Mzi Mahola

Mzi Mahola is a South African writer, author and poet. He was born on 12 February 1949, in Claremont near Durban. He grew up between Lushington near Seymour and Port Elizabeth, living the Eastern Cape as Mzikayise Winston Mahola. Mzi Mahola is his nom de plume.

Mzi Mahola started writing poetry by 1969 at Healdtown Training College. In the 1970s he became a member of Black Consciousness Movement BCM and joined Isihlobo, a non-racial youth group. He was detained and interrogated for his political activities and writings. The Special Branch confiscated his first poetry manuscript in August 1975 and he lost interest in writing for three years until he joined COSAW Congress of South African Writers. From that period since writing again, he submitting work successfully to national and international journals, magazines and publications. His work has been published in poems featuring other poets, twenty-eight anthologies. Selections of his work translated to Danish, German, Turkish and Malayan languages.

Books

His first book with poems is titled 'Strange Things' and was published in 1994 by Snail Press. This volume received positive reviewing and was amongst those selected to represent South Africa in Geneva in a World Book Fair in 1995. There was interest in translating the book into German and Danish, but this has not materialized to date.

His second anthology 'When Rain Comes' was published in 2000 by Carapace and won the Olive Schreiner Prize. Wits English Academy for South Africa voted the volume, Best English Poetry Book in South Africa for the period 2000 and 2001.

In 2006 his third volume Dancing in the Rain an issue published by University of KwaZulu Natal UKZN Press.

 

Novel

His first novel is titled Dancing with Hyenas, an autobiography published in 2017 by Ilitha Publishers.

He has produced four plays At the moment he is editing and finalizing publishing his sold out of stock collections revamped as well as his second semi-biographical novel from 'Dancing with Hyenas' on digital streams.

He has presented papers and given speeches at the National Arts Festival and at other venues for school children. He gives poetry readings for University groups and community projects. Now and then he runs poetry workshops around the Province for interested groups of writers.

He has initiated poetry workshops that cater for learners in his and neighborhood libraries, Zwide Library. With the support of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, workshop participants have published example an anthology entitled Umthombo (Xhosa word for 'The Fountain').