SINDIWE MAGONA

 

Sindiwe Magona

“In Africa – spiega – in particola modo per il mio popolo, i Xhosa, la parola ha una funzione terapeutica, cura le ferite, aiuta a rivivere i traumi del passato e a superarli. Per me scrittura e parola sono indissolubili, così tra i miei compiti c'è quello di aiutare a trovare le parole giuste per coloro che il dolore ha reso muti, oppure più semplicemente per le donne che non usano l'inglese per narrare i sentimenti."
 

1943 nasce a Transkei e studia per corrispondenza
1997 è stata accolta nella Foundation of Arts Yellow
1976 Tribunale Internazionale per i crimini contro le donne
1977 candidata a “Woman of the Year Award" e ha lavorato per molti anni all'ONU oggi vive a Città del Capo
1993 l’Hartwick College le ha assegnato un dottorato in Human Letters
1997 è stata accolta nella Foundation of Arts Fellow nella categoria non-fiction
Oggi vive a Città del Capo

"MOTHER TO MOTHER" comment:

Sindiwe Magona's novel Mother to Mother explores the South African legacy of apartheid through the lens of a woman who remembers a life marked by oppression and injustice. Magona decided to write this novel when she discovered that Fulbright Scholar Amy Biehl, who had been killed while working to organize the nation's first ever democratic elections in 1993, died just a few yards away from her own permanent residence in Guguletu, Capetown. She then learned that one of the boys held responsible for the killing was in fact her neighbor's son. Magona began to imagine how easily it might have been her own son caught up in the wave of violence that day. The book is based on this real-life incident, and takes the form of an epistle to Amy Biehl's mother. The murderer's mother, Mandisi, writes about her life, the life of her child, and the colonized society that not only allowed, but perpetuated violence against women and impoverished black South Africans under the reign of apartheid. The result is not an apology for the murder, but a beautifully written exploration of the society that bred such violence.