Staff Members
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Associate Professor
Name: Siphiwo Mahala
Location: B Ring 716 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Department of English Academic Staff, Department of English Staff Staff Members
Contact Details:
Tel: (011) 559 3414
Email: siphiwom@uj.ac.za
About Prof Siphiwo Mahala
Prof Siphiwo Mahala is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Johannesburg. He is a prolific writer plying his trade in English and IsiXhosa. He was the Communications Director (and Acting Chief Director) at the Presidency’s Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and the founding Deputy Director for the Books and Publishing unit at the Department of Arts and Culture. He hosted prominent writers and scholars like Wole Soyinka (Nigeria), Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana), Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya), Njabulo S. Ndebele (South Africa), Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe), Ben Okri (Nigeria), Nawal El Saadawi (Egypt). In 2023, he conducted a US lecture tour, which included guest lectures at prestigious institutions like Yale, New York, Rutgers and Johns Hopkins Universities. He serves as the Chairperson of the National Arts Festival (Makhanda) and chairs the Sunday Times Literary Awards fiction panel.
Teaching and Research
His research interests include Contemporary African Literature, Black Intellectual History, Colonial and Post-Colonial Literature, Short Story Writing as well as Creative Writing.
Books Authored
The House of Truth & Bloke and His American Bantu : Two Plays . Wits University Press, 2025
The Missing Pages (short stories): Foundation for Culture, Arts and Literature, India, 2025
Can Themba: The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi (A Biography) ; Wits University Press, 2022
Red Apple Dreams and Other Stories (short stories) ; Iconic Productions, 2019
The House of Truth (Play) ; Iconic Productions, 2017
African Delights (short stories); Jacana Media, 2011
Yakhal’ Indoda (novel); UKZN Press, 2010
When a Man Cries (novel); UKZN Press, 2007
Articles Published
“Finding the true heart of manhood”. Sunday Times Newspaper; 22 December 2024.
“Experiments in Publishing: A Journey with Commercial, Independent and Academic Publishers” in Publishing from the South: A Century of Wits University Press edited by Sarah Nuttall and Isabel Homeyr, Wits University Press; 2024.
“Confluences and Divergencies: An Insider’s View of South Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries” in The SA Handbook of Agency, Freedom and Justice, edited by Muxe Nkondo and Reuel Khoza, UKZN Press; 2024.
“Voice of the Present”, Sunday Times Newspaper; 10 September 2023.
“Something in Me Died”, Sunday Times Newspaper; 22 January 2023.
“A Friendship Through Letters”, Stranger’s Guide (US based publication); January 2023.
“Short Stories Born from the Womb of the Past”, in The Short Story in South Africa: Contemporary Trends and Perspectives, edited by Rebecca Fasselt and Corrine Sandwith; Routledge, 2022.
Notable Achievements
Winner of the 2024 Vice Chancellor Award: Book of the Year, University of Johannesburg
Winner of the 2024 Innovation in Teaching and Learning Award, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg
Winner of the 2023 Emerging Researcher Award, Faculty of Humanities; University of Johannesburg
Winner of the 2023 Students’ Choice Teaching Award, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg
Personal Website