NO MATTER WHEN, translated from isiZulu by Nkosinathi Sithole

168pp., paperback, First English Language Edition, Cape Town, 2018

"This book forms part of a series of eight texts and a larger translation endeavour undertaken by the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR) at the University of the Western Cape."

Originally published in isiZulu in 1935 as Noma Nini. This translation is of the fourth edition published in 1962.

"Noma Nini is a foundational text in the history of the African novel, a fact that its welcome translation will definitely impress upon a larger readership. Decades before the nationalist prose of the '60s and in an African language and a style that wove orature into its form, Vilakazi courageously and insightfully grappled with the complicated themes that flowed from the encroachments of Christianity, colonialism and industrialisation in South Africa. The narrative is a deft and evocative meditation on the pleasures, tensions and contradictions that confronted African converts and intellectuals. The politics of change, race, culture, gender and identity are front-and-centre in the text and invite further reflection from contemporary readers." Professor Bhekizizwe Peterson, Professor of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand