(Dr Mongane Wally
Serote. Pic by John Hogg)
Pivotal South Africa poet, Dr Mongane Wally Serote has been
lauded as the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Literature Lifetime Achiever for
2016. This Award, sponsored by Media24 Books, aims to acknowledge Serote’s
significant contribution to South African prose.
“The Romantic notion of poets is that they are the prophets
of society – sometimes with more justification than in other cases,” says
Managing Director of Media24 Books, Eloise Wessels. “It is undoubtedly true
that good literature critically reflects on the dominant issues in any society
and provides an ethical perspective which is necessary for the health of the
social order.”
Over the years, Serote’s writing has done just that. Renowned
as one of the Soweto poets who embodied the literary revival of black voices in
the 1970s, his work expresses the injustices and harsh realities of life for
black people under apartheid.
Serote graciously received his Award at the 19th annual ACT
Awards held at Sun International’s The Maslow Hotel in October. He says about
receiving this Award; “I feel honoured. To be honoured in one's country, by
one's countrymen and women, is a very important achievement.”
During his fruitful career Serote has received a number of
prestigious awards. In 1973, after having published his first anthology of
poems called Yakhal’nkomo the year
before, Serote won the Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize. The following year, he was
granted a Fulbright Scholarship and travelled to Columbia University to
complete a master’s degree in Fine Arts. His poems, particularly those from his
first two anthologies, have been hailed as pivotal to the rise of the Black
Consciousness movement in South Africa.
He has also been the recipient of many other national and international
awards, including the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa (1993); the Pablo
Neruda Award from the Chilean government (2004) and the Order of Ikhamanga in
Silver, here in South Africa.
As an active member of the Liberation Army, Umkhonto We
Sizwe, Serote’s work has inspired, and continues to inspire generations of
youth throughout South Africa, Africa and the world. His thought-provoking
poetry not only expresses the effects that oppression had on South Africans,
but it also stands as a timeless body of work that marks an important period in
South Africa’s history.
The poet, who believes now is the time that South African
literature should feature more heavily in South African curriculums at both
school and university level says that “arts and culture can be the tapestry
which weaves our nation together”. And he believes that in order to grow as a
writer it takes both practice and perseverance. “Write and write and write,” he
says, “but also, find a manner to put your ear on the ground.”
Wessels says that Media24 Books is honoured to sponsor this
well-deserved Award. “At Media24 Books our business is the propagation of good
South African literature. We are therefore honoured to have the opportunity to
plough something back by acknowledging and celebrating iconic South African
authors.”
The 19th annual ACT Awards was hosted by Sun International
in association with the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) and is supported by
the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), the Dramatic, Artistic
and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO), Media24 Books, the Nedbank Arts
Affinity, JTI, Creative Feel, Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) and the
Distell Foundation.
For more information about the Arts & Culture Trust
(ACT) visit www.act.org.za
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