Exploding a Myth

Don Makatile (Sunday World, 6 November 2005)

The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas than have been presented in the entire history of television, said Andrew Ross.

A new bookshop has just opened in downtown Jeppe Street, Jozi, in the Newtown Cultural precinct.
Xarra Books is not small; maybe the endeavour is – but it is a commendable one.

“A little seed of a big institution,” in the words of literary giant Kole Omotoso.

But unlike Ross, who cared to leave his name, some faceless heretic has fed the rumour mill with the notion that “if you wish to hide anything from balcks, put it in the pages of a book”.

Balderdash!

Blacks, it seems, are not only satisfied with merely exploding the myth that they don’t read, they now sell books.

Those who run Xarra must have heard Christopher Morley well when he said:”Lord! When you sell a man a book you don’t sell just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life.

“Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night – there’s all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.”

Xarra, we are told, draws its name from the Xam phrase ‘!ke e:xarra //ke”, which means “diverse people unite”.

“The name is  tribute to the language spoken by the San people, and one of the oldest indegineous languages on the continent, “ say co-owners Khanyiso Mguni and June Josephs. They add:

 “Xarra Books will provide the bridge between the preservation and writing of our rich old stories to be passed on, and inspire the stories of the new generation..

“People have misunderstood Africa or know too little about it because of the lack of literature available in this country and the shortsightedness of retailers who do not prize African literature highly. Xarra Books fills that gap.”

When they answered the call to unite, throngs of blacks joined a sprinkling of others gathered at the new address in town – 1 Central Place– to witness the birth of this novelty, the first bookshop in the country to focus exclusively on African literature, culture, film, art and music.

When he spoke on the night of the opening, arts and culture minister Pallo Jordan emphasized the importance of the storyteller, “the purveyor of the truth whose memory helps transport the stories from one place to another”.

Every human society, said Jordan relied on the experience of these older members of society to churn out their heritage in story form.

In the audience, among others were storytellers Mandla Langa (Memory of Stones), Makhosazana Xaba (These Hands), Keorapetse Kgositsile (This Way I Salute You), Sandile Memela (Flowers of the Nation).

Their books jostle for space on the shelves with those of such renowned African writers as Wole Soyinka, Sembene Ousmane, Dambudzo Marechera, E’skia Mphahlele, Chinua Achebe, Nawal el Sadawi, and those in the Diaspora like Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Maya Angelou.

It is not just the books and the music that will make many Africans want to kiss the ground on arrival at Xarra.

“We also host poetry sessions, book readings, story telling for kids, film screenings and small art exhibitions,” say the co-owners.

One half, Josephs, has the beautiful looks of a screen goddess. Why a bookshop, of all business ventures, I ask? Why not a beauty salon?

“I love books”, say the Durban-born beauty.

What now stands as Xarra Books used to be piles of boxes at her brother Donovan’s house.

“We’d turned his house into a warehouse”, she chuckles.

She talks of books and their authors – her best so far being The African by Oluedah Equiano – as passionately as other women discuss the latest trends.

And you still think blacks don’t read!

Part of the selection at Xarra Books