Mongane Wally Serote (born 8 May 1944) is a South African poet and writer. He became involved in political resistance to the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

government by joining the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) and in 1969 was arrested and detained for several months without trial. He subsequently spent years in exile, working in

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

, and later London, England, for the ANC in their Arts and Culture Department, before eventually returning to South Africa in 1990. He was inaugurated as South Africa's National Poet Laureate in 2018.

Early years

Mongane Wally Serote was born in

Sophiatown Sophiatown , also known as Sof'town or Kofifi, is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophiatown was a poor multi-racial area and a black cultural hub that was destroyed under apartheid. It produced some of South Africa's most famous writ ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, 1944, just four years before the

National Party (South Africa) The National Party (, NP), also known as the Nationalist Party, was a political party in South Africa from 1914 to 1997, which was responsible for the implementation of Apartheid, apartheid rule. The party was an Afrikaner nationalism, Afrika ...

came to power in South Africa. His early education took place in the poverty-stricken township of

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

and later at Morris Isaacson High School – the school in Jabavu,

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

, and Sacred Heart Commercial High School,

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

. He first became involved in the

Black Consciousness Movement The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Af ...

when he was finishing high school in Soweto. His presence in that town linked him to a group known as the "township" or "Soweto" poets, and his poems often expressed themes of political activism, the development of black identity, and violent images of revolt and resistance. He was arrested by the

government under the Terrorism Act in June 1969 and spent nine months in solitary confinement, before being released without charge.

1970s–1990: Life in exile

Serote went to study in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, United States, obtaining a Fine Arts degree at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. After contributing poems to various journals, in 1972 he published his first collection, ''Yakhal'Inkomo''. It won the Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize in 1973. He was a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

and received a fine arts degree from Columbia University in 1979. He was not able to return to South Africa and he began a life in exile, Serote remained in voluntary exile, going in 1977 to Botswana, where he rejoined the ANC underground and its military wing,

uMkhonto we Sizwe uMkhonto weSizwe (; abbreviated MK; ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government to brin ...

(MK). He lived in

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Botswana, largest city of Botswana, with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its metropolitan area is home to 534, ...

, where he was involved in the Medu Art Ensemble, and in London, England, where he relocated in 1986 and worked for the ANC's Department of Arts and Culture.

Return to South Africa

He returned to South Africa in 1990, after the ANC was unbanned. In 1993, he won the Noma Award for Publishing in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. In 2004, he received the

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

award from the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an government. Serote held a variety of positions in the ANC, returning to South Africa in 1990, when he was appointed Head of the Department of Arts and Culture of the ANC in Johannesburg. He has also served as chair of the parliamentary select committee for arts and culture. Serote was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

and

Transkei Transkei ( , meaning ''the area beyond Great Kei River,

he river The He River is a tributary of the Xi River in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces in China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it ...

Kei''), officially the Republic of Transkei (), was an list of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa f ...

. Until recently he was a Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Portfolio Committee for Arts, Culture, Language, Science and Technology. He has served as chair of the parliamentary select committee for arts and culture, and was also the CEO of

Freedom Park In the Philippines, a freedom park is a centrally located public space where political gatherings, rallies and demonstrations may be held without the need of prior permission from government authorities. Similar to free speech zones in the United ...

, a national heritage site in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

opened in 2007.Freedom Park, Pretoria.
Retrieved 26 March 2018. He has founded a few NGOs, iIKSSA Trust where he is the Chairperson, IARI which he is also the CEO. He sits on a few advisory boards in the country dealing with Arts, Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and African Renaissance issues. In 2018, Serote was announced as the National Poet Laureate of South Africa, following the death of Keorapetse Kgositsile.

Awards

*1973 - Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize for the best debut collection in English *1993 - ''Third World Expres''s wins the Noma Award for publishing in Africa *2003 - The English Academy of Southern Africa Medal for contribution to the English language *2004 - Pablo Neruda Medal for Writing *2007 - The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver, awarded for "Excellent contribution to literature, with emphasis on poetry and for putting his artistic talents at the service of democracy in South Africa" *2008 - ''Third World Express'' selected for Africa Book Centre's 100 Best Books of the Twentieth Century *2012 - Struga Night Awards: Poet Laureate Of Macedonia

Writings

Poetry *''City Johannesburg'' (1971) *''Alexandra'' (1972) *''Yakhal'inkomo'' (1972) *''Beerhall Queen'' (1972) *''For Don M- Banned'' (1973) *''A Sleeping Black Boy'' *''Tsetlo'' (1974) *''No Baby Must Weep'' (1975) *''Behold Mama, Flowers'' (1978) *''The Night Keeps Winking'' (1982) *''A Tough Tale'' (1987) *''No More strangers'' (1989) *''Third World Express'' (1992) *''Come and Hope With Me'' (1994) *''Freedom Lament and Song'' (1997) *''History is the Home Address'' (2004) Novels *''To Every Birth Its Blood'' (1981) *''Gods of Our Time'' (1999) *''Scatter the Ashes and Go'' (2002) *''Revelations'' (2011) *''Sikhahlel' u-OR'' (2019) Essays *''On the Horizon'' (1990)

References