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Columbus Mabika-Arts Reporter
A 19-year old Harare author, Shani Matondo, recently launched her first book titled, “Secrets to a Meaningful Life”, to celebrate her birthday.
The book, which is being sold on social media, has 130 pages and according to the young author, it is aimed at promoting the reading and literacy culture among teenagers from all socio-economic backgrounds.
An avid writer whose romance with the pen started when she was in primary school, Shani said she had always harboured hopes to become an established author.
“I feel excited to have achieved this feat because writing is my first love and I remember as early as primary school, I was already producing some manuscripts on related topics,” she told The Herald.
Each chapter of the book begins with a story from Shani’s own life and covers topics such as the value of education, positive mentality, understanding culture, and female role models.
Shani, the only child in her family, said: “I only started reading very young, and it completely changed my outlook and mentality. “Secrets to a Meaningful Life”, published by iTalk Communications, a member of Afriq Glam Pvt Ltd, can assist teenagers maintain their hope and dignity.
“It encompasses areas which are affecting today’s generation as we endeavour to have a bright future. The book focuses on two major things, namely hope and endurance. It emphasises that one can still make it in spite of the environment.”
Shani said she was inspired by her family and American author Sarah Jakes Roberts.
“I am elated with the success recorded through this book release and I just want to thank everyone for coming through, my friends and family, church members, fellow pastors and my publishers for helping me achieve,” she said.
“I always wanted to write a book, but never knew what I’d write about. Early July 2020 after filming a number of videos for my IGTV I thought that writing a book linked to my videos would allow me to go in depth without having to think about keeping my video as short as possible to avoid boring my audience.
“I then started watching videos on YouTube of people’s writing experiences. I found a video of a girl who wrote a 50 000- word book in one month. I was up for the challenge so I began writing my own.
“Sarah Jakes Roberts is my role model because she is open and keeps it real. She made her fair share of mistakes, but she’s grown and learnt from them and does not hide them in order to look perfect. People like to put on a face of perfection for the world and that removes them from being unique. Her sermons are also easy to follow and understand.”
Shani said she chose the title “Secrets to a Meaningful Life” because what the book contains are unspoken issues.
“I gave the book the title “Secrets to a Meaningful Life” because I believe that the lessons I wrote about are lessons that aren’t spoken about often, hence the ‘secrets’ part of the title,” she said. “The ‘meaningful life’ part comes from the lessons being of value and the fact that we are all able to relate to them on one level or another.”
Having finished Advanced Levels last year, Shani is planning to study Tourism Management in the Netherlands.
She is working at the American Association of Female Entrepreneurs as a virtual assistant.
Online Reporter