Acclaimed novelist and poet, Professor Zakes Mda recently shared valuable knowledge with budding Durban University of Technology (DUT) writers and artists at a writing workshop held as part of the 27th annual Time of the Writer festival.
The workshop was recently hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Design’s Art for Humanity organisation in partnership with Africa South Africa Initiative.
Prof Mda who was awarded an honorary doctorate in Visual and Performing Arts by DUT in 2021 for his contribution and achievements in the literature and various other scholarly work, was part of more than 100 writers that took part in the festival curated under the theme, “Reflections, Resonance and Revival.”
Speaking at the workshop attended by DUT and University of KwaZulu-Natal students, Professor Mda shared: “One of the biggest strengths you can have as a writer is the ability to think visually.”
He said one of the joys of reading is the ability to fill in the gaps left by the writer.
“That is one of the many things people love about my writing, I place them right in the middle of the story,” he said.
According to Prof Mda, the reader becomes a co-creator of the story, because of the gaps that are left by the writer.
“If you were to be spoon-fed everything by the writer, that would be a very boring story and it takes away your God-given right to be a creator in the story,” he said.
At the event, Prof Mda got a opportunity to meet Cedric Nunn for the first time. Nunn is an award-winning photographer from KwaZulu-Natal, who had previously commissioned Prof Mda to write the introduction to his book, Unsettled: 100 Year War of Resistance by Xhosa Against Boer and British which was published in 2015.
Cedric spoke affectionately about Prof Mda referring to him as a polymath.
“He is skilled in many different creative mediums and I first came across him as a grammatist in the 80’s before he rose to prominence as a novelist and his plays were performed throughout Lesotho,” said Nunn.
When speaking about journalism, Prof Mda believes that journalists are the first draft of history and there is a distinct difference between them and fiction writers.
“Journalists tell us what happened, fiction writers tell us how it feels to be in what happened and that is the biggest distinction between the two,” he said.
The students in attendance at the workshop felt honoured to be in the presence of a legendary South African writer who was able to give them valuable knowledge. DUT alumna and photographer, Aphiwe Moyo, said she had mixed emotions after meeting her idol.
“I never imagined that a small-town girl like me would have the chance to meet one of South Africa’s greatest authors,” she said.
Aphiwe further expressed how she felt inspired to be a writer and follow in Prof Mda’s footsteps.
Pictured: Cedric Nunn and Professor Zakes Mda at the workshop.
Photographer: Minenhle Zikhali.
Enzokuhle Sabela
