Barbara Makhalisa

Barbara Makhalisa (born 1949),[1] also known by her married name as Barbara Nkala, is a Zimbabwean writer, editor and publisher, one of the earliest female writers published in Zimbabwe.[2] She is the author of several books written in Ndebele, as well as in English,[3] of which some have been used as school textbooks.[4]

Biography

Barbara Clara Makhalisa was born in Zimbabwe, and studied at Gweru Teachers' College, majoring in English.[3][5] Her writing career began when she won a national competition with her first book, Qilindini, a detective thriller written in Ndebele,[6] at which time she was only the second female writer in Ndebele.[7] Her second book, the Ndebele novel Umendo ("Marriage Is A Gamble", 1977, Mambo Press, 1977), is considered a classic.[8] She has said: "I feel people should write in their mother tongue.... Our whole culture is stored in language, and literature is the storehouse for culture."[6]

Her writing in English includes The Underdog and Other Stories (Mambo Press, 1984) and Eva's Song: A Collection of Short Stories (Harper Collins, 1996). Her story "Different Values" appears in Margaret Busby's 1992 anthology Daughters of Africa.

Also an editor,[9] who formerly worked for the publishers Longman, she now runs a company called Radiant Publishing House,[2] and primarily produces work in Ndebele[10] in order to make a contribution to the "growth of Ndebele language".[11]

In 2015 she received an honorary degree from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo.[4]

Selected bibliography

Fiction

  • Qilindini (Ndebele, novel), 1969
  • Umendo (Ndebele, novel), 1977
  • Umhlaba lo! (What a world!; Ndebele, 1977
  • The Underdog and Other Stories, Mambo Press, 1984 ( ISBN 978-0869223345)
  • Impilo Vinkinga, 1984
  • Eva's Song, Harper Collins, 1996 ( ISBN 978-1779040114)

As editor

  • Rainbow After a Storm: Stories of Loss, Grief & Healing, Radiant, 2008

References

  1. ↑ Emmanuel Chiwome, "Makhakisa, Barbara", in Simon Gikandi (ed.), Encyclopedia of African Literature, Routledge, 2003, pp. 432–433.
  2. 1 2 "Nkala: A loved elder of literature", The Herald (Zimbabwe), 1 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 Margaret Busby (ed.), Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent (Jonathan Cape, 1992), pp. 618–21, 993.
  4. 1 2 Pamela Shumba, "President caps 2,388 at Nust", Chronicle, 14 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "Barbara Makhalisa" at Reading Zimbabwe.
  6. 1 2 Casey Kelso, "If it's written in English, is it really African literature?", Institute of Current World Affairs, 15 September 1992, p. 2.
  7. ↑ C. M. Sileya, "Book Reviews", Michigan State University, African e-Journals Project, p. 100.
  8. ↑ Joyce Jenje Makwenda, "How women have stormed the literary world", The Patriot, 23 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "Bereaved ones to get solace from book", ZBC, 30 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "Thaph’ uluju!", kwaChirere, 21 October 2010.
  11. ↑ "Writer encourages preservation of Ndebele language", NewsDay, 26 September 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.