He explored the darker realities of South African life in three novels before his untimely passing at the age of 30.
Articles on South African literature
Displaying 1 - 20 of 29 articles
From angry spirits and parallel universes to alien abductions and epic folklore, African writers are offering fresh new horizons for the world’s science fiction landscape.
Travelling remains time-consuming, precarious, and shockingly dangerous for most South Africans 30 years after apartheid has ended.
The celebrated South African writer and poet Breyten Breytenbach has died at 85. He used his art to fight for justice for marginalised people throughout his life.
Nthikeng Mohlele is a unique voice in South African literature. Revolutionaries’ House is his most political work so far, but far from his best.
A new generation has been disrupting traditional publishing using new technologies and marketing methods.
The award-winning South African playwright has written a masterful short story about a woman having to play a challenging theatre role.
After a messy break-up, Mangi loses his job and finds himself destitute in downtown Johannesburg. That’s where his transformation begins.
Despite being detained by the apartheid government and his work being banned, Matthews never stopped writing truth to power and was celebrated around the world.
The South African novelist messes with the line between fiction and non-fiction.
The fiction of J.M. Coetzee is always formally daring, brave in its social critique and its refusal to play by the rules.
The solo journey of a queer, black woman across the continent makes fascinating reading.
From domestic worker to matriarch of South African literature, the book is a reflection on her writing journey.
The activist and writer has been erased from South Africa’s history - but new academic work seeks to restore his voice.
Challenging myths about heterosexual white South African men, Prinsloo published four books of short stories in 12 years.
Buys, the award-winning novel by Willem Anker, uses lines without credit from the Irish writer - not the first such literary controversy it has raised.
Abundantly talented and flawed, apartheid-era writer Can Themba wasn’t afraid to put his body on the line for a story.
Female Fear Factory by Pumla Dineo Gqola sees gender violence as a sophisticated ecosystem kept alive by socially manufactured fear.
Set in the music wars of Lesotho, the new novel by the South African author tells of a wandering minstrel whose hit song leads to his downfall.
Lesotho’s famo music is known for the use of accordions - and gang violence. In Wayfarers’ Hymns, Zakes Mda explores this tradition.
Top contributors
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Research Associate, University of Johannesburg
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Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch University
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Senior research fellow, University of the Western Cape
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Lecturer, Stellenbosch University
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Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, Adelaide University
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Senior Lecturer in English, University of the Western Cape
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Research Associate, Humanities Research Centre (and African Literature Department, University of the Witwatersrand), University of York
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Postdoctoral researcher, University of Johannesburg
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Associate professor, University of the Free State
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Postdoctoral Fellow, Nelson Mandela University
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Adjunct Professor, Richmond American International University
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Associate Professor, Department of Literary Studies in English, Rhodes University
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Professor of Creative Writing and English Literature, University of the Western Cape
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Lecturer in Sociology, Rhodes University
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Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology, Penn State