Her life story and literary works are a paragon of virtue, diligence and perseverance. South Africa needs to affirm such grand achievements thus inspiring and inculcating a spirit of resilience within the public. Her life story and works are ideal in achieving this as they speak to people from all walks of life. Dr Magona, a former domestic worker and now internationally prominent, is a matriarch of South African literature. Her writings tell of an impoverished childhood in South Africa and of her personal and political struggles as a black woman living under apartheid where she and her family were forcefully moved to Gugulethu in Cape Town. She obtained her matric by correspondence as a single parent, mother of three and domestic servant with no fixed home. She graduated with a BA degree from the University of South Africa as well as a Master of Science Degree in Organisational Social Work from Columbia University. She is the first-ever recipient of a PhD degree in Creative Writing at the University of the Western Cape.
Dr Magona spent 25 years in New York working for the United Nations (UN) where she worked in the Anti-Apartheid Radio Programmes till June 1994, and for the UN’s Public Information Department until her retirement in 2003 where she relocated to Cape Town and is currently Writer-in-Residence at the University of the Western Cape. Since her return, Dr Magona has produced nine books comprising autobiographical work, over 120 children’s books – 40 are available in all eleven official languages, short stories, novellas and poetry that has been anthologised. Dr Magona is the official biographer of Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane and is currently working on abridged versions of multi-lingual books on struggle stalwarts, Walter and Albertina Sisulu.
She has received numerous awards in recognition of her work in women’s issues, the plight of children, the fight against apartheid and racism, and the environment. She is a recipient of four honorary doctorates from various local universities.
In 2011, Dr Magona was honoured with an Order of Ikhamanga in Bronze – the highest award bestowed by the President on South African citizens and eminent foreign nationals.
Other awards she has received include the New York Foundation for the Arts – Fellowship – non-fiction category (1997), A Lifetime Achievement Award for Beauty’s Gift from Women Demand Dignity (2008). In 2009, she was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and was awarded the Molteno Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement for her role in promoting isiXhosa. The Department of Arts and Culture honoured her with the Literary Lifetime Achievement Award and dubbed her a Living Legend. The Xhosa Forum honoured her with a Heroes Award and the uNdimande Grand Prize.
The University of the Western Cape’s CMDR/UWC Creates hosts the “Sindiwe Magona Literary Prize”, inaugurated in 2014. She also received the English Academy of Southern Africa gold medal, the academy’s highest award for distinguished service to English over a lifetime.
Dr Magona allows her writing to challenge and influence public opinion whilst empowering black youths and women for roles that they should play in the new South Africa. She has also headed various philanthropic projects. She is the founder of the Gugulethu Writers’ Group in Cape Town, which she runs on a voluntary basis to encourage women who might not otherwise write their stories. The group has published a collection of short stories and won First Prize in the Maskew Miller Longman Story Competition. Besides hosting writers’ conferences, Dr Magona has given readings and addresses at international fora, including the United Nations, the Kennedy Centre and the Ford Foundation to name but a few. Dr Magona is the ambassador of Nal’ iBali, an organisation seeking to ensure that a well-established culture of reading can be a real game-changer for education in South Africa.