Sisonke Msimang, author of the memoir Always Another Country and winner of the Brittle Paper Award for Essays, is ready with her second book.
Following her death on April 2 of this year, Winnie Mandela’s legacy became the subject of a tussle—most of which played out fiercely on social media—between those who cast her as the tainted one in the shadow of her husband, Nelson Mandela, and those who fought to reclaim her as the exceptional symbol of freedom and activism that she is. Msimang’s The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela aims to re-present Winnie Mandela in light of efforts to reduce her significance. The book, forthcoming on 24 October, 2018 from Jonathan Ball Publishers, has been described by Reading List as “a primer for young feminists, popular culture enthusiasts and those interested in the politics of memory, reconciliation and justice.”
Here is further description by Reading List:
The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela is an astute examination of one of South Africa’s most controversial political figures. It charts the rise and fall – and rise, again – of a woman who not only battled the apartheid regime, but the patriarchal character of the society that moulded her. In telling Ma Winnie’s story, Sisonke Msimang demonstrates the vital link between reclaiming the lives of one complex woman, and activism aimed at restoring the dignity of all women.
Sisonke Msimang divides her time between Perth, Australia, where she is head of oral storytelling at the Centre for Stories, and South Africa, where she continues to play an active role in public commentary and analysis. Her first book, Always Another Country, was shortlisted for the 2018 Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, and is being released in Australia, the UK and the USA in September 2018. Sisonke Msimang is represented by Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency, London.
To get a taste of what might appear in The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela, here is an insightful 2017 essay by Msimang in Africa Is a Country titled “Africa’s First Lady.”
Congratulations to Sisonke Msimang.
Books paint contrasting pictures of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela · South Africa Tribune March 14, 2019 04:00
[…] articles for the New York Times, the Guardian, and Al Jazeera. She writes near the start of her biography: “I will not pretend otherwise: I am interested in redeeming Ma […]