The university launched Chapters, a book club, with the purpose to instil a reading culture, creating academic relationships with authors and publishers, promoting knowledge, and growth and fostering social cohesion among UMP students.
The book club is named “Chapters” because, in every chapter of a person’s life, there is a story to tell. Some people look forward to a new chapter of their lives, others are still trying to find direction in the one they are in, whilst some are having the time of their lives in their current chapter.
Through reading, people are exposed to different chapters of authors’ lives and may relate to the experiences and knowledge shared in books that might bring invaluable insights into the chapters of their own lives. Chapters book club is a community of students that gather in person and online to talk about books they have read based on a topic or an agreed-upon reading list.
Speakers at the launch included UMP student Ms Lungelihle Dlamini and Mr Karabo Mampa who spoke about the Siyabuswa reading initiative; Ms Reneka Panday who was sharing University of Johannesburg (UJ) book club experiences; while UMP alumni Mr Mark Maroga and Ms Lungile Mhlanga shared their books and publishing experiences.
The Guest speaker was Ms Zubeida Jaffer, an award-winning South African journalist, and author from N0.10 Publishers, who worked closely with Professor Israel and donated three books. Ms Jaffer penned the three books, which focus on the stories of three South African women spanning 130 years of South African history.
One of the books, Beauty of the Heart, is about Charlotte Mannya Maxeke and tells the story of South Africa’s first black female graduate and a feisty leader at the turn of the century stretching from 1871 through the early Mandela years with Ayesha Dawood, and on to Zubeida Jaffer’s story in 2001.
The books donated were handed over to the representatives of schools from Mbombela. The school representatives attended the function to receive the set of books for their school libraries.
Book club meet-ups
In Mbombela, the students meet every week of the month on Thursdays at 12:00 and Sundays at 17:00 at Mbombela library (Discussion room) or MS Teams. In Siyabuswa the students meet on Thursdays at 15:00 in Room 401.
Students who are interested in discussing popular books in a casual and no-pressure environment may join the Chapters book club by scanning the QR code below:
@ Story by Lisa Thabethe. Pictures @Chrisplphoto.