Sindiwe Magona, Mother to Mother

G Dianne Shober (University of Fort Hare)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 7.2.3.03: South Africa and other Southern Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1998

Places

South Africa (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Sindiwe Magona’s compelling oeuvre does not just tell tragic tales, but assembles narrative bridges connecting local and global readers in order to address the ignorance and indifference promoted by apartheid. Her first novel,

Mother to Mother

(1998), examines the murder of Fulbright Scholar Amy Biehl during the violent conclusion of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle. Discovering that Nonthuthuzelo, one of her very close childhood friends, was the mother of one of Biehl’s murderers, Magona felt compelled to write the story, and described herself as being “pregnant with grief”. Save for her escape to America, the accused could have been her own son, she reasoned. Although

Mother to Mother

is a fictionalised account of the event, it emotionally links the two mothers, bridging…

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1779 words

Citation: Shober, G Dianne. "Mother to Mother". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 March 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34389, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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