The Eastern Cape Literature Festival officially opens with a compelling conversation on the importance of translated literature and the power of language to carry stories across generations, cultures, and borders.
Facilitated by renowned linguist and scholar Professor Pamela Maseko, whose work has long championed multilingualism and the development of African languages, the opening dialogue brings together celebrated author, Professor Zakes Mda and Dr Athambile Masola for a rich exploration of translation as both a literary and cultural act.
The conversation takes place at a significant moment for both speakers. Dr Athambile Masola recently translated I Write What I Like by Steve Biko into isiXhosa, opening one of South Africa’s most influential political texts to a wider isiXhosa-speaking audience. At the same time, one of Zakes Mda’s literary works was recently translated into Mandarin in China, reflecting the growing global reach of African literature and the universal resonance of South African stories.
Together, these moments speak to the deeper significance of translation, preserving language, expanding access, connecting people, and allowing stories rooted in local realities to travel across the world. This opening conversation sets the tone for a festival grounded in multilingualism, African storytelling, intellectual exchange, and the belief that language remains central to how societies remember, imagine, and understand themselves.
The evening marks the beginning of a festival that continues to position literature not only as art, but as a living force shaping culture, identity, and public conversation. This forms part of efforts to position the Eastern Cape as one of the significant literary destinations in the country.
Production Credits
Facilitator | Professor Pamela Maseko
Speakers | Professor Zakes Mda and Dr Athambile Masola
About the Artists
Dr Athambile Masola is a poet, children's book writer and researcher. Her debut collection of poems, Ilifa, was published in isiXhosa by uHlanga in 2021, and subsequently won the HSS Award for Poetry in 2022. Her latest book is Inheritance (Batis Books, 2026), an English translation of Ilifa. Her other writing projects include co-authoring, with Xolisa Guzula, the children’s books Imbokodo: Women Who Shape Us and Together Apart: The Story of Living in Apartheid. As a researcher, her work focuses on black women’s historiography and life writing.
She teaches in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town.
Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda is a South African writer, painter, and music composer. He composes mostly for his musical plays, for example all the music in The Bells of Amersfoort. He holds an MFA (Theater) and an MA (Telecommunications) from Ohio University, and a PhD from the University of Cape Town. He has been awarded honorary doctorates in literature by the University of Cape Town, the University of the Witwatersrand, and the University of the Free State, in technology by the Central University of Technology and the Durban University of Technology, and in art by Dartmouth College in the USA. He has published 30 books, eleven of which are novels and the rest, collections of plays, collections of essays, an autobiography, a biography, poetry and a monograph on the theory and practice of theater-for-development.
His paintings have been exhibited in South Africa, Lesotho and the USA and are in collections in those countries and in Spain, Switzerland and Sweden. His most recent solo exhibitions were at the SA Consulate in New York City (2021), The Viewing Room, Pretoria (2022), Keys Art Mile Pop-Up Gallery in Rosebank Johannesburg (2023), William Humphrey Art Gallery in Kimberley (2023/24), Springs Art Gallery (2026) and St Lorient Gallery in Pretoria (2026). Recent group exhibitions include at the Polokwane Art Gallery with Khehla Chepape Makgato (2022), and at the BKhz Gallery in Rosebank Johannesburg (2025).
His writings have been translated into more than 25 languages, including Mandarin, Estonian, Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Korean, Serbian, German, Swedish, Dutch, Turkish, Norwegian and Italian. They have won many awards in South Africa, the USA and Italy, including the Amstel Playwright of the Year Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa, the M-Net Prize, Sanlam Prizes (twice), The Pringle Award, the Sunday Times Literary Prize (twice), the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award, Premio Narrativa Sud del Mondo, the University of Johannesburg Literary Prize and the American Library Association Notable Book. He is a recipient of Ikhamanga Order in Silver, a national award of the South African government. He is Professor Emeritus at Ohio University where he taught Creative Writing for 15 years and is a beekeeper in the Eastern Cape (running a project he established in 2000 with rural women). He is also an Honorary Patron of the Market Theatre.
- Venue: Olive Schreiner
- Location: Monument Building
- Programme type: LitFest
- Genre: Literature
- Duration: 60 minutes
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Ages:
ALL AGES
