A sit-down with a prolific writer in Melville
To launch her latest book, Sindiwe Magona sat down with her fans at local bookshop, Book Circle Capital.
On one recent Saturday morning, book lovers had the pleasure of spending time with South African writer Sindiwe Magona.
Appreciators of her work gathered at Melville-based 27 Boxes where her book, I Write the Yawning Void, was launched at Book Circle Capital.
In a sit-down with the bookstore owner, Sewela Langeni, Magona shared insight into the book which is a selection of essays that look at what it was like being a writer during and post-apartheid. “I love essays; I love to read them and I love to write them, and once you read them, you will love them,” Magona said emphatically.
Speaking on its title, she expressed that in our country there is a lot that still goes unspoken, and until we boldly speak of these in positive relation, we will not be all we can be. The ‘void’ is a call to wake up, and deal with issues, in honesty, intent, love and kindness. To her, a void is not necessarily indicative of the absence of something but rather the need for it, whatever it may be.
Magona has written autobiographies, novels, children’s books and poems. She compares writing to breathing, as the act of it is done unconsciously. “Reading, for me is the gateway to writing. Though I am not saying you won’t write if you don’t read – reading gives you a better chance to become the best writer you can be.”
She and Langeni spoke on the various chapters of the book – and one of them called, ‘we are all racists’. In this chapter, the writer made a distinction between being racist and racialist. When speaking to the audience she explained that as human beings we are able to see; we are also able to note the difference in another’s skin colour. Making it obvious, the difference between one another makes one ‘racist’.
“Seeing a difference in colour means absolutely nothing. But if you take that to mean anything else outside of that then that is racialism.” She described a racialist as someone who looks at another’s skin colour as bad or less than themselves and this is wrong.
Once the pair was done with their question-and-answer segment, it was open to the audience to ask Magona questions which they quite enjoyed.
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