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Here are 10 Recent Books from Black South African Women Writers That You Need to Read

These 10 powerful books by Black South African women writers offer a compelling lens on Black women’s complex realities and triumphs in today’s world.

Here are 10 Recent Books from Black South African Women Writers That You Need to Read

August, a month dedicated to celebrating the strength and resilience of women in South Africa, is an ideal time to highlight remarkable books by female authors in this selection that not only honors Women’s Month, but also showcases the powerful voices shaping South African literature, voices that explore themes of identity, resistance and empowerment in a world that often challenges their narratives.

From intergenerational tales to poetic explorations and incisive social critiques, these ten books present insightful stories that capture the diverse and dynamic realities of South African women today.

‘All Gomorrahs Are the Same’ by Thenjiwe Mswane, published 2021

An inter-generational tale told through the lens of three women, Makhosi, Makhosi’s mother Duduzile and Nonhlele, Makhosi’s sister. All Gomorrahs Are the Same explores themes of race, blackness, mental health, family, and womanhood in a world that’s not very kind to the Black woman’s lived experience. Shortlisted for the Sunday TimesLiterary Award and listed among Brittle Paper’s 50 Most Notable Books of 2021, this novel is a sprawling, deeply moving book that lingers with you.

‘We Have Everything We Need to Start Again’ by Koleka Putuma, published 2024

Books for Keeps describes We Have Everything We Need to Start Again as a “hopeful poetry collection growing up in today’s complex world,” and School Reading List calls it a “fresh, modern collection for both new and established poetry fans.” In this collection, award-winning poet and theater practitioner Putuma takes us on a transformative journey through poetry, guiding readers to reclaim their voice, embrace self-discovery and navigate the complexities of young adulthood with newfound clarity and strength.”

‘Black Racist Bitch: How social media reveals South Africa’s unfinished work on race’ by Thandiwe Ntshinga, published 2023

Ntshinga, a social researcher, media and communications professional, holds a masters in cultural anthropology and has studied critical whiteness for almost 8 years. In Black Racist Bitch – a title inspired by one of the earliest comments she received on social media when she shared the research and findings from her book, Ntshinga “pokes holes in the belief that leaving whiteness undisturbed for analysis creates justice and normalcy. Instead, she says perpetually studying the ‘other’ hinders our development.” Ntshinga argues that critical whiteness studies, an extension of critical race theory, is urgently needed in South Africa. Black Racist Bitch brilliantly challenges the notion that whiteness can remain unexamined, and is a must-read for those who care for and are deeply concerned with the intersections of Blackness and identity.

‘Reclaiming the Soil' by Rosie Motene, published 2018

Just as Matlwa’s debut novel Coconut explores the cultural confusion and identity crises that result in Black children raised in a white world, so too does Motene's book. In contrast, however, Reclaiming the Soil: A Black Girl's Struggle to Find Her African Self is instead a non-fictional and biographical account set during Apartheid South Africa. As a young Black girl, Motene is taken in by the Jewish family her mother works for. And while she is exposed to more opportunities than she would have had she remained with her Black parents, hers is a story of tremendous sacrifice and learning to rediscover herself in a world not meant for her.

‘Bantu Knots' by Lebo Mazibuko, published 2024

Bantu Knots tells the story of a complex mother-daughter relationship, and a coming-of-age journey that seamlessly interrogates identity, culture, womanhood and the push and pull of tradition and modernity. We follow young Naledi, the protagonist of the story as she forgives an absent father, grapples with the pressures of womanhood, and pursues her dreams regardless of her circumstance. A victorious debut, Bantu Knots raises meaningful questions and answers them.

‘Always Another Country’ by Sisonke Msimang, published 2017

Msimang’s memoir details her political awakening while abroad as well as her return to a South Africa on the cusp of democracy. Hers is not an ordinary account of Apartheid South Africa and its aftermath but rather a window into yet another side — the lives of South Africans living in exile and more so, what happens when they eventually return home. Admittedly, it’s an honest account of class and privilege. Msimang describes the tight-knit sense of community built between families who were in exile and acknowledges that many of them came back to South Africa with an education — something of which South Africans living in the country were systematically deprived. It is an important addition to the multitude of stories of Apartheid-era South Africa, the transition into democracy and the birth of the so-called “born-free” generation.

‘The Black Pimpernel: Nelson Mandela on the Run' by Zukiswa Wanner, published 2022

Wanner returns with this notable account of Apartheid South Africa in her fourth children’s book, after Jama Loves Bananas in 2011, Refilwe: An African Reimagining of Rapunzel in 2014, and Africa: A True Book in 2019.

Wanner’s father was a political exile and one of the early recruits in uMkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing that Nelson Mandela set up, and which is the subject of this book that chronicles Nelson Mandela’s clandestine period of evading capture by the apartheid regime. The Black Pimpernel illuminates his strategic maneuvers, clever disguises, and the vital support network that sheltered him as he orchestrated resistance. Through her portrayal of the peril and tension of Apartheid South Africa, Mandela’s bravery and the wider struggle for South Africa’s freedom is brilliantly brought to light.

'I Write the Yawning Void' by Sindiwe Magona, published 2023

Accomplished author Sindiwe Magona’s written works are inspired by her lived experience of being a Black woman resisting subjugation and poverty. After the triumph of her 2021 novel When the Village Sings, which explored the complexities of poverty, womanhood, humanity and tradition, Magona returned in 2023 with I Write the Yawning Void, a collection of selected essays that “bring to life many facets of Magona’s personal history as well as her deepest convictions, her love for her country and despair at the problems that continue to plague it, and her belief in her ability to activate change.”

A prominent fiction writer who now also commands the essay form, Magona through these selected essays, offers thought-provoking reflections on the issues that inspired her work.

'Rape: A South African Nightmare' by Professor Pumla Gqola, published 2015

\u200bBook cover: 'Rape: A South African Nightmare,' Amazon.

Book cover: 'Rape: A South African Nightmare,' Amazon.

This book is both brilliant in the way it unpacks the complex relationship that South Africa has with rape and distressing in the way this relationship is seen to unfold in reality. Rape is a scourge that South Africa has not been able to escape for years and the crisis only seems to be worsening. Written almost four years ago, Prof. Gqola's profound analysis of rape and rape culture as well as autonomy, entitlement and consent is still as relevant today as it was back then — both a literary feat and a tragedy. There can be no single answer to why South Africa is and remains the rape capital of the world, but Rape: A South African Nightmare, and its 2021 follow-up, The Female Fear Factory, is by far one of the best attempts thus far at investigating the intersection of women’s lived experiences and the patriarchal society.

‘Innards’ by Magogodi oaMphela Makhene, published 2023

Described as a “stunning Sowetan debut” by The Guardian, and by Kirkus Reviews as, “to read Makhene is to understand apartheid as a live, unhealed wound,” Makhene’s debut, a collection of interlinked short stories that touch on violence, apartheid, and colonization, follows the everyday lives of people living in suburban Soweto; an unrepentant, fake PhD; a girl who loses her voice after watching a human being burned alive; a woman reeling from the aftermath of police brutality, and a pair of twins embroiled in a fierce rivalry.

In her stories, Makhene pays homage to her roots, blending Afrikaans and South African English into her prose. Through the lives of her characters, she challenges us to confront the harsh reality and enduring impact of violence. Innards offers a raw and heartfelt portrayal of Black South Africa, and cements Makhene as a relevant voice in the contemporary fiction scene.

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