S5E1 Girlhood, Bodies and New Possibilities of Being

Featured image credits: zethu Matebeni by PXuza; Lindiwe Nkutha by Rorisang Putu

zethu Matebeni chairs a conversation with Venita Blackburn, Thenjiwe Mswane and Lindiwe Nkutha. Our guests contemplate the depictions of girlhood, family life, bodies without compromise and intimacy in their work. They also read short extracts from their books. Listen to the Bonus Episode to hear the extended readings. 

Professor zethu Matebeni is an activist in the academy. She is the SARChI chair in Sexualities, Genders and Queer Studies at the University of Fort Hare. Venita Blackburn is the author of Black Jesus and Other Superheroes (University of Nebraska Press, 2017) and How to Wrestle a Girl (Macmillan Publishers, 2021). She is an Associate Professor of creative writing at California State University, Fresno. Lindiwe Nkutha’s debut collection of short stories is 69 Jerusalem Street (Modjaji Books, 2020). She is a 2021 Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity fellow. Thenjiwe Mswane’s debut novel All Gomorrahs Are The Same was published in 2021 by Blackbird Books. She is a PhD fellow at SWOP (Society, Work and Politics Institute) at Wits University, Johannesburg.

In this episode we stand in solidarity with: Cuban poet and activist María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez. You can read more about her case here: http https://latin-american.news/a-cuban-court-sentences-the-writer-maria-cristina-garrido-to-7-years-in-prison/

S5 Bonus Episode: Readings by Venita Blackburn, Thenjiwe Mswane and Lindiwe Nkutha 

In this bonus episode, Venita reads “Smoothies” from How to Wrestle a Girl; Lindiwe reads the opening section titled ‘Anna’ from the story “Jocasta’s Hairballs” in 69 Jerusalem Street and Thenjiwe reads Chapter 21 “Nonhle” from All Gomorrahs Are The Same.