Makhosazana Xaba Explained

Birth Place:	Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Alma Mater:	University of the Witwatersrand
Occupation:	Poet and short-story writer
Awards:	South African Literary Awards Short Story Award

Makhosazana Xaba (born 10 July 1957) is a South African poet and short-story writer. She trained as a nurse and has worked a women's health specialist in NGOs, as well as writing on gender and health. She is Associate Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg.^[1]

Biography

Makhosazana (Khosi) Xaba was born in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to Glenrose Nomvula Mbatha and Rueben Bejanmin Xaba, the second of five children.^[2] She has an MA degree in creative writing from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) and is working on a biography of Noni Jabavu.

Xaba won the Deon Hofmeyr Award for Creative Writing (2005) for her unpublished short story "Running". Her poems have appeared in publications including Timbila, Sister Namibia, Botsotso, South African Writing, Green Dragon and Echoes, and have been collected in These Hands (2005)^[3] and Tongues of Their Mothers (2008). A book of her short stories, Running and Other Stories, was published in 2013,^[4] and won the 2014 Nadine Gordimer South African Literary Awards Short Story Award.^[5]

Xaba is editor of the 2026 anthology Like the Untouchable Wind: An Anthology of Poems, about "the life, experience and visions of African lesbians".^{[6] [7]}

She is also a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.^[8]

With Athambile Masola, Xaba introduced the book Noni Jabavu: A Stranger at Home, a collection of Jabavu's Daily Dispatch columns, published in 2023.^{[9] [10]}

Works

• These Hands: Poems. Timbila Poetry Project, Elim Hospital, Limpopo Province, 2005. Poetry. .
• Tongues of Their Mothers. Scottsville: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2008. Poetry. .
• Running and Other Stories. Cape Town: Modjaji Books, 2013. Fiction. .
• Like the Untouchable Wind: An Anthology of Poems (editor). Harare: MaThoko's Books, 2016. Poetry anthology. .
• The Alkalinity of Bottled Water. Botsotso Publishing, 2019. Poetry.

References

• Mzamisa, Palesa (2008). "New voices", Wordsetc, Third Quarter, pp. 31–36.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Meet the team - Future Professors Programme - FPP Operational Team. 2021-12-24. Future Professors Programme. en-ZA.
2. http://afhsouthafrica.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/ "A Brief Biography of Makhosazana Xaba"
3. Molema, Leloba, "Review",, Feminist Africa 5, pp. 153–157, African Gender Institute.
4. Web site: L'AFRIQUE ECRITE AU FEMININ Les auteures anglophones. aflit.arts.uwa.edu.au. 2 December 2016.
5. http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/running-and-other-stories Running and Other Stories
6. Book: Like the Untouchable Wind: An Anthology of Poems. 2016. 9781928215479 . Google Books . Xaba . Makhosazana . MaThoko's Books .
7. https://gala.co.za/books-and-resources/publications-and-publishing/mathokos-books/like-the-untouchable-wind-an-anthology-of-poems-editor/ "Like the untouchable wind: An anthology of poems"
8. Web site: Michele . Magwood. 'New Daughters of Africa' Is a Powerful Collection of Writing by Women from the Continent. Wanted. 5 July 2019.
9. Web site: Noni Jabavu: A Stranger at Home. NB Publishers. 27 March 2023.
10. Web site: Noni Jabavu was a pioneering South African writer - a new book shows how relevant she still is. The Conversation. Athambile. Masola. 22 March 2023. 27 March 2023.