Lerato Mogoatlhe’s travel memoir Vagabond launched in Johannesburg, South Africa on April 9, 2019.
Lerato Mogoatlhe is a South African journalist who has worked at publications such as Sunday Times, City Press, DRUM, True Love and Cosmopolitan, Mail & Guardian, Marie Claire, Hercules Spain, and Sunday Independent. Something happened to her along that journey in 2007 as she developed a serious case of wanderlust for the African continent in its entirety. She made a decision to leave South Africa planning to spend three months in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, and Benin.
When Mogoatlhe left South Africa little did she know that those three months would turn into five years. That epic journey across the continent is the subject of the new travel memoir that she called Vagabond. The new book shines a light on her journey through 21 countries and 5 regions in West Africa including her life in Timbuktu, being in Salif Keita’s entourage, smuggling herself into the DRC and living in Mali and Ethiopia for six months.
The new book, published by Blackbird Books, was launched at Exclusive Books in Rosebank, Johannesburg on Tuesday, April 9. The newly minted writer spoke about her experiences of both traveling over a long period as well as the challenges she went through finally seeing her book in print. She was in discussion with radio personality Aphelele Somi.
Here are images from the book launch courtesy of Sipho Mabuza and Zani Tsabede.
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