About the book:

Sometimes there is a Void is a remarkable record of the life of award-winning novelist and playwright Zakes Mda. But who, really, is this multi-talented man? And how did he come to achieve recognition in so many different creative spheres? Sometimes there is a Void, a disarmingly candid account of the life of  Zakes Mda, provides us with some answers.

In this memoir Mda weaves together past and present to give an intensely personal story of his development in life, in love and in learning, and the events and people who shaped him. Forced to follow his father, PAC ‘founding spirit’ A P Mda, into exile in Lesotho (then still Basutoland) at the age of fourteen, Zakes initially finds freedom from close parental discipline irresistible and becomes a frequenter of shebeens and an exponent of fast living, but he also becomes politicised during this time. 

We are given a fascinating insight into the growth and development of both the PAC and the ANC in exile, as well as contemporary social history. Always outspoken, Mda has been a frank commentator on the social and political scene in South Africa and has made a number of  powerful people unhappy with his views.

Although he ‘resisted the centre’ and ‘stayed on the periphery’ and sees himself as an ‘outsider’ who has been sidelined in many aspects of his country’s society, his contribution to the social and cultural advancement of his fellow South Africans remains undiminished.

This vigorous and vibrant account of his life is enriched by Mda’s astute perceptions, his wry humour and his ability to engage with his reader on a very personal level.

PUB DATE: April 2011
TITLE: Sometimes there is a Void
ISBN: 9780143527442
PRICE: R260

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda, better known as Zakes Mda, is an award-winning South African playwright and novelist whose work is published throughout the world. He is also an accomplished artist, a musician, a film maker and a beekeeper. And as a professor of creative writing at Ohio University, he is an internationally acknowledged scholar. Cape Town based journalists can interview Zakes Mda at the Franschhoek Literary Festival from 13 – 15 May.

Zakes Mda will tour JHB from 16 – 19 May.

To schedule an interview and/or event with Zakes Mda, or request a review and/or give-away copies,
contact Candice Wiggett on 011 327 3550 orCandice.Wiggett@za.penguingroup.com [1]