HELD: Portrait of the Black Family, a memoir

176pp., paperback, Tafelberg, Cape Town, 2026

ISBN: 9780624096719

In her memoir Lulama Mali reflects on what it means to be held - by grief, by history, by love - and what happens when the truths that bind us unravel.

She traces three generations of her family, from the Cape Town neighbourhood of Wittebome, erased by apartheid forced removals, to the Native Yards of Gugulethu. Raised by her grandparents in a house where politics coexisted with the intimate daily rhythms of township life, her story is also the story of her mother, Nokhephu, who she believed had died in a tragic accident. The discovery that the sister she thought she had was in fact her mother turned her world upside down, reshaping her understanding of love, belonging, and survival.

Lulama Mali is a writer, cultural worker and music industry professional, and the Founding Managing Director of RoundSquare Management & Consultancy.