DD Phiri was a venerated writer. He was an avid reader and now a reading project, ReadMalawi, is in the offing, his son Kwame Phiri confirmed on Sunday.
In an interview, Kwame said he was approached and gave a go-ahead to the project where the public will donate books they no longer need through the school DD Phiri founded, Aggrey Memorial School.
“It is a project that will benefit us as a nation. It will also help his name live on as he strongly promoted reading and writing. “Nowadays, people are concentrating on the Internet and the social media, forgetting that reading books brings power,” he said.
Jones Nalikungwi, founder of Ibrows Branding, said he had a meeting with the writer before his death in March this year to discuss the project.
“Sadly, he passed away before we finalised the finer details of the project. I am happy that his son has given us the okay to proceed.
“Those interested can donate even one book and the books will be distributed to schools that lack books in their libraries. And, with the hard economic times, not all of us have disposable incomes to buy books,” he said.
According to Nalikungwi, the books can be fiction and non-fiction.
DD Phiri was an influential Malawian writer and columnist whose work transcended a number of areas, including politics and economics. He died on March 26 this year.
