I remember when I was in my mid-teens, an uncle gave me
Chinua Achebe's short stories to read. This was his book, Girls At War...I
already knew at the time that Achebe was a great African novelist, but I still
found it easier and more exciting to read his book of short stories.
The
introduction to the book made it clear that Achebe wrote many of these stories
when he was still a young student in the university...real talent! Decades
later I now experience more or less the same sensation as I read this author's
book, book, Home grown short stories.
I initially thought that Mr Mokhele, the author was a
black South African, but he is actually from Lesotho (a small country
geographically placed within SA - try not to be confused!) I was very lucky to
get this book to read...actually none of the bibliophiles in my west Africa
even know his name (Leseli Mokhele). Which is a modern tragedy really in
respect of book publishing.
African readers nowadays hardly know about writers,
books from other countries; why, we hardly even know about local writers based
in OUR own countries now! Note: books these days our side are not only
expensive, but they are also rare to find (where are proper bookshops?)...a
dual hurdle, so to speak.
Let it be on record that Leseli Mokhele is a very good
writer, certainly among the best in our Africa. Very well written short stories
here. Well done.
-
-Olu Bakare
An excellent writer of prose. MR MOKHELE. Yes, he must be celebrated. Takent always rises to the surface.
ReplyDeleteQuite touching, the old and the new as it were. The peerless Achebe, and the young man from Lesotho...
ReplyDeleteWe need readers and writers like Mr Mokhele. Who loves books from the tender age and our task is to make our kids to love books by assisting them to read at least 5 pages a day. That culture will grow immensely.
ReplyDeleteReason why most African writers books are scarce in known book stores is because most of us we opt for self publishing which is good and comes with its limitations.
Thanks for your comment sir Thiba. But the matter is more complicated...even books published by the big big rich companies are not easily available these days...not like in the good old days when the African distribution network was impressive
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment sir Thiba. But the matter is more complicated...even books published by the big big rich companies are not easily available these days...not like in the good old days when the African distribution network was impressive
ReplyDeleteI have always loved short stories too...such a fine introduction to the work of salient writers, I always think.
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