Thando Mgqolozana (South Africa)

Thando Mgqolozana was born in Cape Town in 1983 and raised in Engojini, a village in the Eastern Cape where he completed his matric in 2001.

He is a graduate of the University of the Western Cape where he was elected into the Executive Committee of the South African Students’ Congress and the Student Representative Council.

While at UWC, Mgqolozana received the Golden Key International Honor for Scholastic achievement, and later was elected as a Mandela Rhodes Scholar for his commitment to Excellent Leadership, Reconciliation, Entrepreneurship, and Academic Excellence.

Mgqolozana’s debut novel, A Man Who Is Not A Man, was published to critical success in June 2009. This courageous and eloquent book recounts the personal trauma of a young Xhosa initiate after a rite-of-passage circumcision has gone wrong, detailing the pain and lifelong shame that is experienced as a result of not just the physical trauma, but also the social ostracism of being labeled 'a failed man.'

Challenging definitions of masculinity, Mgqolozana decodes the values and mysteries of this deep-seated cultural tradition. With its controversially unreserved manner, A Man Who is Not A Man, has stirred debate, and amongst many, hostility and disapproval of the discussion and challenging of such widely accepted and secretive traditional customs.

Speaking of his literary inspiration, Mgqolozana says, “I am most grateful to authors such as Sindiwe Magona, Laureta Ngcobo, Unity Dow, Chinua Achebe, Njabulo Ndebele, Zakes Mda, and Joseph Diescho, for teaching me how to tell a story and to always write about life as I know it…A Man Who is Not A Man, is exactly that: life as I know it.”

Bibliography
A Man Who Is Not A Man, UKZN Press, 2009