Ezekiel Es'kia Mphahlele

Ezekiel Es'kia Mphahlele was born in 1919 and grew up in the slums of Pretoria, South Africa. He began his career as a journalist, writing for "The Drum Magazine" after the war in 1947, but in 1957 he was forced to leave his country due to his opposition to apartheid. He subsequently lived in Nigeria, France, Kenya, Zambia, and the USA, where in 1968 he defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Denver. He taught at the universities of Denver and Pennsylvania while simultaneously publishing essays, articles, novels, and short stories. In 1977, he returned to South Africa, but the government revoked his appointment at the university that had initially offered him a position. In 1978, he finally took up the chair of African literature at the University of Witwatersrand. Among his notable works are his first collection of short stories, "Man Must Live and Other Stories" (Cape Town, 1946), the autobiographical narrative of his childhood "Down Second Avenue" (London, 1959), the novel "The Wanderers" (New York, 1971), which was banned in South Africa for many years, and his autobiography "Afrika My Music" (Johannesburg, 1984). Other books include: "The Living and the Dead and Other Stories," Nigeria, 1961, "The African Image," New York, 1962, "In Corner B," Nairobi, Kenya, 1967, "Chirundu," USA, 1979, "The Unbroken Song; Selected Writings," Johannesburg, 1981, "Bury Me at the Marketplace; Selected Letters 1943-1980," Johannesburg, 1984, "Father Come Home," Johannesburg, 1984, "Poetry and Humanism," Johannesburg, 1986, "Echoes of African Art," Braamfontein, South Africa, 1987, "Renewal Time," London, 1988. In 1998, he was honored with the "Crystal Award" for his lifetime achievements.