Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

Robin Peter Gaylard (University of Stellenbosch)

Ed. by Anna Hildegard Gagiano, University of Stellenbosch
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 7.2.3.03: South Africa and other Southern Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

Born 17 Jan 1940
Activity 1971-ongoing

Places

Born in South Africa
Active in South Africa; United Kingdom

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Mtshali's Works

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Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali burst onto the South African literary scene with the publication of

Sounds of a Cowhide Drum

in 1971. The book went into six impressions, sold over 13000 copies, and was published in London and New York in the following year. The success of Mtshali's collection of poetry helped pave the way for a new, more militant generation of black poets (Sepamla, Serote, Gwala) and to create an audience for their poetry. Their writing provoked an often heated debate among South African critics and academics over the criteria used to evaluate this poetry. A second collection of Mtshali's poetry,

Fireflames

was banned on publication in 1980. After working as an educationist in South Africa in the 1980s, Mtshali left for the United States in 1989 to further his career. He is…

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2378 words

Citation: Gaylard, Robin Peter. "Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 August 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3237, accessed 22 November 2024.]