Njabulo Ndebele and Koleka Putuma on South Africa
Nelson Mandela, hand in hand with his wife Winnie on their way out of the prison gates, both with their fists raised in greeting to the people. On February 11th, it will be exactly thirty years since Nelson Mandela was released from prison. When the Apartheid regime fell, Mandela advocated for forgiveness as a strategy. Did those responsible for the Apartheid get off too easily? What happened to Mandela’s visions of a rainbow nation? Where does South Africa stand today?
Njabulo Ndebele grew up under Apartheid and is one of South Africa’s foremost authors and intellectuals. He is the former Vice President of the University of Cape Town and an author of both fiction and non-fiction. He is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking book The Cry of Winnie Mandela, where he combines essay and novel, fact and fiction in a way that manages to say something essential about an often overlooked aspect of the liberation movement: the role of women.
Koleka Putuma was born in 1993 and belongs to the generation in South Africa known as “Born Free”. In her debut poetry collection Collective Amnesia, one of the most sensational and critically acclaimed debuts in years, you can sense the anger and frustration over weak promises and a country where the ideal of a rainbow nation is far from fulfilled.
Did Apartheid really ever end? Putuma and Ndebele on February 11th in conversation with journalist Elise Dybvig. The event will take place in English.
Litteraturhuset Wergeland