Date: 13 May 2022
Time: 18:00 SAST
Place: The Commune, 14 Reserve street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
The Commune invites you to an in-person launch of Can Themba The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi, a Biography by Siphiwo Mahala
Mahala, a master storyteller, deftly follows the threads of Themba’s dynamic life, showcasing his intellectual acumen, scholarly aptitude and wit, along with his flaws, contradictions and heartbreaks, against a backdrop of the sparkle and pathos of Sophiatown of the 1950s.
Author: Dr Siphiwo Mahala is a short story writer, novelist, playwright and literary critic. He is the founder and editor of Imbiza Journal for African Writing. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Johannesburg and a Senior Research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study.
Discussant: Sandile Ngidi is a freelance journalist, poet, playwright, literary translator and literary critic. Ngidi is currently studying at the University of Cape Town’s Department of Historical Studies. He is an associate of the Archive and Public Culture (APC) Research Initiative, and the Five Hundred Year Archive (FHYA).