Songeziwe on song

There is a new name on song in the African literary square. It is Songeziwe Mahlangu the 27 year old South African debut novelist who last weekend clinched the Etisalat Prize for Literature for his novel Penumbra.The prize comes with a 15,000 pound sterling cheque and a residency in the University of East Anglia, something […]

There is a new name on song in the African literary square. It is Songeziwe Mahlangu the 27 year old South African debut novelist who last weekend clinched the Etisalat Prize for Literature for his novel Penumbra.
The prize comes with a 15,000 pound sterling cheque and a residency in the University of East Anglia, something Mahlangu, who works in an accounting firm, will relish since he is, by his own admission, a slow writer.
When in a writing mode, he tax himself to write 500 words a day and having dabbled into poetry, without succeeding in publishing any, he wrote the manuscript for his novel as part of his MA in Creative Writing at Rhodes University.
“Penumbra was quite easy to publish,” he said in an interview with LS Bikitsha of the Institute for the Study of English in Africa.
The manuscript was picked up by South Africa’s Kwela Books and it was shortlisted for the 2014 Sunday Times Literary Awards. That was a good omen for the Etisalat nod which has now propelled Mahlangu’s name into the reckoning of book lovers continent wide.
The announcement was made at the weekend in Lagos at a grand night that drew the many stars on the literary firmament including Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, the president of the Association of Nigeria Authors, Professor Remi Raji poet Odia Ofeinum and many other writers.
Writing novels are a challenge for Mahlangu, who has been described as a man of few words.
“I find coming up with an interesting plot very difficult, but writing verse is not as challenging. I’m not that kind of writer who focuses on plot-driven stories,” he had said in that interview.
So for his first novel, he chose the easy route, if one considers writing about one’s mental challenges easy, and wrote a semi-autobiographical novel that drew from his personal experience of domestic violence, his grapple with faith and mental breakdown.
He admitted at a pre-award event that Mongoliso, the lead character in the novel, is modeled after himself. So it is a very personal story for the young writer.
The reviews of Penumbra haven’t been great, and it seems certain now that those reviewers, who dished on the flatness of the characters and the lack of punch and ultimately unremarkable prose, must be surprised to find it winning the Etisalat Prize.
For competition, Mahlangu had fellow South African Nadia Davids’ An Imperfect Blessing and Chinelo Okparanta’s short story collection Happiness Like Water.
Some may argue that it is unfair to throw a short story collection in the hat with full length novels and that ultimately may be Okparanta’s undoing in this case.
But For Mahlangu, it is a validation of his work and has given him the impetus to go write some more. He plans to use the prize money to fund his writing life for the next couple of years. And of course the residency in East Anglia will be a good starting place.
“I would like to write as soon as I have enough time for it. And then again it will depend on whether there are any publishers interested in publishing the work,” he said.
While he may be keen to write about other things, apart from his self, social issues appeal to him but one that doesn’t is race.
“I’m not really into race, to be honest. I suppose I just don’t think about it that much. Maybe I have other preoccupations,” he said.
Whatever Mahlungu decides to write about, he now has a lot more expectations on his shoulders and there will be people waiting to see how he justifies winning the prize.