SEZELA, a season in the sun

319pp., paperback, Micromega Publications, Durban, 2025

A novel about growing up in Sezela, a coastal sugar-cane village in KwaZulu-Natal, in the 1970s.

"There are several things about this novel that make it stand apart from the novellas that have merged in post-plantation KwaZulu-Natal ... Thathiah makes a convincing case for the centrality of small town, barrack-based (or partly-based) culture in experiencing the past of indenture ... And if you’re looking for a good re-living of young love amidst an epigraphic background of song verses from the sixties and seventies, this novel is for you." Rajend Mesthrie, Emeritus Professor (UCT), from his foreword

Visual artist and academic Professor Kiren Thathiah was born in Durban and moved with his family to Sezela in his mid-teens. He studied fine art at the University of Durban-Westville (UDW), the university open to the Indian community during apartheid, and went on to teach fine art and history of art at the institution. He left UDW to head the Department of Visual Arts and Design at Vaal University of Technology, and later worked as a research associate at the University of Johannesburg.