Zakes Mda
Encyclopedia
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n novelist, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays.
Early life and education
Zanemvula Mda was born in Herschel, South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1948. He studied in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Lesotho
Lesotho
Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He worked in these nations as well.
Career
When he started publishing, he adopted the pen name of Zakes Mda. In addition to writing novels and plays, he has taught English and creative writing in South Africa and the United Kingdom.Most recently, he came to the United States, where he became a professor in the English Department at Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
in Athens, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. He has been a visiting professor at Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
.
Zakes Mda is a founding member and currently (as of 2011) serves on the advisory board of African Writers Trust
African Writers Trust
African Writers Trust was established in 2009 as "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."The current...
, "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."
Literary works
Mda's first novel, Ways of DyingWays of Dying
Ways of Dying is a novel by South African novelist and playwright Zakes Mda. The text follows the wanderings and creative endeavors of Toloki, a self-employed professional mourner, as he traverses an unnamed South African city during the nation's transitional period....
, takes place during the transitional years that marked South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
'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
Nongqawuse
Nongqawuse was the Xhosa prophetess whose prophecies led to a millennialist movement that culminated in the Xhosa cattle-killing crisis of 1856–1857, in what is now the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa....
, 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.
List of works by author
- (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
Awards
- 1978 - We Shall sing for the Fatherland received a special merit award in the first Amstel Playwright of the Year AwardAmstel Playwright of the Year AwardThe Amstel Playwright of the Year Award, an independent non-governmental prize, was launched in South Africa in 1978. It recognised South African playwrights. The prize was awarded to many of South Africa's anti-apartheid playwrights....
of South Africa - 1979 - The Hill won an Amstel Playwright of the Year AwardAmstel Playwright of the Year AwardThe Amstel Playwright of the Year Award, an independent non-governmental prize, was launched in South Africa in 1978. It recognised South African playwrights. The prize was awarded to many of South Africa's anti-apartheid playwrights....
- 1997 - Ways of Dying won the M-Net Book PrizeM-Net Literary AwardsThe M-Net Literary Awards were established in 1991 by M-Net , a commercial television station based in South Africa. It is among South Africa's most prestigious literary honors...
, South Africa - 2001 - The Heart of Redness won the Commonwealth Writers Prize: Africa, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the Sunday Times Fiction PrizeThe Sunday Times Fiction PrizeThe Sunday Times Fiction Prize has been awarded by the South African newspaper The Sunday Times since 2001 to accompany their Alan Paton Award for works of non-fiction...
- 2004 - "The Madonna of Excelsior" was selected as one of the Top Ten South African Books Published in the Decade of Democracy