Mongane Wally Serote (born 8 May 1944) is a South African poet and writer. He became involved in political resistance to 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 ...

government by joining the

African National Congress 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 install ...

(ANC) and in 1969 was arrested and detained for several months without trial. He subsequently spent years in exile, working in

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 Kalaha ...

, and later London, England, for the ANC in their Arts and Culture Department, before eventually returning to South Africa in 1990. He was inaugurated as South Africa's National

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

in 2018.

Biography

Serote was born in

Sophiatown Sophiatown , also known as Sof'town or Kofifi, is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophiatown was a black cultural hub that was destroyed under apartheid, It produced some of South Africa's most famous writers, musicians, politicians a ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

, South Africa, and went to school in Alexandra, Lesotho, and

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

. He first became involved in the

Black Consciousness Movement The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Afri ...

when he was finishing high school in Soweto. His presence in that town linked him to a group known as the "township" or "Soweto" poets, and his poems often expressed themes of political activism, the development of black identity, and violent images of revolt and resistance. He was arrested by the

government under the Terrorism Act in June 1969 and spent nine months in solitary confinement, before being released without charge. He went to study in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, obtaining a Fine Arts degree at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. After contributing poems to various journals, in 1972 he published his first collection, ''Yakhal'Inkomo''. It won the Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize in 1973. He was a Fulbright Scholar and received a fine arts degree from Columbia University in 1979. He was not able to return to South Africa and he began a life in exile, living in

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

, Botswana, where he was involved in the Medu Art Ensemble, and in London, where he relocated in 1986 and worked for the ANC's Department of Arts and Culture. He returned to South Africa in 1990, after the ANC was unbanned. In 1993, he won the Noma Award for Publishing in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. In 2004, he received the Pablo Neruda award from the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an government. He has served as chair of the parliamentary select committee for arts and culture, and was also the CEO of Freedom Park, a national heritage site in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

opened in 2007.Freedom Park, Pretoria.
Retrieved 26 March 2018. He has founded a few NGOs, iIKSSA Trust where he is the Chairperson, IARI which he is also the CEO. He sits on a few advisory boards in the country dealing with Arts, Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and African Renaissance issues. In 2018, Serote was announced as the National Poet Laureate of South Africa, following the death of

Keorapetse Kgositsile Keorapetse William Kgositsile (19 September 1938 – 3 January 2018), also known by his pen name Bra Willie, was a South African Tswana poet, journalist and political activist. An influential member of the African National Congress in the 1960 ...

Awards

*1973 - Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize for the best debut collection in English *1993 - ''Third World Expres''s wins the Noma Award for publishing in Africa *2003 - The English Academy of Southern Africa Medal for contribution to the English language *2004 - Pablo Neruda Medal for Writing *2007 - The

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 ...

in Silver, awarded for "Excellent contribution to literature, with emphasis on poetry and for putting his artistic talents at the service of democracy in South Africa" *2008 - ''Third World Express'' selected for Africa Book Centre’s 100 Best Books of the Twentieth Century

Writings

Poetry *''Yakhal'inkomo'' (1972) *''Tsetlo'' (1974) *''No Baby Must Weep'' (1975) *''Behold Mama, Flowers'' (1978) *''The Night Keeps Winking'' (1982) *''A Tough Tale'' (1987) *''Third World Express'' (1992) *''Come and Hope With Me'' (1994) *''Freedom Lament and Song'' (1997) *''History is the Home Address'' (2004) Novels *''To Every Birth Its Blood'' (1981) *''Gods of Our Time'' (1999) *''Scatter the Ashes and Go'' (2002) Essays *''On the Horizon'' (1990)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serote, Mongane Wally 1944 births Living people South African poets Anti-apartheid activists People from Johannesburg South African male novelists Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath laureates Male poets 20th-century poets Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga South African chief executives 20th-century South African male writers 21st-century South African male writers Poets laureate Fulbright alumni

Biography

Awards

Writings

See also

References