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VIGNETTES OF A PEOPLE IN AN APARTHEID STATE
In May 2023, South African author Zukiswa Wanner was a guest
of the Palestine Festival of Literature. Coming from a country
with a history of apartheid, she should have had an inkling of
what to expect but her experiences were more than she had
bargained for. As Palestinians are not always permitted to travel
across checkpoints, Palestine Festival of Literature brought her
and other festival participants to different parts of the Palestinian
territories (glorified bantustans) for literary engagement with
audiences. Vignettes is her witness account of contemporary
settler colonialism, genocide and a world that’s damned by its
refusal to see or hear the pleas for a truly free Palestine.
of the Palestine Festival of Literature. Coming from a country
with a history of apartheid, she should have had an inkling of
what to expect but her experiences were more than she had
bargained for. As Palestinians are not always permitted to travel
across checkpoints, Palestine Festival of Literature brought her
and other festival participants to different parts of the Palestinian
territories (glorified bantustans) for literary engagement with
audiences. Vignettes is her witness account of contemporary
settler colonialism, genocide and a world that’s damned by its
refusal to see or hear the pleas for a truly free Palestine.
38 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2023
21 people want to read
About the author
Zukiswa Wanner
28 books83 followersBorn to a South African father and a Zimbabwean mother in Zambia, Zukiswa Wanner is the author of the novels The Madams (2006), Behind Every Successful Man (2008), Commonwealth and Herman Charles Bosman Award shortlisted Men of the South (2010). Her two children’s books Jama Loves Bananas and Refilwe will be out in October this year.
As an essayist she has written The Politics of Race, Class, and Identity in Education http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/3429/...
and 2011 Mail & Guardian’s book of Women Introductory essay , Being a Woman in South Africa http://bow2011.mg.co.za/essays/on-bei....
She co-edited Outcasts – a collection of short stories from Africa and Asia with Indian writer Rohini Chowdhury in 2012. Wanner is one of 66 writers in the world (with Wole Soyinka, Jeanette Winterson, and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, among others) to write a contemporary response to the Bible. The works were staged in London theatres and at Westminister Abbey in October 2011. 66 Books: 21st Century Writers Speak to the King James Version Bible’s proceeds benefit disadvantaged art students.
Wanner co-authored A Prisoner’s Home (2010), a biography on the first Mandela house 8115 Vilakazi Street with award-winning South African photographer Alf Kumalo as well as L’Esprit du Sport (2010) with French photographer Amelie Debray.
She is the founder of ReadSA - a writer-initiated campaign to get South Africans reading more African literature with a particular emphasis on donating locally-written books to school libraries (and where unavailable, start libraries) and was in the inaugural writing team for first South African radio soapie in English, SAFM’s Radio Vuka.
She has been a regular participant at the prime literary events in South Africa, Time of the Writer, Franschhoek Literary Festival and Cape Town Book Fair and has also participated in literary festivals in England (London Book Fair), Denmark, Germany (BIGSAS Festival of African Literature), Zimbabwe (Intwasa Arts Festival), Algeria (Algiers Book Fair), Norway and Ghana (Pan African Literary Festival). In addition to this, she has conducted workshops for young writers in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Denmark, Germany and Western Kenya.
Wanner has contributed articles to Observer, Forbes Africa, New Statesman, O, Elle, The Guardian, Africa Review, Mail & Guardian, Marie Claire, Real, Juice, Afropolitan, OpenSpace, Wordsetc, Baobab, Sunday Independent, City Press, & Sunday Times.
As an essayist she has written The Politics of Race, Class, and Identity in Education http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/3429/...
and 2011 Mail & Guardian’s book of Women Introductory essay , Being a Woman in South Africa http://bow2011.mg.co.za/essays/on-bei....
She co-edited Outcasts – a collection of short stories from Africa and Asia with Indian writer Rohini Chowdhury in 2012. Wanner is one of 66 writers in the world (with Wole Soyinka, Jeanette Winterson, and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, among others) to write a contemporary response to the Bible. The works were staged in London theatres and at Westminister Abbey in October 2011. 66 Books: 21st Century Writers Speak to the King James Version Bible’s proceeds benefit disadvantaged art students.
Wanner co-authored A Prisoner’s Home (2010), a biography on the first Mandela house 8115 Vilakazi Street with award-winning South African photographer Alf Kumalo as well as L’Esprit du Sport (2010) with French photographer Amelie Debray.
She is the founder of ReadSA - a writer-initiated campaign to get South Africans reading more African literature with a particular emphasis on donating locally-written books to school libraries (and where unavailable, start libraries) and was in the inaugural writing team for first South African radio soapie in English, SAFM’s Radio Vuka.
She has been a regular participant at the prime literary events in South Africa, Time of the Writer, Franschhoek Literary Festival and Cape Town Book Fair and has also participated in literary festivals in England (London Book Fair), Denmark, Germany (BIGSAS Festival of African Literature), Zimbabwe (Intwasa Arts Festival), Algeria (Algiers Book Fair), Norway and Ghana (Pan African Literary Festival). In addition to this, she has conducted workshops for young writers in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Denmark, Germany and Western Kenya.
Wanner has contributed articles to Observer, Forbes Africa, New Statesman, O, Elle, The Guardian, Africa Review, Mail & Guardian, Marie Claire, Real, Juice, Afropolitan, OpenSpace, Wordsetc, Baobab, Sunday Independent, City Press, & Sunday Times.
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November 21, 2023
In this chilling first hand account of her trip to Palestine, Zukiswa Wanner brilliantly captures the true reality and plight of the Palestinian people, and almost unbelievably realizes how similar it is to the South Africa that she grew up in. So similar, in fact that she realizes how many South African non-Jew whites have converted to Judaism just to experience the joys of apartheid and racism. This came as a surprise to me and changed the entire narrative that Western media has sold to us all. A must read!
Displaying 1 of 1 review