Zakes Mda
Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni "Zakes" Mda (born 6 October 1948) is a South African novelist, poet and playwright. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays. He is the son of politician A.
Also recorded as Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda
Zakes Mda
- Name
- Zakes Mda
- Birth Name
- Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda
- Born
- 1948
- Birthplace
- Herschel, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Occupation
- Novelist, poet and playwright
- Education
- Ohio University University of Cape Town
- Awards
- Commonwealth Writers' Prize Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2001
- Nationality
- South Africa
- Known for
- Etisalat Prize for Literature
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Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni "Zakes" Mda (born 6 October 1948) is a South African novelist, poet and playwright. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays. He is the son of politician A.
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Zakes Mda was a South African dramaturge, painter and playwright, among other activities. Works include Etisalat Prize for Literature.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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wikidata · Q144653 · wikipedia · Zakes Mda
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Zakes Mda • Birth Name — Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda • Born — 1948 • Birthplace — Herschel, Eastern Cape, South Africa • Occupation — Novelist, poet and playwright • Education — Ohio University University of Cape Town • Notable Works — Ways of Dying (1995), The Heart of Redness (2000) • Parents — A. P. Mda (father) • Awards — Commonwealth Writers' Prize Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2001
Early life and education
Early life and education
Zanemvula Mda was born in Herschel, South Africa, on 6 October 1948. and completed the Cambridge Overseas Certificate at Peka High School, Lesotho, in 1969. He pursued his BFA (Visual Arts and Literature) at the International Academy of Arts and Literature, Zurich, Switzerland, in 1976. He completed a MFA (Theater) and a MA (Mass Communication and Media) in 1984 at Ohio University, United States. He completed his PhD at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 1989.
Career
Career
When he started publishing his work, he adopted the pen name of Zakes Mda. In addition to writing novels and plays, he taught English and creative writing in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Most recently, he went to the United States, where he became a professor in the English Department at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He has been a visiting professor at Yale University and the University of Vermont. As of July 2021, he is a Lecturer in Advanced Academic Programs at Johns Hopkins University. Mda is a founding member and (as of 2011) serves on the advisory board of the African Writers Trust, "a non-profit entity which seeks to coordinate and bring together African writers in the Diaspora and writers on the continent to promote sharing of skills and other resources, and to foster knowledge and learning between the two groups." In 2013, he became a patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature (alongside Ama Ata Aidoo, Dele Olojede, Ellah Allfrey, Margaret Busby and Kole Omotoso). At the 2024 "Time of the Writer" festival in Durban, Mda delivered the keynote address, titled "Reflections, Resonance and Revival".
Literary works
Literary works
Mda's first novel, Ways of Dying (1995), takes place during the transitional years that marked South Africa's transformation into a democratic nation. It follows the character of Toloki. After finding himself destitute, he invents a profession as a "Professional Mourner". He traverses the violent urban landscape of an unnamed South African city, finding an old love amidst the internecine fighting present in the townships and squatter settlements. The Heart of Redness (2000), Mda's third novel, is inspired by the history of Nongqawuse, a Xhosa prophetess whose prophecies catalyzed the cattle-killing of 1856–1857. Xhosa culture split between Believers and Unbelievers, adding to existing social strain, famine and social breakdown. It is believed that 20,000 people died of starvation during that time. In the novel, Mda continually shifts back and forth between the present day and the time of Nongqawuse to show the complex interplay between history and myth. He dramatizes the uncertain future of a culture whose troubled relationship with the colonizing force of Empire, as well as their own civil factions, threatens to extinguish their home of Qolorha-by-Sea. Mda's account of the cattle-killing draws heavily on that of historian Jeff Peires in his book The Dead Will Arise (Mda acknowledges this at the outset of his novel). Like Peires, Mda identifies Mhlkaza, Nongqawuse's uncle and one of the key players in the event, with William Goliath, the first Xhosa person baptised in the Anglican church. Mda's 2011 book, Sometimes There is a Void, was described by The New York Times as a "gregarious and transfixing memoir": "First fate, then choice, have shaped Mda into a perpetual outsider who partly belongs to the three societies — Lesotho, South Africa and the United States — that have served as his provisional homes. He writes from inside the exile's ambiguous fate, acknowledging that the uprooted life brings new perspectives but at the cost of a haunting fear of inner incoherence. Yet, as his autobiography discloses, on the stage and on the page Mda has found a different kind of continuity through the steadying presence of imaginative belonging. To his credit, in a deeply unsettled life, he has nurtured this capacity to find within the creative act itself new, reviving forms of homecoming." On 8 June 2012, Mda was awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Cape Town for his contributions to world literature. His novels have been translated into 21 languages, including the translation of Ways of Dying into Turkish.
