Summary

Sindiwe Magona - author, poet, playwright, essayist, storyteller, actor and inspirational speaker - has recently retired from the United Nations in New York after twenty years and relocated to her home country, South Africa. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her work in women's issues, the plight of children, and the fight against apartheid and racism. A prolific writer, Magona has published two autobiographical books, To My Children's Children, which she later translated as Kubantwana Babantwana Bam, and Forced to Grow. She has also published two collections of short stories, Living Loving and Lying Awake at Night and Push-Push! And Other Stories; and a novel, Mother to Mother, which was recently optioned by Universal Studios for a film on the life of Amy Biehl, the American Fulbright scholar who was killed in Guguletu. Siphokazi Koyana has put this collection of critical essays together as a celebration of Magona's homecoming and a mark of her achievement. Scholars from three continents - Africa, Europe and North America - have contributed critical analyses of Magona's works, as well as interviews with the talented writer.