About one month ago, TrueActivist brought you a positive story about a man named Philani Dladla who turned his life around by selling books – and giving reviews – to passing motorists.
His inspired love of good stories has now led the 24-year-old South African to write his own, a memoir titled “The Pavement Bookworm,” after one of his nicknames.
After Dladla slid into drug abuse and homelessness, it was his love of reading that helped him turn it all around. Instead of begging for spare change from passerby’s, he now sells books he enjoys – mainly self-help reads – and gives quick reviews to those interested.
The novel idea began when a man his mother cared for left 500 books to Dladla. He has read all of them and gives reviews to those transiting by so they may benefit from the written word, as well.
Amazingly, though homeless at the time, the kind-hearted individual would use the money he made to care for other homeless people living on the streets. He would buy them soup and bread each day.
Now, Philani is busy spending his days running his Pavement Bookworm reading foundation, which has even been recognized by South Africa’s president for putting books into the hands of children. In addition, he recently gave a talk at a TEDX conference. Things are looking up for this inspired bookworm.
Dladla’s memoir will be published by Jacana Media in late October.
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This article (Update: Books Lifted Him From Homelessness, And Now He’s Writing One Of His Own!) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.com
