In an effort to add another dimension to the reading experience, a new book club society has been born in Tshwane.  

The Tshwane Book Club Society  (TBCS)  will be launched today at Li’TheCa restaurant in Sunnyside, Pretoria.

The aim of the society for book clubs is to allow readers to engage with local authors.  

“It’s actually going to be a collective of academics and creatives, people who like literature, the people who love reading books. So that’s actually what inspired the whole initiative," Lindiwe Pholo, founder of TBCS, says.

There will be no membership fee for the society.  “The importance actually would be for people to engage directly with the author of their favourite book and to unpack themes, you know the story-lines, that’s what we intend to get and obviously most importantly to network, and it’s going to be a unique, rare feature that is not the norm at the conventional book clubs," she adds.

Pholo says there is no limit to the number of book clubs that can join the society, however they might have to limit the number of people that can participate depending on the restrictions at the venue they will be hosting at. The society aims to meet bi-weekly – on Wednesdays.

Pholo says that the idea is to have the author bring their books for sale and autograph signing during these meetings. For the launch, the host author will be Mteto Nyati, author of bestseller Betting on a Darkie.   Nyati will be delivering the keynote speech at the inaugural society meeting.

"I will be touching on the importance of encouraging a culture of consuming literature written from our own perspective in my address," notes Nyati.

"I'll also be focusing on certain themes documented in Betting on a Darkie, accompanied by a personal account of what inspired me to pen the book and what I hope it achieves for those that have read it or are still to read it," says Nyati in a statement.