Love Child — Gcina Mhlophe

Gcina Mhlophe is a poet, playwright, performer and South Africa's favorite storyteller. In this fascinating retrospective collection, she shares her personal journey through the social and political landscapes of the 1980s, with its recollected moments of struggle and transformation along the way. Written in a variety of styles and voices, ranging from anecdotal memory to historical moment to folklore tradition, these simply presented poems and stories are by turns funny, touching, chilling, thought-provoking and absorbing. Love Child is a collection for the new millennium generation. It is valuable not just for the deeply-felt personal and political insights it has to offer, but for the accessible ease with which it manages to capture the seminal moments of black South African history in the preserving amber of the author's personal recollection.