Johannesburg - Exclusive Books and Nosipho Hani have joined forces to form a new web series called the Bookarazzi Book Club.
The aim of the club, which will be screened on the Plugcityhype website and YouTube channel, is to encourage reading in the country and provide a safe space to hold uncomfortable but necessary conversations on books, rarely held in everyday conversation.
“What we found is that there is no book club that brings all readers together and in our country. We are faced with so many issues that books attentively touch on. So we thought to bring readers to discuss what is going on in our country based on the books we are reading. So the purpose of this book club is to create a safe space for us to read, review and reflect,” said Hani.
She said she wanted the controversial issues that people are afraid to speak about to be addressed.
“This book club is saying, let’s read a book about gender-based violence (GBV), and then feel more comfortable talking about the topic. We have to talk about these things and books are a lighter format to get into it. This is the purpose of the book club; to discuss our issues through reading and bringing the country together.”
Hani added that the book club would form a community that would help people see that they weren’t alone in their struggles.
“We will be covering a book a month. We will discuss the book and review it from the book cover to talking to the authors. The audience will be able to express their emotions to the author about the book and get the author’s perspective on what they were trying to achieve.”
Hani partnered with Exclusive Books for this initiative.
“Exclusive Books and I share a common idea which is not to just have books in your store. They have book launches and a community of readers. We are looking at the relationships these books build.”
Hani’s hope for the club is to draw a sense of understanding with people.
“As individuals we need to know we are more alike than we are different. When we don’t understand each other there is a room for hatred and dislike, things like racism and xenophobia, GBV. The root of it all is that we do not understand each other. This whole project is to create that. A sense of understanding and communication. We can communicate our feelings and talk about things. If we do not reflect on the things that happen to us, we end up inflicting pain on others.”
The web series airs on Thursdays at 7pm.
The Star