Launch of NONTSIZI MGQWETHO - The POET OF THE PEOPLE (1919–1929) by Thulani Mkhize | 18 Sept | 6pm
UKZN Press, in collaboration with the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER) at the University of the Witwatersrand, invites you to the launch of
NONTSIZI MGQWETHO
THE POET OF THE PEOPLE (1919–1929)
By Thulani Mkhize
In this book, Thulani Mkhize shows us how Mgqwetho’s work resonates with contemporary significance on various levels. When Mgqwetho pens the poem ‘Maibuye! I Afrika! Awu!’ (Come back, Africa! Awu!), she is not calling for the return of land to Africans as the political slogan at the time embodied, but she is making a clarion call for Africans to return to their senses – their sense of self and nation that had been disrupted and corrupted by colonial forces. More than a century after penning this poem, the quest for land persists, and the condition of the African that she envisioned remains under construction.
The author will be in conversation with Professor Isabel Hofmeyr (Emeritus Professor of African Literature).
Thulani Mkhize is a senior lecturer in English Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and co-editor of African Literature: Beyond the Western gaze. She was editor-in-chief of the South African Journal of African Languages from 2020 to 2023.
Thursday, 18th September
17h30 for 18h00
WiSER Seminar room
6th Floor, Richard Ward Building