The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) Book Club in collaboration with the Centre for the Book, an outreach unit of the National Library of South Africa, takes pleasure in inviting members of the media to a Public Conversation with distinguished author Zakes Mda. The occasion will be held at the National Library of South Africa in Pretoria, on Wednesday 25 July 2012.
Zakes Mda is one of the most accomplished writers ever to come out of the African continent. He was born in Herschel, Eastern Cape province, and grew up partly in Soweto, Johannesburg. In 1963 he joined his exiled father, AP Mda, also known as the "founding spirit" of the PAC, in Lesotho where he established himself as a playwright and a painter. Mda published his first novel in 1995, and has since become one of the most consistent novelists of the post-apartheid stage.
He published seven novels, several plays and a book of memoirs between 1995 and 2011. His accolades as a novelist include winning the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Sunday Times Fiction Award, and the M-Net Literary Prize, among others.
His novel, Madonna of Excelsior (Oxford University Press, 2002), was voted as one of the Top Ten books in the Decade of Democracy. In 2010, Mda received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the South African Literary Awards.
In June this year he received an Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater, the University of Cape Town, for his outstanding contribution to literature. Mda currently commutes between South Africa and the US, where he is professor of Creative Writing at Ohio University.
He will be introduced by Professor Muxe Nkondo, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Venda and the current Chairperson of the National Library Board. The conversation will be facilitated by Siphiwo Mahala, Head of Books and Publishing at the national Department of Arts and Culture and one of the prominent literary voices in South Africa today. Members of the public will be given an opportunity to interact and ask Mda questions about his writing.
This Public Conversation is organised as part of the Department of Arts and Culture's efforts to promote social cohesion and using literature as a vehicle to promote nation building.
Following are the details of the event.
Date: 25 July 2012
Time: 18h00 for 18h30
Venue: National Library of South Africa, 228 Proes Street, Pretoria
For media enquiries, contact:
Siphiwo Mahala
Cell: 082 888 9946
Tel: 012 441 3665
Mandla Matyumza
Cell: 074 580 8175
