Mandla Langa (born 1950 in Stanger,

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

) is a South African poet, short-story writer, novelist, and cultural activist. He grew up in

KwaMashu KwaMashu is a township (South Africa), township north of Durban, South Africa. The name is in honour of Sir Marshall Campbell and means ''Place of Marshall''. KwaMashu is bordered by Newlands East to the south, Newlands West to the west, Ntuzuma t ...

township of Kwazulu Natal. His novel ''The Lost Colours of the Chameleon'' won the 2009

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

(Africa region). Langa enrolled for a degree in English and Philosophy at the

University of Fort Hare The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub ...

, but was expelled in 1973 as a result of his involvement in the activities of the South African Student Organisation. In 1976, he went into exile and has lived in different countries of Southern Africa as well as in Hungary and the United Kingdom. Langa was brought in to complete the second volume of

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

's autobiography, left in an unfinished draft when Mandela died in 2013, and published in 2017 as '' Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years''.

Early life and education

Mandla Langa was born in Stanger,

, South Africa, in 1950 and grew up in

township 20 miles north of Durban, during the implementation of the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

system. He is one of nine children. His brother

Pius Langa Pius Nkonzo Langa Order of the Baobab, SCOB (25 March 1939 – 24 July 2013) was Chief Justice of South Africa, serving on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Constitutional Court. He was appointed to the bench in 1994 by Nelson Mandela, h ...

served as Chief Justice in South Africa. Another brother, Bheki Langa, served as South Africa's ambassador to Russia. Mandla Langa attended Gardner Memorial School, Sibonelo High School in Durban, and then the

. Despite the substantial number of political strikes during his college career, he was able to complete his BA in English and Philosophy in 1972. He taught at a high school in KwaMashu in 1973–74. In 1974, he became actively involved as a director of the South African Students' Organization (SASO), maintaining this position until his arrest in 1976 for attempting to leave the country without a permit. As a result he served 101 days in jail."Mandla Langa (1950– )"
, The Presidency, Republic of South Africa. According to Charles Larson (editor of ''Under African Skies''), Langa himself said that his arrest was due to

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

. While imprisoned, Langa continued to improve his writing skills. After serving his sentence, he fled to

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

, marking the start of his life in exile. He also spent time in

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, where he participated in military training at the MK camps, also known as Umkhonto we Sizwe."PAWA to Host Mandla Langa"
Modern Ghana, 18 February 2003. In addition to Lesotho, Langa spent time in

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and the UK. He held various

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election installe ...

posts abroad, including cultural attaché in the UK and Western Europe.

Career

Literary work

Among Langa’s early published work are poems such as "Pension Jives" and "They No Longer Speak to Us in Song". In addition to writing poetry, he began writing prose. His story "The Dead Men Who Lost Their Bones" was his first to be published in ''

Drum Magazine A drum magazine is a type of high-capacity magazine for firearms. Cylindrical in shape (similar to a drum), drum magazines store rounds in a spiral around the center of the magazine, facing the direction of the barrel. Drum magazines are contrast ...

'' in 1980, winning a prize. Langa's success prompted his literary evolution to novel writing. In 1991, he became the first South African to be awarded an

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

Bursary for Creative Writing. Langa's diverse work includes penning an opera, ''Milestones'', with music composed by jazz musician

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...

. In 1999, ''Milestones'' was featured at the

Standard Bank Standard Bank Group Limited is a major South African bank and financial services group. It is Africa's biggest lender by assets. The company's corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is situated in Simmonds Street, Johannesburg. History ...

Festival in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

. His published books are ''Tenderness of Blood'' (1987), ''A Rainbow on a Paper Sky'' (1989), ''The Naked Song and Other Stories'' (1997), ''The Memory of Stones'' (2000), and ''The Lost Colours of the Chameleon'' (2008), which won the 2009

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

(Best Book in Africa). Head judge

Elinor Sisulu Elinor Sisulu (née Batezat; born 9 March 1958) is a South African writer and activist. Biography She was born Elinor Batezat in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) to Francis Batezat and Betty Stuhardt, who was the daughter of George S ...

said: "Langa deconstructs the inner workings of a mythical African state, laying bare the frailties of leaders too blinded by power to effectively confront the major challenges of their times."Khanyi Magubane
"Commonwealth nod to SA writer"
Media Club South Africa, 17 March 2009. . Langa appeared at the 2011 Paris Book Fair. He also be participated in the

Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a spa ...

's 2011 project ''

Sixty-Six Books ''Sixty-Six Books'' was a set of plays premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2011, to mark the theatre's reopening on a new site and the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. It drew its title from the 66 books of the Protestant Bibl ...

'' with a piece based upon a book of the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

. Langa was brought in to complete the follow-up volume to

's 1994 autobiography ''

Long Walk to Freedom ''Long Walk to Freedom'' is an autobiography credited to South African President Nelson Mandela. It was ghostwritten by Richard Stengel and first published in 1994 by Little Brown & Co. The book profiles his early life, coming of age, education ...

''. Based on Mandela's handwritten notes and a draft left unfinished when Mandela died in 2013, as well as archive material and interviews, '' Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years'' by Nelson Mandela and Mandla Langa, with a prologue by

Graça Machel Graça Machel (; née Simbine; , born 17 October 1945) is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former President of Mozambique Samora Machel (1975–1986) and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (1998– ...

