It’s with great excitement that the Jakes Gerwel Foundation, LitNet and Huisgenoot announce their chosen candidates for the fifth annual Kommadagga Workshop, which will take place from 14 October to 3 November this year.
S’fundo W. Sosibo, Sibusiso Fihlani, Tenita Kidelo, Tiaan Booyens (La Grange) and Vuyokazi Ngemntu, five upcoming writers who are eager to find the just the right words for our life and times in their short prose, are soon to arrive for this year’s last residency at Paulet House, the Jakes Gerwel Foundation’s charming writers’ retreat in the oasis town of KwaNojoli (Somerset East) in the Eastern Cape.
During the workshop of three weeks, the candidates will undergo intensive mentorship in writing short stories and other short prose pieces. Seasoned mentor Fourie Botha is well known in publishing spheres and has launched the boats of many successful South African authors, first as publisher at Penguin Random House and now as literary agent. Fourie is himself an accomplished poet and has published two poetry collections of his own: Donkerkamer (nominated for the Ingrid Jonker Prize) and Krap uit die see.
While the candidates are assured of publishing opportunities with LitNet and Huisgenoot after completion of their mentorship, the milestone of a fifth Kommadagga residency comes with the bonus of sharing Paulet House with the iconic Zoë Wicomb, author of, among others, You can’t get lost in Cape Town, David’s story, Playing in the light, The one that got away, October and Still life.
Here is a brief introduction of this year’s candidates:
S’fundo W. Sosibo
S’fundo Sosibo, formerly a lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, writes in the absurdist tradition. His works build out Afro-queer narratives and explore themes such as identity and tradition. S’fundo has already written for the National Arts Festival at Makhanda, participated in the Almasi African Playwrights Conference and was invited to the first symposium of queer writers in Zimbabwe (Walking with Shadows) in 2022. He is an alumnus of the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS) and has seen his short stories being shortlisted for sought-after prizes and competitions. S’fundo is hoping to complete and publish a trilogy of stories he is currently working on.
Sibusiso Fihlani
Sibusiso Fihlani is a writer and drama therapist who believes in using his talents to make a difference. He is the chairperson of Art that Matters, the director of the Ezempilo Mental Health Festival and he worked for the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) and Nkosi’s Haven. He is a fellow for health equity at the Atlantic Institute and Tekano. His theatre and community work has already earned him the Dr John Kani Prize, the Yvonne Banning Prize and the Justice Edwin Cameron Award. Sibusiso wants to hone his writing skills in order to harness them to effect social change.
Tenita Kidelo
Tenita Kidelo describes herself as a Bolander with a Karoo background. She completed her master’s degree in literature in 2020 and is currently working on various short stories that she wants to finalise. Her first story that was accepted and published by Kuier and her work at RSG as presenter of Kompas and Kopkrap, programmes for younger audiences, figure among her career highlights. To her, the Kommadagga Workshop presents the chance to become a better writer and to find a happy ending for her stories in a published collection of short pieces of her own.
Tiaan Booyens (La Grange)
Tiaan Booyens has claimed his mother’s maiden name, La Grange, as his nom de plume. To him, this choice represents all the strong women and gentle men that inspired him to start writing. A key moment was the elective in writing short fiction under prof Sally-Anne Murray during his studies on language and culture. This experience led, after his honours in French, to internships and freelance work for publishers such as NB Publishers, Penguin Random House and Mirari Press. To Tiaan, writing is the medium through which all that is human can be shared and he dreams of seeing his own young adult fiction published.
Vuyokazi Ngemntu
Vuyokazi Ngemntu is a writer-performer from Cape Town, and she combines poetry, singing, physical theatre, stories and rituals to navigate the trauma inherited from previous generations, to confront inequality and to bring about healing. Her short story talent is already recognised by a wider audience with her short story “Binnegoed” being selected as overall winner in a regional competition of the African magazine Ibua Journal, and “The serpent’s handmaiden” being shortlisted for the Share Africa Climate Change Award for fiction. She is currently working on a short story collection with provisional title The book of shadows & triggers.
