South African Author shares Lessons after Winning Caine Prize
Prize-winning author Lidudumalingani Mqombothi has revealed he has learnt that listening is important and reading is essential. These are just some of the lessons the South African has gained on his journey as a writer. As reported by SAPeople.com, Mqombothi won the 17th annual Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story Memories We Lost earlier […]
Prize-winning author Lidudumalingani Mqombothi has revealed he has learnt that listening is important and reading is essential. These are just some of the lessons the South African has gained on his journey as a writer. As reported by SAPeople.com, Mqombothi won the 17th annual Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story Memories We Lost earlier this month.
Mqombothi believes he is a vessel, an instrument to tell precious stories.
When asked if Memories We Lost is an African story, he replies: “I do not know what that [African story] even means. It is important to tell stories that might appear African or even South African. We should not make the mistake of thinking our experiences are uniquely South African.”
Mqombothi received his prize, £10,000 (about R188,000) at a ceremony at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. He told BBC Africa that a conversation with a South African friend inspired him to write Memories We Lost.
“My friend was trying to write a series of poems about her father who has Alzheimer’s. That was two years ago. Since then I would find myself either reading or watching something about mental illness.”
Shortly thereafter, he says, the opportunity came to write a story about the illness.
Mqombothi, who grew up in the Zikhovane Village in the Eastern Cape, was in his early twenties when he started writing poetry. “I attended a poetry session and felt I could write better poems. I could not, but I continued writing and now here we are.”
He is also a photographer and a filmmaker. On 7 July, a few his images featured in the Real City of Cape Town Group Exhibition held in the Bo-Kaap.
Mqombothi says his influences include poets, novelists, essayists, photographers, filmmakers, and the everyday man.
“To narrow it down to a few would be an impossible and an unfair task. To amuse you, I will give you a few names: Ben Okri, Bessie Head, Dambudzo Marechera, Lewis Nkosi, Anne Michaels, Michael Ondaatje, Teju Cole, Junot Diaz, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Rachel Zadok and Zoe Wicomb.”
Watch Mqombothi talk about his experience as a writer in South Africa:
https://youtu.be/Xku67DkRsf4
Source: SouthAfrica.Info