Zakes Mda

Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni is a South African novelist, poet and playwright. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays. When he started publishing his work, he adopted the pen name of Zakes Mda. In addition to writing novels and plays, he taught English and creative writing in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Mda is a founding member and (as of 2011) serves on the advisory board of the  African Writers Trust, “a non-profit entity which seeks to coordinate and bring together African writers in the Diaspora and writers on the continent to promote sharing of skills and other resources, and to foster knowledge and learning between the two groups.”