THE EARLY WRITINGS OF ALEX LA GUMA, reflections on 'Cultcha', identity and freedom in the 1950s and 1960s

264pp., illus., paperback, Best Red, Cape Town, 2025

ISBN: 9781928246718

Includes a selection of South African novelist Alex La Guma's early journalism and short stories, providing insight into his development as a serious writer as well as into South African life and politics during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Alex La Guma (1925-1985) was born in District Six. He was a leader of the South African Coloured People's Organisation (SACPO), a member of the South African Communist Party, and a defendant in the 1956 Treason Trial. He left South Africa for the UK in 1966 and spent the rest of his life in exile. He was chief representative of the African National Congress in the Caribbean and was living in Havana when he died. His novels include A Walk in the Night, In the Fog of the Seasons' End and Time of the Butcherbird.

André Odendaal is Vice Chancellor's Writer in Residence and Honorary Professor of History and Heritage Studies at the University of the Western Cape. His books include Dear Comrade President: Oliver Tambo and the Foundations of South Africa’s Constitution and Vukani Bantu! The Beginnings of Black Protest Politics in South Africa to 1912.

Roger Field is a senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape.