Celebrating Sindiwe Magona, a gift to the nation

Manifesting the worth of Sindiwe Magona’s life in writing, aside from armfuls of local and international awards including the Order of Ikhamanga and official title of Living Legend, are two books freshly published in honour of her birthday on Sunday 27 August.

The first, I Write the Yawning Void (Wits University Press), is a selection of 14 of Magona’s essays, pieces that “bring to life the various facets that feed into her analytical process: her personal history, her self-awareness, her deepest convictions, her keen sense of people and of human motivation, her love for her country, her despair at its current state, her hope for its betterment, and the belief in her ability to activate change”. Bookended by an introduction and a conclusion that pays tribute to “those who came before me”, they cover how she came to writing, issues about which she writes and “writing about my writing”.

Associate professor at Georgia State University Renée Schatteman was the doula who helped birth this book and who earlier this year organised a Sindiwe Magona Scholarly Conference at her US institute. She says of Magona: “Having published four novels, two collections of short stories, two autobiographies, three biographies, four plays, one collection of poetry, some 30 essays and over 130 children’s books ... her writings engage with pressing issues at the heart of South African society, on themes related to race, gender, language and tradition.” On children’s writing, Magona declares this is what gives her most joy, second only to telling stories to little ones face to face — at their level.

Paradoxically, other characteristics of her work and words are humility and honesty. In a poem called simply Statement in a 2009 anthology titled Please Take Photographs, she writes: “I come to writing with no great learning / Except my life and the life of the people / Of whom I am a part. For centuries / Others have written about us / I write to change that / Instead of moaning about it.” She writes quite literally to fill what she calls “the yawning void”.

But despite being at ease in so many genres (after a more than 30-year literary career and four honorary degrees, at age 79 this Living Legend earned herself “her own” PhD in Creative Writing at the University of the Western Cape), Magona warms to the essay as a vehicle. “There is something emotionally satisfying for me in putting my thoughts down ... a writer says what she has to say on a specific topic and within a short space of time, it’s done.” Another recognisable feature of her work is how clearly her voice comes across — and anyone who has heard her speak will know that it’s a voice that packs a punch. 

And it’s the punch she packs in life as well as in writing that brought about the second book, Sindiwe’s Gift (Karavan Press). The title was inspired by one of her provocative novels, Beauty’s Gift, a work that focuses on a young woman who dies as a result of HIV/Aids. It’s what’s known as a Festschrift, a book honouring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. So this is the book that honours the woman in her 80th year. More than 30 people — friends, family, colleagues of all ages and backgrounds — among them Mamphela Ramphele, Elinor Sisulu, Zubeida Jaffer and Antjie Krog, have reflected on what Sindiwe means to them. The pieces speak volumes about her range, from sharing her love, her learning, inimitable sense of humour, care, energy, support, time and commitment. And her parenting. It was her daughter Thokozile Sayedwa who initiated this book and her contribution is the stuff of tears.

It's very easy to be magnanimous when you have much to give, but Sindiwe hasn’t always had much. Born in 1943, the eldest of eight children in the tiny town of Gungululu in the Eastern Cape; raised in Gugulethu; left by her husband at the age of 23, with a third child; she fought for every moment of the education that took her from domestic worker to teacher, to a 20-year career with the UN in New York — but that’s another story. It would be no exaggeration, then, to say Sindiwe Magona is a self-made woman. If you’ve not read any of her work, start with her brace of autobiographies, To My Children’s Children and Forced to Grow, work your way through the rest — but make sure to read these last two books. One may make you want to be a better writer; the other will certainly make you want to be a better person.

Click here to buy the book