LAUNCHING DUMAN'S DEEPEST SPRINGS

BY HECTOR KUNENE

Dateline: 18th June 2010

LAUNCHING DUMAN’S DEEPEST SPRINGS

It was an inspiring, unforgettable affair as the voluminous, imaginative work, Deepest Springs, by NMM Duman was launched in the city of Roses.

Firstly, I must say that the library space that was used was very welcoming and showed that a major preparation and decorations were taken into deep consideration. From the poets who rendered their pieces - the likes of Mr. Magic Raselebeli Khotseng to Mr. Kgang Abel Motheane and yours truly (Hector Kunene) was absolutely amazing.

The charming Charmaine Mrwebi was the chairlady and addressed the crowd of about 35 guests well with great motivation for the young writers who still want to get their work published. She also emphasized that it is of vital role for authors to use their mother tongue in order to promote indigenous languages.

Hector Kunene delivered a pulsating speech and a poem called a Life of a woman and dedicated it to the Author of the day, Mrs. Duman. Mr. Motheane stated that it is important for writers to express themselves and tell stories from generation to generation. He also motivated more on bridging the gap and learning other languages; as a result he is a living example as some of his books he has written in Zulu, Sotho Tswana, Pedi and Xhosa.

Mr. Raselebeli blazed the crowd with a poem called “If wishes were horses” and got the crowd “eating out of his palms” The book reading by three ladies who rendered a couple of chapters of the book gave an alarming call about the character of Dikeledi and Kuena whom it is a responsibility of all to find out by reading the book which will soon be available in the library however the contacts are available for those who would love to purchase a copy.

I understood the book to be multi-diversity in terms of where the author was aiming to reach. It is politically and culturally inclined. There is a point of beginning and it reaches climax at a certain point and the only way to get to the full story is by reading it.

I enjoyed the humility of the writer herself when she took the stage and addressed her crowd. I felt her sense of humility and the love for writing as she explained that the over 400 paged book was actually double the size it is now, so the publisher had to speak her down in cutting the story for printing! I said to myself: “Yoh this great woman can write!”, and right there she demonstrated that you don’t need to write according to schedule. She pulled a bank letter that she also wrote on it a new story; now that is a writer that means business.

I was also captivated by her smile and her pride of achievement that was hidden deep inside her humble voice; and she exhumed with brio and a level of excellence as she presented her love for writing and that she was actually inspired by her mother who told her stories. By now I was gasping for air, wondering what she was going to say next as she rivaled with words and made pure sense. Although she did not want to sell the book herself but I could tell that she had it covered as she did not go into details about the book price… but then came her husband who spoke more about money and publishers other than other things.

The book cover was designed by the author’s daughter, so I guess a family has shown us that together working as one we can achieve many. Apparently the other daughters also write, so I take it that we must expect a lot from the Duman family! The book looks brilliant outside and I picked up that once you start reading it you will never stop until you are finished. At some point I wanted to swipe my card right there and buy a copy - however there was no facility to do this but I owe myself a copy.

Last but not least Mrs. Duman seemed more to me like Bessie Head. Her style of writing reminded me of the book I read years ago called Maru by Bessie Head and apparently the book also has a character called Dikeledi. After the launch I grabbed myself a sandwich as I avoided a queue behind Mrs. Duman and when I approached her she was signing an autograph to another fan so I waited for her to finish and whilst I was talking with her, another fan was queuing behind me so you can imagine what the future holds for Duman. I wish her all the best and I must say she has challenged me and other writers based in Free State and the outside world.

By the way, our brilliant author started writing her book in 1996 - and it’s just been released in 2010! Do the Maths; now who can say dreams don’t come true! She will do great and with that size of the book it means business. What a humble woman she is. May God bless her work….