Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda | |
|---|---|
| Born | Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda 1948 Herschel, Eastern Cape |
| Occupation | novelist, poet and playwright |
| Notable works | The Heart of Redness |
| Notable awards | Etisalat Prize for Literature Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2001 |
Zakes Mda (/ˈzɛɪks/ /mˈdɑː/), legally Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda (born 1948) is a South African novelist, poet and playwright and he is the son of politician A. P. Mda. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays. He is currently a Patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature.
Early life and education
Zanemvula Mda was born in Herschel, South Africa, in 1948.[1] and completed the Cambridge Overseas Certificate at Peka High School, Lesotho in 1969. He pursued his BFA (Visual Arts and Literature) at the International Academy of Arts and Literature, Zurich, Switzerland in 1976. He completed a MFA (Theater) and a MA (Mass Communication and Media) in 1984 at Ohio University, United States. He completed his PhD at the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1989.
Career
When he started publishing, he adopted the pen name of Zakes Mda. In addition to writing novels and plays, he taught English and creative writing in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Most recently, he went to the United States, where he became a professor in the English Department at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.[2] He has been a visiting professor at Yale and the University of Vermont.[3]
Mda is a founding member and currently (as of 2011) serves on the advisory board of African Writers Trust,[4] "a non-profit entity which seeks to coordinate and bring together African writers in the Diaspora and writers on the continent to promote sharing of skills and other resources, and to foster knowledge and learning between the two groups."[5][6]
On 8 June 2012 Zakes Mda was awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Cape Town for his contributions to world literature.[7][8] His novels have been translated into 21 languages, the translation of Ways of Dying into Turkish being the latest.
Literary works
Mda's first novel, Ways of Dying, takes place during the transitional years that marked South Africa's transformation into a democratic nation. It follows the character of Toloki. After finding himself destitute, he invents a profession as a "Professional Mourner." He traverses the violent urban landscape of an unnamed South African city, finding an old love amidst the internecine fighting present in the townships and squatter settlements.
The Heart of Redness, Mda's third novel, is inspired by the history of Nongqawuse, a Xhosa prophetess whose prophecies catalyzed the Cattle Killing of 1856–1857. Xhosa culture split between Believers and Unbelievers, adding to existing social strain, famine and social breakdown. It is believed that 20,000 people died of starvation during that time. In the novel, Mda continually shifts back and forth between the present day and the time of Nongqawuse to show the complex interplay between history and myth. He dramatizes the uncertain future of a culture whose troubled relationship with the colonizing force of Empire, as well as their own civil factions, threatens to extinguish their home of Qolorha-by-Sea. Mda's account of the Cattle Killing draws heavily on that of historian Jeff Peires in his book The Dead Will Arise (Mda acknowledges this at the outset of his novel). Like Peires, Mda identifies Mhlkaza, Nongqawuse's uncle and one of the key players in the event, with William Goliath, the first Xhosa person baptised in the Anglican church.
Bibliography
- (1977) New South African Writing
- (1979) We Shall Sing for the Fatherland
- (1979) Dead End
- (1979) Dark Voices Ring
- (1980) The Hill
- (1982) Banned: A Play for Radio
- (1982) Summer Fires
- (1986) Bits of Debris: The Poetry of Zakes Mda
- (1988) And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses
- (1989) Joys of War
- (1990) The Plays of Zakes Mda
- (1991) The Nun's Romantic Story
- (1992) Soho Square
- (1993) When People Play People
- (1993) And the Girls in Their Sunday Dresses: Four Works
- (1995) Ways of Dying
- (1995) She Plays with the Darkness
- (1998) Melville 67
- (2000) The Heart of Redness
- (2002) The Madonna of Excelsior
- (2002) Fools, Bells and the Importance of Eating: Three Satires
- (2005) The Whale Caller
- (2007) Cion
- (2009) Black Diamond
- (2011) Sometimes There is a Void: Memoirs of an Outsider
- (2012) Our Lady of Benoni
- (2013) The Sculptors of Mapungubwe
- (2014) Rachel's Blue
- (2015) Little Suns
- (2019) The Zulus of New York
Awards
- 1978 Amstel Playwright of the Year Award, special merit award for We Shall Sing for the Fatherland[citation needed]
- 1979 Amstel Playwright of the Year Award, winner for The Hill[citation needed]
- 1997 M-Net Book Prize, Ways of Dying[citation needed]
- 2001 Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Africa, The Heart of Redness[9]
- 2001 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, The Heart of Redness[citation needed]
- 2001 Sunday Times Fiction Prize, The Heart of Redness[10]
- 2004 Top Ten South African Books published in the Decade of Democracy, The Madonna of Excelsior[citation needed]
- 2017 Barry Ronge Fiction Prize, Little Suns[11]
See also
References
- ^ "Zakes Mda" (PDF). ou.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ "English Department". www.english.ohiou.edu. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
- ^ "Madonna of Excelsior" at Barnes & Noble.
- ^ "Advisory Board", African Writers Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- ^ "What is African Writers Trust?" African Writers Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- ^ Lamwaka, Beatrice, "Goretti Kyomuhendo of African Writers Trust" Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, 22 May 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- ^ "Honorary docs for two", University of Cape Town.
- ^ Doctoral acceptance speech live broadcast from UCT Website on 8 June 2012.
- ^ "Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987-2007" (PDF). Commonwealth Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-10-23.
- ^ "Previous winners of the Alan Paton Award and the Sunday Times Fiction Prize". The Sunday Times. 4 June 2007. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009.
- ^ Jennifer Malec (25 June 2017). "Zakes Mda and Greg Marinovich win Sunday Times Literary Awards". JRB. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- South African male novelists
- 1948 births
- Living people
- People from the Eastern Cape
- South African male poets
- South African dramatists and playwrights
- Male dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century South African novelists
- 20th-century South African poets
- 20th-century dramatists and playwrights
- 21st-century South African novelists
- 21st-century South African poets
- 21st-century dramatists and playwrights
- Ohio University faculty
- 20th-century South African male writers
- 21st-century South African male writers