Latest articles on Writing

Black liberation dreaming: Nolan Oswald Dennis’s digital essay game ‘a sun.black’

Friday Nkgopoleng Moloi - 24 Jan 2021

Nolan Oswald Dennis’s digitial essay game, ‘a sun.black’, keeps all options available as it examines decolonisation

A Seat at a Table ep. 2: Authenticity versus responsibility

Friday Phumlani Pikoli - 10 Jan 2021

In the second instalment of A Seat at a Table, writers discuss authenticity, character development and the value of handwritten drafts

The Portfolio: Percy Mabandu

Friday Percy Mabandu - 11 Dec 2020

Writer and visual artist Percy Mabandu talks about the energy of his portrait of Bra Winston Mankuku Ngozi, entitled ‘The Bull’

Extract from ‘The Journey’: Responses to the archive

Friday Emmanuel Iduma - 20 Nov 2020

This sequence of texts was written in response to various photographs of Nigeria made between 1920 and 1929 that form part of the Colonial Office photographic collection

Khulekani Mayisa: Poetry in the polemic

Friday Kwanele Sosibo - 20 Nov 2020

Khulekani Mayisa’s new film, Power to the Purple, is an intensely personal collaborative project

Dambudzo Marechera’s literary shock treatment

Friday Tinashe Mushakavanhu - 12 Nov 2020

A new book on Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera draws on both actual and imaginary archives

Maaza Mengiste: ‘We are now catching up with the past’

Friday Theresa Mallinson - 12 Nov 2020

As war drums beat again in Ethiopia, author Maaza Mengiste finds new language to memorialise the Second Italo-Ethiopian War

A Seat at a Table, Ep 1: The writerly thing to do

Friday Phumlani Pikoli - 8 Nov 2020

Interviews can often demystify the processes behind how people create. It’s always fascinated Phumlani Pikoli to find the tricks to artists’ magic, as explored in his new podcast, ‘A Seat at a Table’

Obituary: Literary allrounder Stephen Gray was a scholar, critic, novelist and poet

Friday Shaun De Waal - 3 Nov 2020

Stephen Gray made an immense, long contribution to the South African literary landscape across many genres, but it was poetry that he described as ‘the main activity of my life’

‘Before Night Falls’: Reinaldo Arenas breaks down (in) Fidel Castro’s Cuba

Friday Percy Zvomuya - 22 Oct 2020

Reinaldo Arenas’s memoir reveals the contradiction of a revolutionary society ruled by an autocrat

The Portfolio: Nthikeng Mohlele

Friday Nthikeng Mohlele - 16 Oct 2020

A veteran author and part-time festival director, Nthikeng Mohlele can attest to the respective experiences being irreconcilable. Or are they?

Achmat Dangor: On writing and change

Friday Andries Walter Oliphant - 12 Sep 2020

Celebrated author and political activist Achmat Dangor died on Sunday at the age of 71. Here, in a 1990 interview published in Staffrider, he speaks to Andries Walter Oliphant about his work and aspects of South African literature and culture

Review: Biodun Olumuyiwa’s ‘In a Journey of Dreams’ is both timely and timeless

Friday Idowu Omoyele - 30 Jul 2020

Biodun Olumuyiwa has been writing since the late 1980s, but has only recently published his debut poetry collection

The Portfolio: Gilli Apter

Article Gilli Apter - 28 Feb 2020

South African comedian, writer and director Gilli Apter speaks about how hilarious content requires constant writing and feedback from the comedy community

The Portfolio: Lidudumalingani

Article Lidudumalingani - 29 Nov 2019

"At the heart of my work is what I choose to leave out. This is physically illustrated in framing a photograph."

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Latest articles on Writing

Black liberation dreaming: Nolan Oswald Dennis’s digital essay game ‘a sun.black’

A Seat at a Table ep. 2: Authenticity versus responsibility

The Portfolio: Percy Mabandu

Extract from ‘The Journey’: Responses to the archive

Khulekani Mayisa: Poetry in the polemic

Dambudzo Marechera’s literary shock treatment

Maaza Mengiste: ‘We are now catching up with the past’

A Seat at a Table, Ep 1: The writerly thing to do

Obituary: Literary allrounder Stephen Gray was a scholar, critic, novelist and poet

‘Before Night Falls’: Reinaldo Arenas breaks down (in) Fidel Castro’s Cuba

The Portfolio: Nthikeng Mohlele

Achmat Dangor: On writing and change

Review: Biodun Olumuyiwa’s ‘In a Journey of Dreams’ is both timely and timeless

The Portfolio: Gilli Apter

The Portfolio: Lidudumalingani

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