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Nhlalwenhle Ngwenya, Sunday Life Correspondent
FOR many schoolchildren scribbling on their diaries during school days is the closest effort they ever made to imagining being an author, but for Tholiwe Ndebele now 47, it was the hugest strides she took towards her writing career.
A few contributions to the Eveline High School magazine got her hooked to writing until today. Up to date Ndebele has shelved four books with the latest being Echoes of the Mind and other stories.
“All this started as a hobby during my school days at Eveline where I used to contribute to the school magazine. When I went abroad to Istanbul in Turkey I seemed to find so many inspiring incidents and things. I started with poetry and published two books of poems. The last book is a compilation of short stories,” said Ndebele.
Though she has penned more books it’s her current work which tilts a new leaf as it adopts a macabre genre spliced in a humorous DNA. Ndebele in one of her stories in the book tackles the gravity of words that people throw around without a second thought or considering the repercussions.
“In my current work for instance the story A Bed of Thorns tackles the concept of whether anyone can truly own anyone in an adult relationship. It warns about the pitfalls of using ridiculous superfluous words of love and promises that might just prove impossible to keep,” she says.
With such sensitive and emotional topics, weaved in her book, she quickly dismisses personal attachment to her work, as she states it’s all her imaginative mind at work.
“No, the stories are fictional, for example the story The Sisterhood of Us First is one of dark humour and has a disturbing ending. The whole idea of ownership of a human being is rather phenomenal, wouldn’t you agree? We talk of my phone, my dog, etc but can we say we truly own anyone? Even our kids?
“The sisterhood is an example of criminally insane women who seek to define themselves through unsettling acts of sacrifice. It’s set in Hwange Game Reserve during a workshop for teachers,” she said.
With two children one would assume Ndebele’s work is greatly influence by parenthood but she says writing is one of the DNAs she inherited from her father.
“No, my children have no influence in writing, I think it comes more from my father who is also a writer,” she says.
How does Ndebele keep her writing steam engine running? The answer is inking thoughts and breathing life to them on paper almost on a daily basis.
“I think l have an active imagination and being an English teacher probably helps. At times, someone might say something or do something I consider refreshingly unique, that gets my mind working. For example, Baby Saga came to be written after I overheard one friend saying to her friend that she wanted a baby to be 100 percent hers and to choose the father who would be eager to not have anything with the child,” she says.
Ndebele has made historical strides in the field of literature as some of her work is currently being used as a Form Two text book in Botswana.
“I also co-authored the current Form Two textbook in Botswana which is a prescribed textbook for government school,” she said.
Tholiwe Ndebele’s books are readily available on Amazon
Online Reporter