PSB: Boston Edition and GrubStreet are delighted to present the latest installment of the Grubbie Debut series, featuring Jean Duffy, author of Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World! Rebecca Ntsanwisi and E. B. Bartels will join the author in conversation. This hybrid event takes place on Tuesday, June 20 at 7pm at PSB: Boston Edition (50 Liberty Dr. Boston, MA 02210).

The inspirational story of an amazing group of soccer-playing South African grannies. In rural South Africa, beloved humanitarian "Mama Beka" defied social convention and started a soccer team for the women in her community. The Soccer Grannies, as they came to be known, won over their families and villages who at first rejected the idea of older women playing soccer, and that single team quickly grew into dozens. Soon, the strength, tenacity, and pure joy of the Soccer Grannies had captured the attention of the world. In Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World, Jean Duffy, a soccer-playing mom herself, recounts how she and her team set to work to bring the Soccer Grannies to the U.S. after hearing their incredible story. Despite many obstacles that stand in their way, the Soccer Grannies finally arrive, and Jean describes the wonderful friendships and cultural exchanges that follow. But Soccer Grannies tells more than just the physical journey of the South African women; it also details the Grannies' personal journeys, sharing poignant insights into the realities of women living in South Africa. Life beyond the pitch has not been easy for the Grannies. They have persevered through apartheid, rampant poverty and unemployment, the loss of children to AIDS, domestic abuse, and more. But with the friendship and support of their fellow Soccer Grannies, these women face life's challenges with dignity, humor, and hope. Their stories show to the world the power of sport and its unique ability to bring people and cultures together.

Jean Duffy is a nonfiction writer with published essays in the Boston Globe, Concord Monitor, Lexington Minuteman, Packington Review, Somerville Journal, Stamford Advocate, 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.

E.B. Bartels is a nonfiction writer, a former Newtonville Books bookseller, and a GrubStreet instructor, with an MFA from Columbia. Her work has appeared in Salon, Slate, WBUR, Literary Hub, Catapult, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, and The Millions, among others. She is the author of Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter (Mariner Books/HarperCollins, 2022), a narrative nonfiction book about loving and losing animals, and she also edits the interview series Non-Fiction about Non-Humans on the literary site Fiction Advocate. E.B. lives outside Boston with her husband, Richie, and their dog, two tortoises, a small flock of pigeons, and a dozen fish.

Grubbie Debuts: Jean Duffy, author of Soccer Grannies, with Rebecca Ntsanwisi and E. B. Bartels