In this beautiful memoir, Safiya Sinclair writes about her childhood and adolescence in Jamaica with parents in the Rastafari faith. In an act of personal excavation, she brings forth the hidden histories of a people pushed to the margins by colonisation, oppression, and religious intolerance, all exacerbated by patriarchy. Raised in difficult soci…

In My Life as a Chameleon, Diana Anyakwo explores the themes of identity, family and memory with a tender hand. Centred around the experiences of Lily, a teenager of mixed race background growing up in Nigeria and England. Lily’s experience is further complicated by her birth order as the youngest of four children with a significant age difference …

"1. Unwelcome Reunion Unwelcome Reunion When I was twenty-eight, my stepmother Anabel came to New York on vacation. She was living, at the time, in Pakistan, where she worked for a UN agency. At a restaurant a few blocks from my Chinatown apartment, we ate noodle soup and drank red wine. That night, Anabel told me my father did not die of cancer as…

"And in breaking news, convicted serial killer and rapist, Napoleon Dingiswayo, escaped from Pretoria’s C-Max Prison at twelve-fifteen this afternoon, along with serial rapist and armed robber Andries Mathe, and heist kingpin Sifiso Khumalo.’ The voice of the newsreader rings crisp and cool while announcing the earth-shattering news."Angela Makholw…

In this refreshing tale about Black love and the self-discovery, we are introduced to Zola, a young woman in her 20’s thrashing out what it means to reckon with disappointment. We meet her as a new arrival in South Africa, following an extended stint in Germany which ultimately falls apart. In the face of the disappointment of a dream shattered, sh…

“In Violet’s bedroom, most of the furniture had been moved, except for the bed whose mattress lay on the floor and carried the weight of an unconscious Violet. The wardrobe had been moved to the corner of the room and the table that had been near the window moved to the sitting room. There was a small mound where the table had occupied space, a sma…

“He stared back at her, unconcerned. She had always marvelled at his calm assurance that everything good in his life would either remain the same or get better. He took good fortune for granted. As though it were impossible that it would abide only for a spell. She had never been able to shake the sense that life was war, a series of battles with t…

Set over the course of one weekend, Christopher introduces us to Vuyo, one of a long lineage of headstrong January women. Vuyo, pregnant with twins is mourning the death of her Scottish-born husband and has come home to her family home in the rural Eastern Cape.Paying homage to matrilineal lineage, the January women take centre stage in this book. …

"With her first full-length poetry collection, Warsan Shire introduces us to a young girl, who, in the absence of a nurturing guide, makes her own way toward womanhood. Drawing from her own life, as well as pop culture and news headlines, Shire finds vivid, unique details in the experiences of refugees and immigrants, mothers and daughters, Black w…

According to the NYT, The Prophets’ is an exploration of Black Love and Memory in a Time of Trauma. What an apt description of this powerful debut by Robert Jones Jr. In a novel moving across time and space, we are introduced to Samuel and Isaiah, who are two enslaved young men on a plantation named Empty. Despite a betrayal by another one of the e…

Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng aka Dr T, is a globally renowned doctor and human rights defender and a bestselling author of “Dr T: A Guide to Sexual Health and Pleasure”. Born in Qwaqwa in the Free State, she credits her success to the guidance and nurturing that her mother continues to give her. Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng is the United Nations Special Rapporteur o…

“See, if you act like your uniqueness is a great thing and you couldn’t care less about their opinion, they eventually give up. And that feels so good that you do it again and again until you truly believe it.”An Ordinary Wonder is a coming of age story about Oto — the main protagonist. Oto is a twin, who is born intersex and socialised as a boy an…

Carice Anderson author of Intelligence isn’t enough is a professional development manager and coach with over 17 years’ experience at top companies. Having noticed that Black professionals are often the ones who struggle the most with the transition to corporate life and as a result become frustrated and demotivated very early on in their professio…

“Elikem married me in absentia; he did not come to our wedding."is how Peace Adzo Medie introduces us to Afi and Elikem in her acclaimed debut His Only Wife. A Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick. This book os also a New York Notable Book of the year. EBased in Ghana, the story is centred on the life of Afi Tekple, a young seamstres…

Meet the Mafus, a close-knit, traditional family with three daughters. As leaders of their church, The Kingdom of God, Pastor Abraham and his wife Phumla are guiding the community of Bulawayo in faith, while trying to keep the different branches of their family intact.’Although, the podcast was recorded a year ago, we are cheekily release it now be…

“This is not a story for the romanticisation of pain and perseverance, although it tells of overcoming many difficulties. It is a critique of secret violence in faith communities and families, and the hypocrisy that has damaged so many people still looking for a place and way to voice their trauma. This is a critique of the value placed on ritual a…

