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A true man of letters, Dhlomo was one of the foremost dramatists of his day. He also wrote poetry, short stories­ and essays. He was a teacher, librarian, journalist, politician, actor, and violinist.

Dhlomo was born on February 26, 1903, at Siyamu, Edendale. From 1922 to 1924, he studied at the Amanzimtoti Training Institute (renamed Adams College) in southern KwaZulu-Natal. A product of the American Board Mission School, he excelled at English, both spoken and written.

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BP Singh reading an extract from his novel, When The Chalk Is Down: An Odyssey

The township of Buffelsdale in Tongaat, initially referred to as ‘Silvermine’ after the construction company that built it, was the second formal low cost housing settlement for Indians in KwaZulu-Natal, after Chatsworth. It had been planned as a series of semi-detached houses terraced in rows. Interspersed with these single-storey rows were huge blocks of flats comprising of thirty six units each. The unplastered houses were very basic units, with the outlines of bricks clearly distinguishable through the thin coat of paint. The individuality of the houses was lost as a result of the standard red walls and black tiled roofs. The neglected state of the surroundings, the absence of home improvement and extensions, and the dusty gravel roads that marked the access to the houses depicted clearly the poverty-stricken status of the inhabitants.

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Review by Caitlin Martin

Snake is Tracey Farren’s second novel, following the success of Whiplash which was published in 2008.

Snake shows the interaction between Stella, a 12-year old girl, and Melinda, a hardnosed reporter from a tabloid magazine ironically  titled ‘Truth’.  The story opens with the arrival of Melinda who attempts to get Stella to tell the story of “the terrible trouble” that happened on the farm where they live.  Stella tells her story with the honesty of a child, unused to the complexities of the adult world.  It is this perspective that allows her to deliver her story with a frank sincerity that is lacking in a jaded, more adulat view.  She describes her life, including her mother’s unexpected pregnancy, and her father’s alcoholism, in a matter-of-fact in a way: without reservation.  The unique way she has of seeing the world leads to wonderful gems such as her referring to “uncles” rather than ankles and describing the reporter saying she looked as though “she stole all her teeth from someone bigger”.  These qualities cannot help but endear her to the reader who pledge their loyalty firmly with her.

Stella’s account of the story is constantly interrupted by Melinda who adds her own salacious details to the story, whispered with repugnant enthusiasm into her voice recorder.  Stella’s colourful story-telling is often curtailed by Melinda who wants only the story of “the terrible trouble” and we are often dragged away from various parts of Stella’s tale to fulfil Melinda’s individual goal.

Though a child, Stella exhibits a tenacity and determination that is beyond her years.  Stella’s carefree life is overshadowed by the poverty in which they live which is compounded by her father’s alcoholism.  These also threaten her family life as there is the constant danger that this will tear their lives apart.  Stella does her best to help her mother, cover for her father and tries to keep her family together.  She is very observant, however, and as a child she has a naivety that often fails to recognize the importance of what she sees.  It is a combination of these characteristics that puts Stella right in the middle of the events that unfold.

When Jerry, a mysterious stranger, first arrives, he overwhelms the family with his enthusiasm and promise of a better life. Stella’s initial reaction is to embrace this enthusiasm and she describes his impact on the family saying: “It’s like he can see in our hearts and find our old smiles”.  Stella’s extremely observant nature soon picks up indications that suggest Jerry is not quite the saviour he originally appeared to be despite her parents’ continued enthusiasm.  These signs aren’t fully understood by Stella, and the sense of unease grows to dread as the reader is able to anticipate the implications of events long before Stella does.  The tension Tracey Farren is able to create with the arrival of Jerry drives the novel on with a rapid fervour.

This unique novel combines family saga with mystery and trepidation while engaging with issues surrounding contemporary South Africa.

On the 6th December 2011, the Literary Tourism Department held its 10th annual end-of-year function. The function was held at Royal Natal Yacht Club which happens to be the oldest Yacht Club in South Africa. The event celebrated the creation of the South Coast Writer’s Trail which features the likes of Daphne Rooke, Mazesi Kunene and Michael Cawood Green to name a few.

The festivities commenced with an address by project leader, Lindy Stiebel. She noted that the next trail will highlight writers of the North Coast. In addition to being the final trail of the project, the North Coast will be a particularly significant trail for her as she was born in the North Coast. Stiebel intends on compiling a Literary Field Guide of KwaZulu-Natal together with Niall McNulty which will feature the links between writers and place, making it an indispensable travel companion for the KZN literary tourist. Special tribute was paid to her team which consists of Niall McNulty, Caitlin Martin and Sbo Dladla. Finally, she thanked all her website contributors and supporters of the project which currently has amassed over a 100 writer profiles.

Sbo Dladla introduced the first performers of the evening. Slam poet, Ricardo, delighted the audience with a slam poetry piece that was “inspired by everything in the environment”. His powerful words were accompanied by the gentle strumming and soulful backup vocals of Phumele.

Caitlin Martin introduced the next performer of the night, award-winning Slam poet, Dashen Naicker. He described his inclusion in the nights festivities as an “honour” since the South Coast has been his home for many years. Naicker’s performance drew on themes surrounding the environment and Cop17 amusing the crowd with gems such as: “I don’t like cops but I like the idea of Cop17.”

