Malebo Sephodi says she was ‘blown away’ by her South African Literary Award (SALA).

Sephodi won the 2018 First Time Published Author SALA Award for her book Miss Behave. 

‘It’s a feminist text that looks at issues of women in South Africa, particularly Black women,’ Sephodi says.

‘When I wrote the book Miss Behave I didn’t really think about winning any award, because it’s experimental writing, and I was still scared that maybe South Africa wouldn’t receive my work well.

‘But my publisher really believed in me. My publisher thought that the text has something to say, and it’s worthy of a submission. So my publisher went ahead and said, can we submit this piece of work for you? And I thought, why not?

‘I did not expect to win! But I was blown away and affirmed when I received the award, because it does mean that our voices are heard and we can come out of the confines of what they mean when they talk about writing. You can experiment, just as Miriam Tlali always said, we are activists when we write, and we write for the people.’

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Categories Non-fiction South Africa

Tags Jacana Media Malebo Sephodi Miss Behave South African Literary Awards Videos