Brief Biodata

TEMBEKA C. MBOBO (also known as Tembi) is my name. I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but grew up in East London and Durban, where I completed high school.

I started writing poetry in high school but more seriously during the mid-1970s. Some poems were published in a popular arts magazine called Staffrider, in newspapers and in an anthology of poetry by South African women called Siren Songs, (ed.) Nohra Moerat, Blac Publishing Houses, 1989.

I studied journalism at Rhodes University (1979-81) and political studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (1983) and for a while worked as a news reporter.

In 1987 I established a socio-political organisation called the Centre for Enrichment in African Political Affairs where we organised seminars on current political issues, published a journal and set up a resource/ book centre.

When the political situation changed in 1991 I returned to journalism until 1999 when I established Women In Writing – an organisation aimed at discovering, growing, promoting and supporting indigenous women writers in the country.

Through Women In Writing I was able to help run workshops around the country for women aspiring to write especially in indigenous languages. I also distributed books donated by organisations like the Rotary to outlying areas of the country. I also edited and self0published a few anthologies emanating from the workshops.

Among these were: So Much To Tell, Vol. I & III (poetry); co-editing Voices of Our Own, Vol. I (short stories) and edited Voices from the Free State and Voices from the Northern Cape. I also co-edited an anthology of prose, drama and verse entitled: Nawe Unakho (2003) and Nawe Unakho II (2005) published by Lovedale Press under the auspices of the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture of the province of the Eastern Cape.

Recently some of my poems were published in the Imagination in a Troubled Space: A South African Poetry Reader, Michela Borzaga & Dorothea Steiner (eds.) 2004, University of Salzburg Press, Salzburg, Austria.

Although my own poems and short stories have not been published that widely and I have never published a book, my activities in the literary arena have seen me winning the Arts & Culture Category of the Shoprite/Checkers Woman of the Year Award (2003) - having been a finalist in two different categories - the Media and Communication and the Arts & Culture categories.

I was also appointed as:
a member of the NLSA (National Library of South Africa) Board by the Minister of Arts, Culture Science & Technology (2003-2006);
an Arts & Culture Trust Board Member (October 2004);
a member of the Transformation Committee and the Image of Books Committee of the Print Industry Cluster Council; (2004) and
a member of the Board at Zanendaba Storytellers Institute (2002).

I have also:
been profiled in Woman Today: A Celebration: Fifty Years of South African Women compiled by Reynolds H. & Richards N. (Kwela Books 2003);
· been one of three Selection Panelists of the “Crossing Borders” initiative developed by the British Council and Lancaster University. The programme promotes cross-cultural dialogue between writers working in English and experienced UK-based mentors. June 2004 (as well as “Crossing Borders 2” May-June 2005);
· been one of five Jury Panelists of the DaimlerChrysler Award for SA Poetry 2005 in November 2004;
· participated and hosted an evening with two Zimbabwean authors discussing ‘Writing & Social Consciousness’ at the Time of the Writer 7th International Festival of Writers organized by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) in Durban in March 2004; and
· acknowledged as one of 50 Women To Watch in 2004 in the Gauteng Province by The Star Newspaper.

I am currently (2005/6) an MA Creative & Critical Writing student at the University of Sussex. I hope to have my first book, The Diary of a Soweto Mother (which I am still writing) published by the end of this year. The manuscript so far is written in two parts. Book 1 is entitled Growing Up in a South African Township. Book 2, of course, is The Diary of a Soweto Mother.