Lerato never wanted to join her sister's stupid social club. All those pretentious people spending hours showing off their wealth. To what end? What was the point of it all? She'd been disappointed that her husband had fallen for Solomzi's charms and finally acceded to the invitation to join the group."In her latest novel chronicling the lives of f…

‘Everybody lives in a cage. Whether they know it or not is the question. I think that knowing that you in live in a cage is what ultimately sets you free, But even if you don’t know that you live in a cage, you know that there must be more to life than this.’ – Terry-Ann Adams Women are often not the protagonists of their own stories. Terry- Ann Ad…

‘My book was inspired by my multicultural background - Zambian, Nigerian, Jamaican and British. I wrote it at a time when I was processing the loss of both sets of grandparents, whom I had visited in Nigeria and in my Zambian village, Chinsali.’ Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda In a search for identity, love and acceptance two ordinary girls travel …

“The only difference between lying and acting was whether your audience was in on it, but it was all a performance just the same.”Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction. In 2014,…

“It was a cool evening in late summer when Wallace, his father dead for several weeks, decided that he would meet his friends at the pier after all.” – Brandon Taylor“Jesse’s alarm went off at seven, but he’d barely slept. He was excited, if nervous; he’d been scared of London all his life but he was a man now and after a few months saving up, he w…

"The Fatuous State of Severity - a mouthful for most - was a state of mind I had learned to occupy while recuperating from a depressive episode at a psychiatric clinic.” - Phumlani Pikoli The Fatuous State of Severity is a debut collection of short stories written by Pikoli while he was recovering from depression in a psychiatric clinic. The book h…

Even as a young child, Angela Makholwa wanted to be a storyteller. Her first story was published at 13 and from then on a lifetime relationship with words was established. After graduating with a journalism degree, Angela worked as a journalist prior to establishing her own PR and events management company.She has written several novels including R…

Even as a young child, Angela Makholwa wanted to be a storyteller. Her first story was published at 13 and from then on a lifetime relationship with words was established. After graduating with a journalism degree, Angela worked as a journalist prior to establishing her own PR and events management company.She has written several novels including R…

Abi Daré grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and has lived in the UK for eighteen years. She studied law at the University of Wolverhampton and has an M.Sc. in International Project Management from Glasgow Caledonian University as well as an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck University of London. The Girl with the Louding Voice won The Bath Novel Award for …

Abi Daré grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and has lived in the UK for eighteen years. She studied law at the University of Wolverhampton and has an M.Sc. in International Project Management from Glasgow Caledonian University as well as an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck University of London. The Girl with the Louding Voice won The Bath Novel Award for …

At the Open Book Festival, held in Cape Town in 2019, The Cheeky Natives sat down with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah to discuss his debut collection of short stories, Friday Black. This New York Times’ Best seller explores the violence, injustice, and painful absurdities of life in the US.These stories tackle urgent instances of racism and cultural unre…

Yellow And Confused released in 2019 is the latest offering from cookbook author, blogger and storyteller Ming-Cheau Lin. Yellow and Confused is a memoir that looks into her life as a third culture immigrant in South Africa. In 2018, she released a cook book, Just Add Rice, a book focused on Taiwanese food interspersed with stories from her childho…

Morgan Parker is American poet, novelist, and editor and the author of the poetry collections Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night (2015), There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce (2017), and Magical Negro (2019), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award poetry prize. Alongside poet Angel Nafis, she runs The Other Black Girl Coll…

Written about the life and times of Maqoma, the Xhosa chief who was at the forefront of fighting British colonialism in the Eastern Cape during the nineteenth century. The story is told through the eyes of a young South African, Phila, who suffers from what he calls triple ‘N’ condition – neurasthenia, narcolepsy and cultural ne plus ultra. It is t…

“Today, she’d brought him daffodils to brighten the room. ‘Women can bring men flowers too, you know.’ She smiled, sensing his hesitation as she arranged them in an empty milk bottle. Already, the buds were opening and adding a bright splash of buttery yellow to his room. She placed them next to the neat stack of books and papers and then picked up…

'While there are many feminist strands, which is to say different kinds of feminism, there are also many core principles. The commitment to actively oppose and end patriarchy is one. The recognition that patriarchy works like other systems of oppression, like racism and capitalism, to value some people and brutalise others is another area of agreem…

African literature is changing’ - Brittle PaperBrittle Paper is your go-to site for African writing and literary culture. Brittle Paper brings you all the latest news and juicy updates on publications, authors, events, prizes, and lifestyle. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram (@brittlepaper) and sign up for our "I love African Literature" newslette…

“Just two years shy of thirty, Patsy has nothing to show for it besides the flimsy brown envelope that she uses to shade herself from the white-hot glare of the sun. the envelope contains all her papers — from birth certificate to vaccination records. But most importantly, it carries her dream, a dream every Jamaican of a certain social ranking sha…

