STIAS is hosting the celebrated novelist, poet and playwright Zakes Mda as an Artist-in-Residence during 2018, where he is completing work on a new novel, The Zulus of New York. Mda is emeritus professor of English at Ohio University in the USA and extraordinary professor of English at the University of the Western Cape.

On Tuesday, 13 February 2018, STIAS and the UKZN Press will jointly host a book launch and public discussion of his latest publication, Justify the Enemy: Becoming Human in South Africa. The book is edited and introduced by emeritus professor J.U. Jacobs from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Professor Mda will be in conversation with Dr Wamuwi Mbao of the Stellenbosch University English department on this important collection of the author’s reflections on South African history, identity, writing, human rights and abuses of power.