Xhosa literature is the spoken and written literature of the

Xhosa people The Xhosa people, or Xhosa language, Xhosa-speaking people (; ) are African people who are direct kinsmen of Tswana people, Sotho people and Twa people, yet are narrowly sub grouped by European as Nguni people, Nguni ethnic group whose traditi ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. The

Xhosa language Xhosa (, ) also isiXhosa as an endonym, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8.2 million people and by another 11 million as a second ...

is spoken in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

20th-century literature

Poet and teacher

St John Page Yako St John Page Yako (19011977) was a Qokolweni-born Xhosa poet and professor of Xhosa literature Xhosa literature is the spoken and written literature of the Xhosa people of Southern Africa. The Xhosa language is spoken in South Africa and Zimbabwe. ...

wrote poetry using motifs derived from oral literature to describe the consequences of disastrous land politics of mid-century South Africa.

Notable poets

Sipho Burns-Ncamashe Sipho Mangindi Burns-Ncamashe ''Aa! Zilimbola!'' (1920–1996) was a South African poet, short story writer and Xhosa ''imbongi'' (praise poet). He was also the chief of the AmaGwali Xhosa sub-group in Alice. He was also the leader of the Ciskei Na ...

William Wellington Gqoba William Wellington Gqoba (August 1840 – 26 April 1888) was a South African Xhosa people, Xhosa poet, translator, and journalist. He was a major nineteenth-century Xhosa writer, whose relatively short life saw him working as a wagonmaker, a cler ...

Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi (S. E. K. Mqhayi, 1 December 1875 – 29 July 1945) was a Xhosa people, Xhosa dramatist, essayist, critic, novelist, historian, biographer, Translation, translator and poet whose works are regarded as instrumental ...

Enoch Sontonga Enoch Mankayi Sontonga ( – 18 April 1905) was a South African composer, who is best known for writing the Xhosa hymn "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (), which, in abbreviated version, has been sung as the first half of the national anthem of South ...

References

{{reflist Literature by ethnicity

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...