Online Reporter
Let’s Talk Ladies
Dr Thandiwe Chidzungu
FROM Bulawayo to the global screen, author Ms Sukoluhle Nyathi has watched a dream she once quietly pursued become a story reaching audiences far beyond Zimbabwe.
There is something uniquely nostalgic about two Bulawayo girls meeting in Johannesburg, away from home.
Over breakfast, the conversation with Ms Nyathi — affectionately known as Sis Sue — quickly became a journey back home to Bulawayo, to the city she calls Ntuthuziyathunqa, to childhood memories and to the experiences that would eventually find their way into her writing.
Born, bred and raised in Bulawayo, Ms Nyathi attended Carmel Primary School before proceeding to Girls College, one of the city’s well-known girls’ schools.
She later enrolled at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), where she earned a degree in Finance before completing a Master’s degree in Finance and Investment.
When passion became the priority
Ms Nyathi describes herself as an investment analyst by profession and a writer by passion.
For years, she lived between those two worlds until she reached a point where a choice had to be made.
“I just left the finance career when I turned 40.
“I decided to put my weight on my writing career.
“You know, they say you cannot serve two masters,” she says.
Zimbabwe is not merely a backdrop in Ms Nyathi’s work.
It is woven into the fabric of her storytelling.
She left Zimbabwe for South Africa at the age of 29, meaning that much of her formative and adult life was spent in Zimbabwe.
Those experiences continue to influence the characters, relationships and worlds she creates in her novels.
However, the South African influence becomes more pronounced in “The Gold Diggers”, which is set in South Africa, while the emotional landscape of her writing remains deeply connected to Zimbabwe.
For Ms Nyathi, this connection in her work is also about representation.
Growing up, she rarely encountered books written by black authors about black people and their lived realities.
That absence left an impression, and she says: “When I write about Bulawayo, in ‘A Family Affair’, people from Bulawayo love it. They say, ‘Wo, ungowako Bulawayo (Oh, she is originally from Bulawayo)’ — I see myself in the story.”
For Ms Nyathi, that recognition from readers is significant.
It is proof that stories rooted in African realities do not need to be stripped of their cultural specificity to be meaningful.
Beyond polygamy
Perhaps no work has brought Ms Nyathi’s storytelling to a wider audience than “The Polygamist”.
While the title immediately evokes the idea of polygamy, Ms Nyathi insists that the novel was never simply about the practice itself.
“I wasn’t writing just about traditional polygamy. Everyone knows what polygamy is. I was writing about what polygamy has evolved into.”
For her, the story explores something much broader: the ways power can be exercised within intimate relationships, and how manipulation, greed and deception can become intertwined with love, marriage and family.
“The Polygamist” was written in 2012, while its screen adaptation was filmed in 2026.
Ms Nyathi says if she were writing the book today, she would not change anything.
She points to the continuing realities faced by many women: infidelity, side relationships and the social expectations that can keep women in difficult marriages.
While some women are choosing themselves, walking away and initiating divorce, Ms Nyathi believes those women remain a minority.
“Very few women can say their reality is different from their mothers,” she says.
It is this continuing relevance that gives “The Polygamist” a life beyond the period in which it was written.
From the page to the screen
Ms Nyathi was not involved in the screen adaptation of “The Polygamist” but believes the production team did a good job of capturing the essence of her story and enhancing it.
Importantly, she says: “The book is a book on its own and the series is another thing on its own. They are two different products.”
That distinction matters to her because the success of the screen adaptation does not replace the original work.
“The book is still there, and it still has life,” she says.
If anything, the screen adaptation has breathed new life into the book, introducing the story to audiences who may never have encountered it before.
For Ms Nyathi, seeing a story that began in Bulawayo travel beyond Zimbabwe is difficult to put into words.
“It’s a proud moment for me to see my story travel that way. I don’t have the words to describe it.”
When she first published “The Polygamist”, she would sign copies with the words, “Thank you for buying into my dream.”
At the time, it was a simple expression of gratitude from an emerging writer asking readers to believe in her vision.
Today, those words carry a different weight.
The dream has travelled far and wide.
The story that began as a book has moved into new markets and onto the screen, reaching audiences across different parts of the world.
For Ms Nyathi, this is more than personal success.
It represents what one can describe as a new dawn.
The challenge of being
an African writer
Despite the growing international appetite for African stories, Ms Nyathi is not convinced that African writers are receiving the recognition they deserve.
She points to the structure of the global publishing industry, where writers published in markets such as the United Kingdom and the United States often have greater access to international distribution and visibility.
“If you are not published overseas, the way the book trade works, books are sold down. It is harder to sell books up,” she says.
There are, she believes, countless gifted writers on the continent whose works remain undiscovered.
She hopes the international attention given to “The Polygamist” will create opportunities for authors coming behind her, particularly those who remain based in Africa and whose stories have yet to find a global audience.
Following “The Polygamist”, Ms Nyathi continued to develop her craft through works that include “The Gold Diggers”, “A Family Affair” and “An Angel’s Demise”.
For readers who want to understand how she has evolved, Ms Nyathi believes there is only one way to truly appreciate that journey: Reading the complete body of her work.
Ms Nyathi’s story is ultimately one about believing in a dream before there is any guarantee that the world will believe in it too.
