, and this year I was fortunate to attend her book reading at UFS, which was highly anticipated by a lot of students. Sweet Medicine speaks on a variety of important issues from tradition, to feminism, to political freedoms and desperation, just to name a few themes. For more information about the book, click here. Panashe is the founder and editor of Vanguard Magazine, founding member of the The Feminist Stokvel, and TEDxJahannesburg 2013 speaker, among a lot of other great achievements that can be found in her bio. For more information about the book and where you can buy it, click here , and you can follow her on Twitter @panashechig .
2. Holding My Breath
"Holding My Breath" by South African author Ace Moloi will be the second book I talk about. The book is scheduled to be in bookstores by the end of this month, and will be launched on the 3rd of June 2016 at the University of the Free State UFS (Click here for more details). Ace is a graduate from UFS, a blogger (Uncensored Expressions WordPress ), contributor on News24 Voices, 2012 OR Tambo Edu-Tour participant, intellectual and the author of "In her fall rose a nation". He has proven to be a prominent and very influential young leader, whose talent when it comes to writing is unquestionable. Make sure you follow him on Twitter @Ace_Moloi , and if you are in Bloemfontein, make sure you attend the book launch on the 3rd of June (the book will be available for sale at the launch).
3. Ghetto Shakespeare
I must say that, the name and cover of this book really caught my attention. "Ghetto Shakespeare" is a poetry book by Johannesburg based poet Collen Nxumalo (Who's also the author of "From this point" and "Heaven is a better place"). He's from Nelspruit , Mpumalanga , and he's popularly known for his love for writing, which actually came from listening to music and the absence of his father. The book is about dreams, and Collen describes his poetry as "similar to short stories". Don't forget to follow him on Twitter @collennxumalo
4. Facets of Power
On the 25th of May, #AfricaDay (as stated earlier in the first paragraph of this article), I attended this book launch in Bloemfontein. This book is basically a collection of knowledge from different academics and civil servants, from their comprehensive research around history on the conflicts of Zimbabwean mining and the Kimberly Process Certification scheme. It gives an account on mining of diamonds in Chiadzwa (and Marange), with information which dates back from the year 2006. The 10 chapter book features contributions from Allan Martin (author from Canada) and Shamiso Ntisi (Head of Zimbabwe's Enviromental Lawyers Association), just to name a few people. Tinashe Nyamunda ( who was present at the book launch stated that the book is dedicated to Edward Chideri , and that better regional leadership (inclusive of a diamond policy) is what's urgently required for Zimbabwe. More info on the book can be found here. #ConflictDiamonds
5. MARTYRS
This year, "Umthombo iconnect" (A Zimbabwean initiative that explores spaces of dialogue and hang out through new media and global citizenship) published their first anthology entitled "Martyrs". The theme of the book is child marriages. The book basically depicts how young teenage girls are sacrificed supposedly for the good of their families and themselves. The book has contributions from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe (such as Angelbert Wamambo, Kwabena Eddie Mankata and Agbara Paschal Chikwudi, just to name a few). One of the profound questions I came across in the book was "What if girls' schooling was mandatory and schools were safe places to learn?". For more information on this great book , click here . You can visit their website for more information about the projects they host, but don't forget to follow them on Twitter @Umthomb_iCon
We've come to the end of this article, and I sincerely hope you managed to find a number of books you are interested in purchasing/ downloading. If you ahve any problems with accessing the links provided to the books, feel free to contact me @2tukani and I'll definitely make a plan for you to be able to purchase and get the book/s . Let's continue supporting our fellow great African writers. Peace out!!!
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