Talk:Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

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The following was posted to the article, but is mostly redundant with what was above. I have moved it here as a record (Chick Bowen 16:42, 25 November 2006 (UTC)):

[edit] A Biography

Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali was born in 1946 in Vryheid, Kwa-Zulu Natal. He is South African. He was schooled in Vryheid but when he eventually matriculated he decided to move to Johannesburg to study further at the University of Witwatersrand. Due to the fact that a racist government was in power at that time he was denied access due to the racial separation legislation, also known as Apartheid.

During his early post matriculation years he worked as a messenger in Soweto. He then published his first volume of poetry known as “Sounds of a Cowhide Drum” in 1971. Now days “Sounds of a Cowhide Drum” is considered a landmark in South African poetry. It explores the effects of Apartheid on the working men of South Africa. It was published by Nadine Gordimer and was one of the first books of poems to be widely distributed throughout South Africa by a black author. It also started a debate between the white populations making them start to question the government. This all created huge profits for Oswald’s white publisher.

Since he was not able to study further in South Africa Oswald traveled to the United States. There he studied creative writing at the University of Columbia. He then returned to South Africa to publish his second volume of poetry called “Fireflames” in 1980.

“Fireflames” was a collection of militant poems and was originally banned by the South African government but was released again in 1986. On the making of “Fireflames” Oswald changed his “tune”. It expresses militancy but still uses the culture of the Zulu African society.

Oswald wrote in a very vivid almost ironical way to help readers understand the everyday life of a black person having to survive in Apartheid South Africa. His ways of writing made a huge impact on both black and white readers. Other black poets were a lot more direct, angry and lyrical in the way in which they wrote and as black politics became more violent in the 80’s Oswald was often criticized for not being rebellious to Apartheid depression. His original work was quite popular among white liberals which unfortunately made him less of an icon for younger black poets. It is speculated that perhaps in a response to the criticisms by the public he released “Fireflames”.

Nowadays after Oswald’s immense success as a poet he has become an educator. He was vice-principal of Pace College, a school in Soweto and also taught at the New York City College of Technology. Currently he lives in The Bronx, New York and continues to teach and write poetry.

Cameron Frayne