The key speaker of the night, Prithiraj ‘Pritz’ Dullay, was introduced by Niall McNulty. Dullay began by emphasizing the environmental concerns highlighted by the previous performers. He questioned whether the scenery depicted on the cover of the South Coast trail would remain in existence for next generations to enjoy.  Dullay declined a reading of his memoir, Salt Water Runs in My Veins, instead calling to attention the impending passing of the Secrecy Bill next year. He cautioned that the bill could put an end to functions of this nature that allowed for discussion and engagement. Finally, Dullay affirmed that our democracy was “worth defending” and called on young writers and thinkers to stand up and for everyone to forget the self-destructive idea that they are powerless and unable to make a difference.

The evening concluded with excellent snacks and drinks catered by the Royal Natal Yacht Club.

We'll be shutting up shop today for the Christmas break and will be back at work by the middle of January.

Review by Mbongeni Malaba

Ashlee Neser’s book is a thoughtful, ground-breaking analysis of the considerable poetic oeuvre of David Livingstone Phakamile Yali-Manisi, covering forty one years, from 1954 - 1995.  It explores, painstakingly, the trials and tribulations faced by the author, as he tried to fulfil his role as an imbongi during a period in which the poetic form he mastered, praise poetry, struggled to maintain its cultural significance in a context which was inimical to the values it ‘traditionally’ held.

Manisi deeply valued Xhosa poetry and was, as his Christian names suggests, a devout believer, who nonetheless cherished the history and culture of his community, which he endeavoured to record. Neser’s impressive study foregrounds the tensions and contradictions that pervade Manisi’s work, as he struggled to balance his strong attachment to rural Xhosa values and his role as Chief Kaiser Mathanzima’s praise poet, on the one hand and being an office bearer in the ANC on the other hand. He had an enormous respect for education, and studied a Lovedale from which he was expelled for “having participated in an aggressive praising contest with a boy from a rival clan.” He was forced to leave Mathanzima Secondary School in order to support his family when his father became ill. He valued education as a means of attaining recognition and liberation, but was acutely aware of the sub-standard nature of Bantu Education, after its introduction in 1953. He was a committed Christian, but at times railed against missionaries for supporting colonialism. He lamented his limited educational attainments, yet was also proud of his association with Jeff Opland who, through his research, has done so much to raise the profile of traditional Xhosa poetry. His long association with Opland led to his appointment as the Traditional Artist in Residence at Rhodes University; and through this connection, he spent four months in America as a visiting performer at prestigious institutions, including Vassar College, Harvard, and Columbia. The text provides fascinating insights into the man and the medium.

The study places Manisi’s work within the context of Xhosa praise poetry, as well as that of South African praise poetry; the broader context of African praise poetry and oral literature in general. It points out the complex nature of the genre:

Although complexity is a definitive feature of accomplished izibongo, the praise poet, who is mandated to restore equilibrium where imbalance exists, is expected to command the contradictions he highlights. These contradictions should illuminate rather than further obscure, and their resolution, which may take several forms such as exhortation or censure, should be comprehensible to the audience.

Furthermore, “the poet depends on his staple subjects – identity, community, land and ancestry – while they in turn depend for their unity and animation upon his poetry’s binding vocative force.”  As a traditionalist, Manisi took seriously, his role as an advisor to his Chief, but in the context of South African politics during the apartheid era, seemed unable to influence Kaiser Mathanzima is meaningful ways, as Neser notes, with reference to his 1972 poem:

The dominant propensity of the poem, whether critical or positive or ambivalent, is to open around its subjects adjacent pathways of possibility that they can choose at any time. A poem always expresses what its subject is and has been but, more importantly, it asserts what that subject might and ought to become.

Manisi’s perceived close relationship with Mathanzima undermined his credibility with urbanised Xhosa people, who rejected the apartheid vision of “homelands” being their natural home and, instead, saw themselves as South Africans, even though they were, as blacks, denied citizenship. The flexibility of praise poetry enabled urban practitioners to celebrate trade unions instead of the compromised rural chiefs, who were seen as working hand-in-glove with Pretoria:

Praise poets intervene in public life under the authority of the conventions attached to their art. It is convention that authorises the rural imbongi to mediate between an established ruler and his public, and to name each party to the social contract in ways that assert their mutual duty. Under the same conventions that govern the rural imbongi’s role as mediator and official name-giver, industrial praise poets of the 1980s personified the trade unions as duty-bound representatives of their worker-publics. Although the established literary tradition of izibongo is identified primarily with the chiefdom, trade union praise poetry illustrates the form’s capacity for powerful address and efficacy in the secular politics of urban environments.

Manisi failed to sufficiently distance himself from Mathanzima and his pacifist stance made it difficult for him to embrace revolutionary change, despite his constant, scathing attacks on colonial duplicity, brutality and land alienation.

Given the legacy of segregation, he found it difficult to communicate with white audiences, during his period as an employee at Rhodes University. The lack of shared cultural values was a constant source of frustration.  The problem was accentuated during his spell abroad. Furthermore, whilst in the United States, he was wary of being spied upon, by the South African government’s agents, so he avoided ‘political’ topics such as the entrenched racism in the States, which could have provided appropriate material for comparing the two nations.

Neser’s study foregrounds Manisi’s failure to balance the competing strands of his personal and political views and offers a sad testament to a gifted man whose poetic works ultimately failed to connect with his intended audiences, both oral and literate.  The book’s structure is likely to challenge the general reader, as it constantly shifts from poem to poem, and back again, but it has an underlying logic. The story is an eloquent indictment of the legacy of apartheid in the cultural as well as political domain.

Prithiraj ‘Pritz’ Dullay will be reading from his book Salt Water Runs in My Veins and there will be poetry and musical performances from local KZN artists.

Drinks and snacks will be provided.

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