Zakes Mda lives in the US, but was in Joburg recently, where he spoke to Jennifer Platt about his latest book, the next surprising chapter of his life, and the several places he calls home
"He has the choice to go home and fight. He can now do the dances where he was meant to," he insists.
Mda is also stretching his talents in another direction by working on the libretto for an opera about his great-great-great-great-grandmother Mamani , who lived in the 1700s and was one of the first people to live openly as a homosexual. "I am not getting much help from my own elders as they are very angry with her. It's not something they want to talk about. They were actually disappointed that I heard about this story. Fortunately, the white man wrote it down, and then I asked the elders. I asked, 'Why do we leave it out when we recite our genealogy? She belongs in our history.'"
"A lot of writers of historical fiction try to give their narration gravitas - grand historical gravitas - with very formal, heavy language," he says."I always want to write in the present voice, even when I'm writing in the past. Because I don't want to pretend. I want it to be known that I am writing now. And, incidentally, writing in the now means I'm dealing with the issues of today in this historical novel.
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