Books: Intruders and If You Keep Digging
South African Authors
Consider this a celebration of South African literature! For Daily Dose 167, I shared a quote from Reflecting Rogue: Inside the mind of a feminist, by.South African feminist scholar and one of my favourite people, Pumla Dineo Gqola. Read Pumla!
Here are reviews and recommendations of short story collections by two other South African women authors.
Intruders, Mohale Mashigo
I loved this collection of short stories! I'm a fan of several South African authors, some of whom I've had the pleasure of meeting. I first met Mohale at the Ake and Arts and Book Festival in Nigeria, which is the biggest arts festival on the African continent and again at Abantu Festival in Soweto, South Africa.
With her voice in my mind, I relished Intruders. Especially when she makes it clear in the introductory note: “I’m not a fan of dystopia (though sometimes it feels like we are living it) nor am I a believer in utopia; but I do believe that there is a place in between the two where South Africans are able to live in a future that is free from white supremacy (please don’t argue with me; I’m not interested in your reverse racism fallacy) and poverty.”
She tells us “There are stories that take place in the future but cannot be called Afrofuturism because (I am of the opinion) Afrofuturism is not for Africans living in Africa.” And explains why. And then you read the stories and you understand exactly what she means.
Anyone who knows me will understand why The High Heel Killer is my favourite of these brilliantly executed tales. Especially when its protagonist declares “I am a monster. A beautiful monster with wings and no fear for the first time in my life.”
Read this!
If You Keep Digging, Keletso Mopai
This is a wonderful debut collection of short stories by South African author Keletso Mopai, who I met in Soweto at Abantu Book Fest in 2019. Published by a press that was launched to highlight Black authors in the white-dominated publishing world of South Africa, Mopai’s stories draw us into the lives of South Africans--from a lesbian couple trying to survive homophobia, to an albino woman in love--and insists on staring down misogynist violence in many forms--from sex-for-grades abuse on college campuses to the ways patriarchal societies pit women against each other to the ways such patriarchy limits men’s lives too.
I bought If You Keep Digging in Lagos at Ake Arts and Book Festival in Nigeria after the festival bookshop staff enthusiastically recommended it. There has always been exciting art and literature from the continent and I am grateful to have met and read so many of my fellow African authors at these exciting festivals--Ake is the biggest arts festival in Africa--and thrilled to see young and brilliant authors emerging.
I want to read more by Keketso Mopai. She is a superb storyteller and I’m eager to see what she does next.
Mona Eltahawy is a feminist author, commentator and disruptor of patriarchy. Her new book, an anthology on menopause called Bloody Hell!: Adventures in Menopause from Around the World, will be published March 5, 2025. Her first book Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution (2015) targeted patriarchy in the Middle East and North Africa and her second The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls (2019) took her disruption worldwide. It is now available in Ireland and the UK. Her commentary has appeared in media around the world and she makes video essays and writes a newsletter as FEMINIST GIANT.
I appreciate your support. If you like this piece and you want to further support my writing, you can like/comment below, forward this article to others, or send a gift subscription to someone else today.
I have read Intruders and it was wonderful.