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Join Jean Duffy, former Lexington resident and debut author of Soccer Grannies, and Beka Ntsanwisi, the South Africa founder of the team, for an inspiring book event. Soccer Grannies recounts a true story that unfolded in Lexington in 2010. Celebrate the resilient 40- to 80-year-old South African women who defy social convention to play soccer for the health benefits and companionship the game provides.

Jean Duffy is a nonfiction writer with published essays in the Boston Globe, Concord Monitor, Lexington Minuteman, and WBUR Cognoscenti. Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023) is her first book. Jean can be found on the soccer field in Lexington, Massachusetts, where her team, the Lexpressas, have been playing for some twenty years. When she’s not pounding her fingers on the keyboard or flubbing a shot on goal, she might be consulting with nonprofits, helping people downsize, or doing crossword puzzles with her husband at their home in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Rebecca Ntsanwisi, affectionately known as "Mama Beka," was born in Tzaneen in the province of Limpopo, South Africa. She has devoted her life to helping people in her community address health, education, housing, and other challenges. Formerly a radio talk show host, she connected people with needed resources. Beka started the soccer grannies’ team, Vakhegula Vakhegula, to improve the health and wellness of older women when she was undergoing treatment for colon cancer. She has received countless awards for her community activism including the Order of the Baobab award presented by the President of South Africa.

In-person attendance is on a first-come basis.

Books will be on sale through Maxima Booksellers. The author is donating her proceeds to the Beka Ntsanwisi Foundation.

This program is made possible by the generous donors to the Cary Library Foundation.