‘Books saved my life’

ASHEBORO – Internationally acclaimed author Mark Mathabane will inaugurate the 2025 Friends of the Library Sunset Signature Series at the historic Sunset Theatre in downtown Asheboro.

Mathabane will talk about “How Books Saved My Life” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15. His appearance is free and the public is invited.

The series is sponsored by the Heart of North Carolina Visitors Bureau, the City of Asheboro and the Friends of the Randolph County Public Libraries. Its goal is to bring culturally significant speakers and performers to Asheboro.

Mathabane touched the hearts of millions with his sensational memoir, Kaffir Boy, about his coming of age during the apartheid era in South Africa, and how he escaped to freedom in America by winning a college tennis scholarship. T

The book won the prestigious Christopher Award for inspiring hope, was a finalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, rose to no. 3 on The New York Times bestsellers list and to no. 1 on the Washington Post bestsellers list.

Kaffir Boy has been translated into more than a dozen languages. The book is required reading in high schools, colleges and universities across the U.S., and is on the American Library Association's List of "Outstanding Books for the College-Bound."

In his talk, Mathabane will reflect on how reading influenced him as he grew up under apartheid, weaving in the theme of humanity. His grandmother’s white employer, who gave him his first tennis racket, also supplied him with books banned by the South African regime about African American heroes, including Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X, whose lives were liberated and horizons broadend by learning to read and a love of books.

Mathabane graduated cum laude with a degree in  Economics and English Literature from Dowling College in New York, where he was the first black editor of the college newspaper.

After studying Journalism at the Poynter Media Institute and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Mathabane published Kaffir Boy and went on to write other popular nonfiction books which are also widely used in schools:

Kaffir Boy in America.

Love in Black and White.

African Women: Three Generations.

Miriam’s Song.

The Lessons of Ubuntu.

He also is the author of the thrillers Unbunu and The Proud Liberal.

Mathabane has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Today," The 700 Club, CNN, NPR, "The Charlie Rose Show," "Larry King” and numerous other TV and radio programs. His articles on the importance of education, race relations, the value of books, freedom of speech and our shared humanity have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsday, U.S. News & World Report and USA Today. Mathabane has been featured in Time, Newsweek and People magazines.

A sought-after lecturer, he was nominated for Speaker of the Year by the National Association for Campus Activities, and also has been a featured speaker at Renaissance Weekend events. 

He completed a one-year assignment as a White House Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education, where he helped implement several education initiatives aimed at helping impoverished and marginalized youth across the country. He received an honorary doctorate from Wittenberg University.

The Sunset Theatre is located at 234 Sunset Avenue. For more information, call the Heart of North Carolina Visitors Bureau at 800-626-2672.