“This is my story. This happened to me. Who he is, is irrelevant. He could be the boy next door, a street sweeper or your son – he could be anyone. I refuse to make this story about him or who he is. He is no different from any abusive man. His name is irrelevant. What he did though, is relevant. What he did to me – over and over again – is very re…

‘But I am done with deceit. Lies no longer hold any allure for me. Now I seek true words that will, somehow, begin to heal that which has broken.’ – Desiree – Anne Martin (@believe_deeply).‘We Don't Talk About It. Ever' is Desiree-Anne Martin’s powerful, harrowing, and poignant portrayal of her journey from an addict to an author. Heart-breaking in…

‘With razor-sharp insight, Msimang writes in a reflective tone that contains both heartbreak and humour, as she navigates some often-overlooked complexities surrounding race, womanhood and class.’ – Cher Tan, Books and PublishingJust some of the words that come to mind when thinking of Sisonke Msimang’s second book ‘The Resurrection of Winnie Mande…

‘But humility is a work of progress and there are times when I need to work on practising tolerance. Whenever individuals question my ‘genitals’ I am reminded of how blinkered and obsessed with labels we humans are. Whatever lies between my legs, whether I sit or stand when I pee, my genitals are what they are and they serve their purpose. Whatever…

“Whiteness seeks to remove us from its embrace because we threaten it. We place its position at the centre at risk when we dare to usurp it rather than simply remain constant in relation to it. Exerting my identity undermines the identity of whiteness. Yet exerting my identity calls into question my commitment to follow this feeling of emancipation…

“But I’ve had time now to really think about the issue of racism, abuse, and discrimination against black professionals in the workplace, as a system, because that’s exactly what it is. A system. Designed to maintain the status quo, this system ensures that power imbalance remains unchanged.” – Sihle Bolani Sihle Bolani invited us into her life in …

‘Well-behaved women seldom make history.’-@malebosephodi writes deeply on the way this quote by Laurel Thatcher has influenced her life and writing. The Cheeky Natives sat down with the magical Malebo Sephodi, author of Miss Behave. Miss Behave is an award-winning text on a Black feminist journey to consciousness. Graceful and so relatable, Miss Be…

Happy 2019!!!!!!The first live recording of The Cheeky Natives features Rosie Motene talking about her memoir ‘Reclaiming the Soil: A Black Girl's Struggle to Find Her African Self’. This book tells the story of a young girl born to the Bafokeng nation during the apartheid era in South Africa. At the time, Rosie's mother worked for a white Jewish f…

“A collection of stories about nobodies who discover that they matter.” This is how Mohale Mashigo described her latest offering, Intruders, in one newspaper interview. While this is true, Intruders is also an ode to the stories that coloured many of our childhoods, like the Veras we were all warned about as children late at night. Mohale has rejec…

“This time especially, she was absolutely right, down to the last word. It was still only beginning.”These words end Qarnita Loxton’s sophomore novel Being Lily. We first encountered Lily in Qarnita’s debut novel Being Kari, which was longlisted for the 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature and shortlisted for the 2018 Herman Charles Bosman Prize. The …

‘No one owns their stories and the telling of them like white male writers. They are given endless opportunities for it. They can write about anything. They can pen rants about white-men problems and white-men wealth. They can wax lyrical about cars and boats and spaceships. They can have reams and reams of motivational articles published about bei…

“Although this, of course, was not strictly true: I so desired Maureen that at times I temporarily lost my mind, any sense of restraint. That I imagined, with a sudden swell of emotions and enlightenment, how desperately I craved Greek salad: cucumbers. Lettuce, onion rings and baby tomatoes, only dressed with her springs, her womanly eruptions res…

“As I lifted my eyes, they landed on some deep chocolate eyes with long eyelashes right across me. Our eyes locked for a few seconds longer than normal. That was awkward, I thought and looked away.” – Pumza Shabangu With the massive success of the fifty shades trilogy, there’s been a renewed interest in literary erotica. Of course, as The Cheeky Na…

“I imagined a dying person’s last breath as something resembling an exclamation mark, distinct and hanging mid-air like an interrupted thought. My older sister Fikile’s last breath before she dies is nothing of the sort. There is no rattling noise at the back of her throat. No relentless twitching. No clinging to life. Fikile dies with no more fuss…

“By unflinchingly depicting people in a township getting on with the everyday business of being themselves without the overarching gaze of whiteness, Yizo Yizo showcased that we were and are not as integrated as those Castle adverts had been leading us to believe. To say that Yizo Yizo is the greatest TV series of all time would sound hyperbolic to…

“Every morning Portia paraded down Pritchard Street to the offices where she worked on the corner of Market Street and Von Brandis Street. Even though her shoes squashed her corns and made her feet swell she bit down the pain and soldiered on. She practiced walking in her heels diligently in her apartment. Many times before she had fallen flat on h…