Gcina Mhlope
Gcina Mhlope was born in 1959 in KwaZulu-Natal, Hammersdale, South Africa to a Xhosa mother and a Zulu father. She is a well-known South African freedom fighter, activist, actor, storyteller, poet, playwright, director and author. Storytelling is a deeply traditional activity in Africa and Mhlope is one of the few woman storytellers in a country dominated by male storytellers. She does her most important work through charismatic performances, playing, singing and dancing her way to preserving storytelling as a means of keeping history alive and encouraging South African children to read. She tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages, English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa. Mhlope started her working life as a domestic servant. She worked as a newsreader at the Press Trust and BBC Radio, then as a writer for Learn and Teach, a magazine for newly-literate people. The unique timbre of her voice eventually singled her out to perform. Several experiences created impetus for turning Mhlope towards a career as storyteller. She credits her storytelling ability to her grandmother, who brought her up in the Transkei. Mhlope says, "My grandmother taught me everything about telling stories. When I was growing up, half the kids in our neighbourhood would come and spend the evening at home so that they could listen to izinganekwane (tales)." Then, she began to get a sense of the demand for stories while in Chicago in 1988. She performed at a library in a mostly-black neighbourhood, and the audience kept inviting her back day, by day. And every day the audiences grew larger, and larger. Nevertheless, Mhlope only started thinking of storytelling as a career after meeting an Imbongi, one of the legendary poets of African folklore, and after encouragement by Mannie Manim, the then director of the Market Theatre, Johannesburg. Since then Mhlope has appeared in theatres from Soweto to London and much of her work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Swahili and Japanese. Mhlope has travelled extensively in Africa and the world, including really isolated areas, giving storytelling workshops. She is inspired by AC Jordan (The Wrath of the Ancestors, a Xhoza novel), Earl Lovelace (The Dragon Can’t Dance), Grace Nichols (The Fat Black Woman’s Poems), Zorah Neale Hurston, Milan Kundera, Isabel Allende, Zakes Mda, Paulo Coelho, Eskia Mphahlele, Mariama Ba and Sindiwe Magona. Mhlope's stories meld folklore, information, current affairs, song and idiom. The realisation of her dreams is a visceral motivator for her and she is passing on her infectious enthusiasm by developing young talent to carry forward the work of storytelling through the Zanendaba (Bring me a story) Initiative. This initiative, established in 2002, is a collaboration with the Market Theatre, Johannesburg and READ, a national literacy organization. Some of her young protegés have already taken to the stage. Currently, Mhlope focuses on making books available to poor South African rural communities by making sure that libraries are built, and making sure the libraries are stocked with African-flavoured books.
Milestones 1983, took the lead in Umongikazi: The Nurse, by Maishe Maponya 1984, acted in in Black Dog: Inj'emnyama 1986, Place of Weeping (film) 1986, Have you seen Zandile? (autobiographical play, at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, Mhlope as Zandile) 1987, Born in the RSA (New York) 1989, storytelling festival at the Market Theatre (there have been many since then) 1989, performed a praise poem in honour of Nokukhanya Luthuli, 1961 Nobel Peace Prize winner 1990, performed Have you seen Zandile? at the Edinburgh Festival Toured Have you seen Zandile? through Europe and the USA 1989-1990, resident director at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg co-ordinator at READ, a national literacy organization 1991, Ashoka Fellowship (social entrepreneurship innovator) 1993, Music for Little People (CD) 1994, The Gift of the Tortoise (contributed to the Ladysmith Black Mombazo CD) 1999, guest speaker at the Perth Writers Festival Philharmonic Orchestra (London) Royal Albert Hall (London) Cologne Philharmonie, Africa at the Opera Honorary doctorate from the London Open University Honorary doctorate from the University of Natal Lectureships at various universities 2000, performed in Peter und der Wolf at the Komische Oper (Berlin) Wrote music for her SABC TV series Gcina & Friends 2002, Fudukazi's Magic screened in Durban at the African Union Film Festival 2002, The Bones of Memory (performance, history-telling from the old and new South Africa) 2003, lectured on storytelling at the Eye of the Beholder seminar 2003, Mata Mata (performance, family musical)
Collaborations Pops Mohamed, musician and tribal music preservationist Ladysmith Black Mambazo, choir group, The Gift of the Tortoise (CD), 1994 and Music for Little People in America (CD), 1993 Bheki Khoza, guitarist, Animated Tales of the World (TV series for Right Angle in the UK and for the SABC) Anant Singh, video producer, Fudukazi's Magic (CD and video for German audiences) Biblionef, a book donation agency, supplies book packages for Mhlope's workshops, 2003
Documentary appearances Acted and narrated in Travelling Songs 1990, performed poetry in Songolo: voices of change (how aspects of culture in South Africa have become part of the anti-apartheid struggle) 1993, The Travelling Song (the contemporary process of story gathering) Appeared in Literacy Alive Appeared in Art Works
Awards Nominee for the Noma Award for Queen of the Tortoises, 1991 Book Chat Award for Molo Zoleka OBBIE Theatrical Award (New York) for Born in the RSA Fringe First Award (Edinburgh) for Have you seen Zandile? Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress (Chicago) for Have you seen Zandile? Sony Award for Radio Drama from BBC Radio Africa for Have you seen Zandile?
Bibliography Mhlope, Gcina. Molo Zoleka New Africa Education, 1994. (Children's book) MaZanendaba (Children's book) Mhlope, Gcina. The Snake with Seven Heads. Johannesburg, Skotaville Publishers, 1989. (Children's book, translated into five African languages, the English edition is required in all South African school libraries) Mhlope, Gcina. Have you seen Zandile?. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1990. (Play, based on her childhood, required in South African university libraries) Mhlope, Gcina. Queen of the Tortoises. Johannesburg: Skotaville, 1990. (Children's book) Mhlope, Gcina. The Singing Dog. Illustrated by Erica Maritz and Andries Maritz. Johannesburg: Skotaville, 1992. (Children's book) Mhlope, Gcina. Nalohima, the Deaf Tortoise. Gamsbek, 1999. Mhlope, Gcina. Fudukazi's Magic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. (CD - lyrics and music, performance) Mhlope, Gcina. Fudukazi's Magic. Cambridge University Press, 2000 (CD - lyrics and music, performance, for German audiences) Mhlope, Gcina. Nozincwadi, Mother of Books. Maskew Miller Longman, 2001. (CD and book, South African roadshow to rural schools) Mhlope, Gcina. African Mother of Christmas. Maskew Miller Longman, 2002. (CD and book) Mhlope, Gcina. Love Child. Durban: University of Natal Press, 2002. (Memoir, collection of stories) Margaret Daymond et al. (eds). Women Writing Africa: the southern region. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 2002. Mhlope, Gcina. Stories of Africa. University of Natal Press, 2003. (Children's book) Mhlope, Gcina. Queen of Imbira. Maskew Miller Longman. (Children's book)
See also List of African writers Famous South African people
External linksThe Connection. org Dick Gordon of WBUR Boston interviews Mhlope extensively.
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