Rehana Rossouw was born in Cape Town and lives in Johannesburg. She has been a journalist for 30 years and is currently employed at Business Day as a commissioning editor. She has a Masters degree in creative writing from Wits University. What Will People Say? is her first novel and was shortlisted for the Etisalat prize for African literature in 2016 and awarded the National Institute for Social Science and Humanities prize for fiction in 2017. She is currently completing her second novel.

Fiston Mwanza Mujila was born in 1981 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, where he studied Literature and Human Sciences at Lubumbashi University. He now lives in Graz, Austria and teaches African literature. His writing has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Gold Medal at the 6th Jeux de la Francophonie in Beirut. His novel, Tram 83, was a French Voices 2014 grant recipient, and won The Etisalat Prize for Literature 2015 and the Internationaler Literaturpreis 2017, as well as being longlisted for The Man Booker International Prize and the Best Translated Book Award (both 2016). His poetry, prose work, and plays are reactions to the political turbulence that has come in the wake of the independence of the Congo and its effect on day-to-day life. As he writes in one of his poems, his texts describe a “geography of hunger:” hunger for peace, freedom, and bread.

Moderated by Danyela Demir

Tuesday 5 September, 7pm

Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Avenue, 2193 Parkwood
admission: free

Literary Crossroads is a series of talks where South African writers meet colleagues from all over the continent and from the African diaspora to discuss trends, topics and themes prevalent in their literatures today. The series is curated by Indra Wussow and Sine Buthelezi. Admission is free of charge.