Writing Home

Lewis Nkosis insights into South African literature, culture and society first appeared in the 1950s, when the `new urban African in Sophiatown and on Drum magazine mockingly opposed then Prime Minister H.F. Verwoerds Bantu retribalisation policies. Before his death in 2010, Nkosi focused on the literary-cultural challenges of post-Mandela times. Having lived for 40 years in exile, he returned to South Africa, intermittently, after the unbannings of 1990. His critical eye, however, never for long left the home scene. Hence, the title of this selection of his articles, essays and reviews, Writing Home. Writing home with wit, irony and moral toughness Nkosi assesses a range of leading writers, including Herman Charles Bosman, Breyten Breytenbach, J.M. Coetzee, Athol Fugard, Nadine Gordimer, Bessie Head, Alex La Guma, Bloke Modisane, Eskia Mphahlele, Nat Nakasa, Njabulo S. Ndebele, Alan Paton and Can Themba. Combining the journalists penchant for the human-interest story with astute analysis, Nkosis ideas, observations and insights are as fresh today as when he began his 60-year career as a writer and critic. Selected from his out-of-print collections, Home and Exile, The Transplanted Heart and Tasks and Masks, as well as from journals and magazines, Lewis Nkosis punchy commentaries will appeal to a wide readership.