Identity
Identity
Zakes Mda is recorded with the occupation writer. Recorded with the occupation poet. Recorded as dramaturge, poet, playwright and painter.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1948
Zakes Mda was born on 1 January 1948.
Publications
• (1977) New South African Writing • (1979) We Shall Sing for the Fatherland • (1979) Dead End • (1979) Dark Voices Ring • (1980) The Hill • (1982) Banned: A Play for Radio • (1982) Summer Fires • (1986) Bits of Debris: The Poetry of Zakes Mda • (1988) And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses • (1989) Joys of War • (1990) The Plays of Zakes Mda • (1991) The Nun's Romantic Story • (1992) Soho Square • (1993) When People Play People • (1993) And the Girls in Their Sunday Dresses: Four Works • (1995) Ways of Dying • (1995) She Plays with the Darkness • (1998) Melville 67 • (2000) The Heart of Redness • (2002) The Madonna of Excelsior • (2002) Fools, Bells and the Importance of Eating: Three Satires • (2005) The Whale Caller • (2007) Cion • (2009) Black Diamond • (2011) Sometimes There is a Void: Memoirs of an Outsider • (2012) Our Lady of Benoni • (2013) The Sculptors of Mapungubwe • (2014) Rachel's Blue • (2015) Little Suns • (2019) The Zulus of New York • (2021) Wayfarers' Hymns
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Zakes Mda”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q144653: Zakes Mda
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
scholarly publication
- Zakes Mda, The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary South African Theatre, 2015
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2015
Awards
In 2004, The Madonna of Excelsior was named one of the top ten South African books published in the Decade of Democracy. Awards for Mda's writing • Year — Work — Award — Result — References • 1978 — We Shall Sing for the Fatherland — Amstel Playwright of the Year Award — Special Merit Award • 1979 — The Hill — Amstel Playwright of the Year Award — Winner • 1997 — Ways of Dying — M-Net Book Prize — Winner • 2001 — The Heart of Redness — Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book: Africa — Winner • Hurston/Wright Legacy Award — Winner • Sunday Times Fiction Prize — Winner • 2012 — Entire body of work — Order of Ikamanga in Silver — Special Merit Award • 2017 — Little Suns — Barry Ronge Fiction Prize — Winner
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.SAHO. Zanemvula Kizito Mda. South African History Online.
- 2.English Department. www.english.ohiou.edu.
- 3."Madonna of Excelsior" at Barnes & Noble.
- 4.Zakes Mda. Johns Hopkins University.
- 5."Advisory Board" , African Writers Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- 6."What is African Writers Trust?" African Writers Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- 7.Lamwaka, Beatrice, "Goretti Kyomuhendo of African Writers Trust" , 22 May 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- 8.Agbedeh, Terh. Sustainability of literary prizes, as new one debuts. National Mirror. 26 June 2013.
- 9.The Single Story Foundation. 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature Longlist Revealed. African Literary Magazines. 12 November 2015.
- 10.University of KwaZulu-Natal. Time of the Writer 2024 Keynote Address. 15 March 2024.
- 11.Bankole Akinwande. 2014. A Study of Ngugi's Matigari and Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness. LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.
- 12.Nixon, Rob. Memories of South Africa During and After Apartheid. The New York Times. 27 January 2012.
- 13."Honorary docs for two" , University of Cape Town, 8 June 2012.
- 14.Doctoral acceptance speech live broadcast from UCT Website on 8 June 2012.
- 15.Alberts, Margaretha Johanna. The potential of an Afrikaans translation of Zakes Mda's The Heart of Redness to renew the South African national narrative. University of Pretoria, Faculty of Humanities. November 2024.
- 16.De Waal, Shaun. A decade of prizes. The Mail & Guardian. 2000-03-17.
- 17.Commonwealth Foundation. Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987–2007.
- 18.The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. African American Literature Book Club.
- 19.Previous winners of the Alan Paton Award and the Sunday Times Fiction Prize. The Sunday Times. 4 June 2007.
- 20.Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni “Zakes” Mda The Presidency. www.presidency.gov.za.
- 21.Malec, Jennifer. Zakes Mda and Greg Marinovich win Sunday Times Literary Awards. JRB. 25 June 2017.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q144653: Zakes MdaWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Identity and origins. The authorities additionally record the heading Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda. His recorded language was English. He was the child of Ashby Peter Solomzi Mda.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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