Bücher von Sindiwe Magona

Sindiwe Magona's novel Mother to Mother explores the South African legacy of apartheid through the lens of a woman who remembers a life marked by oppression and injustice. Magona decided to write this novel when she discovered that Fulbright Scholar Amy Biehl, who had been killed while working to organize the nation's first ever democratic elections in 1993, died just a few yards away from her own permanent residence in Guguletu, Capetown. She then learned that one of the boys held responsible for the killing was in fact her neighbor's son. Magona began to imagine how easily it might have been her own son caught up in the wave of violence that day. The book is based on this real-life incident, and takes the form of an epistle to Amy Biehl's mother. The murderer's mother, Mandisi, writes about her life, the life of her child, and the colonized society that not only allowed, but perpetuated violence against women and impoverished black South Africans under the reign of apartheid. The result is not an apology for the murder, but a beautifully written exploration of the society that bred such violence.

1993, in der Spätphase des südafrikanischen Apartheid-Regimes, erschüttert ein grausames Verbrechen die Township Gugulethu bei Kapstadt: Eine weiße Austauschstudentin wird von einer Gruppe junger Schwarzer ermordet, die in ihrem Hass unterschiedslos alle Weißen für die Unterdrückung und Perspektivlosigkeit verantwortlich machen, mit der sie tagtäglich konfrontiert sind. Sindiwe Magonas aufrüttelnder Roman beleuchtet die Hintergründe der Tat. In Form eines fiktiven Briefes der Mutter eines der Täter an die Mutter des Opfers beschreibt sie den Teufelskreis aus Armut, fehlender Bildung, Polizeigewalt und Kriminalität, der das Leben der Schwarzen in Südafrika von frühester Kindheit an prägt. Der Mord soll damit nicht entschuldigt oder gar gerechtfertigt werden. Im Gegenteil: Mother to Mother zeigt auf eindringliche Weise, dass Rassismus die Spirale von Hass und Gewalt immer weiter antreibt - und zwar auf beiden Seiten.

The Five Firm Friends - Edith, Cordelia, Amanda, Doris and Beauty - are five sassy career women who confront life head-on. But when Beauty suddenly becomes ill and, after six short weeks, passes away, their world is thrown into confusion.

Sindiwe Magona's poems conspire with her. Even years after being written, they still seem warm from her lips, and it is this residue of her telling them that draws you into their confidence. From the languid innocence of the poems about her village, to her shattering images of Africa at war, Magona leads you headlong into her fireside circle where archetypes flicker like shadows on a face that has seen, and been. Please, Take Photographs is defiant and tender, horrific and homely, at once irreverent, outspoken and beautiful.