Sindiwe Magona

Sindiwe Magona
Born (1943-08-27) 27 August 1943
South Africa
Nationality South African
Occupation Author, motivational speaker, teacher, translator

Sindiwe Magona (born 27 August 1943) is a South African writer.

Life

A native of the Transkei, she grew up in a township near Cape Town, where she worked as a domestic and completed her secondary education by correspondence. Magona later graduated from the University of South Africa and earned a Master of Science Degree in Organisational Social Work from Columbia University.[1] In 1993 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Hartwick College, Oneonta, and in 1997 she was a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in the non-fiction category.

She worked in various capacities for the United Nations over 20 years, retiring in 2003,[2] and currently lives in South Africa. In 2007 she was awarded the Grinzane Award[3] for writing that addresses social concerns, the Molteno Gold Medal for promoting the Xhosa culture and language, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award for contribution to South African Literature. In 2011 she was given the Order of iKhamanga, a Presidential Award and the highest such award in South Africa, and in 2012 she was joint winner with Nadine Gordimer of the Imbokodo Award.[1][4] In the 2013 computer-animated adventure comedy film Khumba she was the voice actor for the character Gemsbok Healer.[5]

She is Writer-in-Residence at the University of the Western Cape and is currently working at Georgia State University.[6]

Literary career

She published her autobiography To My Children's Children in 1990. In 1998, she published Mother to Mother, a fictionalized account of the Amy Biehl killing,[7] which she adapted to a play. This was performed at the Baxter Theatre complex in late 2009 and the film rights to the novel were acquired by Type A Films in 2003.[8] She has also written autobiographies and short story collections. Her novel Beauty's Gift was shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book, Africa Region.[2][9][10] In 2009, Please, Take Photographs, her first collection of poems, was published.

Works

References

  1. 1 2 "About Sindiwe Magona", official website.
  2. 1 2 "Sindiwe Magona", South African History Online.
  3. ↑ "Premio Grinzane - Terra d'Otranto", Città di Otranto.
  4. ↑ "Winners of the Inaugural 2012 Mbokodos", Mbokodo Awards
  5. ↑ "Gemsbok Healer", Behind the Voice Actors.
  6. ↑ "Sindiwe Magona", Georgia State University.
  7. ↑ "Mother To Mother (review)". Blue Rectangle. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  8. ↑ Harris, Dana (6 August 2003). "Universal Pictures acquires Sindiwe Magona's novel". Variety. Retrieved 24 November 2009.
  9. ↑ Commonwealth Foundation List of prize winners.
  10. ↑ "Commonwealth Writers Prize", Literary Festivals UK.
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