As part of South African Library Week 2023 (SALW) the Parow Public Library hosted a book talk at its facility in McIntyre Street, Parow last week.
The Library and Information Association of South Africa celebrated SALW from Monday 20 March to Saturday 26 March.
The theme this year was “Libraries: telling powerful stories”.
To celebrate and officially launch SALW, City library staff took to the streets of Cape Town. The march was aimed at creating awareness to the continuing work of libraries in society, the Parow Library (who also took part) wrote on social media.
The guest speaker at the library on Wednesday last week was Athlone resident, Clement du Plessis, author of the book, Other Side of the Track: Untold Stories of Athletics 1898-1994.
The book celebrates the many achievements of athletes during South Africa’s period of Apartheid and sports isolation.
A history of sport athletes
Du Plessis, a former athlete, writer, journalist and published author, said the book is the culmination of a unique project which was started in June 2015.
The book came to fruition in 2021.
“The aim is to give recognition to the many athletes who competed during Apartheid, and those who made the transition to democracy at the top of their game, but were denied the opportunity to compete on the international sports stage.
“It also recognises the sports administrators, journalists, photographers, schools, teachers, parents and communities, who all worked tirelessly to support and promote the athletes with limited resources,” a part of the summary reads.
The book
The book started as a hobby, said Du Plessis, adding that even then he had to check and verify his facts.
He said he would write late at night, when most people were fast asleep.
“This was not like writing a normal book. For this book I had to go and fetch, ask and call,” he said.
The project also cost a lot of money – R1,6 million in total.
“I do not think I can recover the money, even if I sold them all,” he said.
Some pages are up to 600 words, with 240 pages telling the stories of around 100 athletes.
His work
Du Plessis describes his work as a research book and history book.
The retired lecturer said as a self-published author, the cost of writing books is very high and that he will probably not do it again.
He said despite this, he is proud of his work, describing it as a “quality book”.
The launch of the book was held at Alexander Sinton High School where Du Plessis used to teach.
Other Side of the Track: Untold Stories of Athletes 1898-1994 is available to most bookstores at R650.