, was published in 2017, its title taken from the closing sentence of ''Long Walk to Freedom'': "But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended."

Administrative positions

*Cultural Representative of the African National Congress (ANC) *July 2001–05: Chairperson of the first council of the

Independent Communications Authority of South Africa The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is an independent regulatory body of the South African government, established in 2000 by the ICASA Act to regulate both the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the publ ...

(ICASA) – (merging of the IBA and the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority - SARRA) *Chairman of Board at MultiChoice South Africa Currently Langa is serving on the following boards: *Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) *Foundation for Global Dialogue (FGD) *Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) *The

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

School for Economic Journalism *Trustee of the Nation's Trust *Trustee of the Read Educational Trust *Trustee of the South African Screen Writers' Laboratory (SCRAWL) *Director of Contemporary African Music and Arts (CAMA)

Media positions

*April 1999 – June 2000: Chairperson of the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Authorit ...

*Langa served as a columnist for the '' Sunday Independent'' *Vice-Chairperson of the successful

Africa '95 Africa '95 or Africa 95, styled as africa95, was a Britain-wide celebration of African music, art, dance and poetry that was held over several months during the last quarter of 1995, with more than 60 arts institutions throughout the UK participatin ...

exhibition season in London. *Served on the board of the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

(SABC) after his position as program director *Editor-at-large of ''Leadership Magazine''

Personal life

Langa has two daughters with his wife June Josephs. He has two brothers,

who served as South African Chief justice and Bheki W. J. Langa who is a diplomat.

Awards and honours

In 2007, Langa received South Africa’s National

Order of Ikhamanga The Order of Ikhamanga is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003 and is granted by the President of South Africa for achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sports (which were initially recognised b ...

(Silver) for literary, journalistic and cultural achievements, the citation specifying his "excellent contribution to the struggle against apartheid, achievements in the field of literature and journalism and contributing to post-apartheid South Africa through serving in different institutions". In February 2003, the

Pan African Writers' Association The Pan African Writers' Association (PAWA), founded in November 1989, is a Ghana-based cultural institution "born in the larger crucible of Pan Africanism" that is an umbrella body of writers' associations on the African continent and the Diaspora ...

(PAWA) featured Langa in an event promoting him as a distinguished South African writer: "An Evening with Mandla Langa".

Works

Fiction

*''The Lost Colours of the Chameleon''. Picador Africa, 2008, * – a collection exploring the nature of South African society after the end of

* *''A Rainbow on the Paper Sky''. Kliptown Books, 1989 *''Tenderness of Blood''. Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1987,

Non-fiction

* With Nelson Mandela, '' Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years'', Macmillan, 2017,

Collaborative works

*2006: ''Youth 2 Youth: 30 Years after Soweto ’76'' (Introduction by Mandla Langa, edited by George Hallett) *2004: ''Moving in Time: Images of Life in a Democratic South Africa'' (Introduction by Mandla Langa, edited by George Hallett) *2004: ''South Africa's Nobel Laureates: Peace, Literature and Science'' by

Kader Asmal Abdul Kader Asmal (8 October 1934 – 22 June 2011) was a South African politician. He was a professor of human rights at the University of the Western Cape, chairman of the council of the University of the North and vice-president of the A ...

, David Chidester, and Wilmot Godfrey James (Introduction by Mandla Langa)

Collections

*2004: Kader Asmal, David Chidester, and Wilmot Godfrey James (eds), ''South Africa's Nobel Laureates: Peace, Literature and Science'' — Introduction by Mandla Langa.

Jonathan Ball Publishers Media24 is the print media division of the South African media company Naspers. It controls Naspers' newspaper and magazine Southern African publishing and printing activities, including Internet publishing of the 24.com collection of web portal ...

, South Africa. *1997: Charles R. Larson (ed.), ''Under African Skies: Modern African Stories''.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

; paperback

Canongate Books Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner ''Life of Pi''. Canongate was n ...

, 2005. *1990: Elisa Segrave (ed.), ''Junky's Christmas, and other Yuletide Stories''.

Serpent's Tail Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Books ...

. *1990: Sarah LeFanu and Stephen Hayward (eds), '' Colours of a New Day: Writing for South Africa''.

Lawrence & Wishart Lawrence & Wishart is a British publishing company formerly associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. It was formed in 1936, through the merger of Martin Lawrence, the Communist Party's press, and Wishart Ltd, a family-owned Left-wing ...

Other

*''Milestones'' – musical opera in collaboration with the jazz musician

References

External links

@mandla_langa
Twitter *
"Mandla Langa and Uwem Akpan Win the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prizes – Africa Region"
''Books Live'', 11 March 2009.

''African Millionaire''.
"Mandla Langa"
KZN Literary Tourism.
"Profile Interview: Mandla Langa (Part 1)"
''Weekend Breakfast with Phemelo Motene'', 3 June 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Langa, Mandla South African male novelists South African poets South African male short story writers South African short story writers South African journalists University of Fort Hare alumni Living people Prisoners and detainees of South Africa 1950 births Writers from Durban Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga South African male poets 20th-century South African novelists 21st-century South African novelists