Artist of the Month: Zakes Mda

I went through a phase of thorough obsession with this man, going out of my way to read any and everything he ever wrote, provided I could get my hands on it.

Born Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni, this talented award winning novelist, poet and playwright adopted the pen name Zakes Mda. Mda first rose to prominence in 1978 when he received the Amstel Merit Award which he received for having penned the play ‘We Shall Sing for the Fatherland’ Many other awards followed with his first two novels, ‘She plays With the Darkness’ and ‘Ways of Dying’ both released in 1995 receiving awards.
Since then, Mda has gone on to write numerous other books that have held special places in my heart, books such as ‘The Madonna of Excelsior’, ‘The Whale Caller’ and ‘Cion’ to name but a few.

In 2012 his biography ‘Sometimes There is a Void’ was published and African Book club used the following words to describe the book “His biography is at once riveting and daring – almost bordering on reckless. Mda goes totally against the grain of what many readers have come to expect from most biographical accounts. He lays his life bare for all to see – triumphs, warts and all.”  This is in my opinion is a stellar review. If a writer can make his audience feel his feelings all while gaining insight into his life then half the battle is won and it is evident through the above snippet that Mda has managed this.