NONTSIZI MGQWETHO, the poet of the people (1919-1929)

127pp., paperback, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, 2025

ISBN: 9781869145873

Nontsizi Mgqwetho was the only known female contributor of poetry to the Johannesburg newspapers Umteteli wa Bantu and Abantu Batho in the 1920s. Her work engaged with the socio-political and spiritual condition of her people, especially land and cultural dispossession and the restoration of African selfhood.

"This book is a timely contribution towards enriching literary studies, cultural studies and historical studies. Thulani Mkhize places Nontsizi Mgqwetho in conversation with multiple genres and voices over time, which highlights the need for complex readings of black women's writing. She shows us that Mgqwetho was a philosopher-poet and political-poet, whose words have transcended time and space, like all great poets." Athambile Masola, Department of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town

Thulani Mkhize is a senior lecturer in English Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and co-editor of African Literature: Beyond the Western gaze. She was editor-in-chief of the South African Journal of African Languages from 2020 to 2023.