THE BROKEN RIVER TENT

309pp., paperback, Johannesburg, 2018

A novel about the life and times of Maqoma, the Xhosa chief who was at the forefront of fighting British colonialism in the Eastern Cape in the 19th century. The story is told through the eyes of a young Xhosa man who is visited by Maqoma in visions and is able to talk to him about cultural history, literature, religion, the past and contemporary South African life.

Mphuthumi Ntabeni lives in Cape Town. He writes a column in Southern Cross, a national weekly Catholic newspaper. He has written two plays about Maqoma that were staged at the 2006 Grahamstown Arts Festival.