On the 25th February 2016 FunDza celebrated the launch of the second anthology to come out of our ‘Mentoring Young Writers’ project, which is generously sponsored by the National Arts Council.
‘It Takes Two’ is a fitting title as experienced writers were paired with talented young writers to work on short stories linked in an interesting way. Mentors helped mentees hone their writing skills and shape their stories, while mentees brought a fresh, colloquial voice to the dialogue and kept the stories relevant.
Six pairs of writers worked together to create 12 short stories that ranged from romance to the supernatural. The results were fabulous – there were some lighthearted farcical romps, and some more serious stories that reflect our current social challenges.
The stories were published on FunDza’s mobi site between September and November 2015 and received much praise from our FunDza readers who found them inspiring and exciting. These are just a few of the readers’ comments on the stories:
“… it always touch my heart having to read such wonderful stories. This truly is a very very good book. Thumbs up” – Elrene
“Wow beautiful story, even got me crying” – Bianca
“Great story. My first book to read and complete. I’m into reading now. Thanks for a great book. Looking forward for more books” – Nkateko
“Wow wow wow don’t even know what to say. I started reading so I can find inspiration to write mine. I wasn’t planning on having so much fun. I love it I love it I love it” – DopeSam
“It’s a story that I can relate to in different ways as it touches me. My father died when I was only five years. So this is a story that have found comfort in. I loved it and I’m sure going to recommend it to my friends” – Qophelo Buthelezi
“10/10 or should I rate the story with five stars” – sweetie
At the launch I, as the content developer and project co-ordinator, chatted to the pairs of writers on the ‘red couch’ and they read out extracts from their work and talked about the process.
There were many highlights of the evening, including having students from LEAP 3 and the African School of Excellence attend. Both groups had travelled a long way in the rain to be there, and were so excited and interested in the book and the writers.
It was wonderful to witness the writers’ delight at seeing their work in print for the first time and signing copies of each other’s books.
One of the mentees, Lawrence Simelane, who wrote his story about a phantsula dancer, had everyone cheering as he broke out some phantsula moves at the end.
Two of the writers, Bontle (mentor) and her sister, Busang Senne (mentee) couldn’t be there but their mother and aunt attended in their place, and read out extracts of their stories and talked about ‘their girls’ and how difficult but rewarding it was for sisters to work together.
It was also one of the mentees’, Lerato Morotola’s birthday. Her copies of the anthology couldn’t have been a better birthday present!
It was also so wonderful to have Jennifer Smith from Barloworld, Belinda Mendelowitz from Wits and Janet Marx from the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust at the launch. It meant a lot that they came mid-week to show their support for FunDza and what we are doing.
And a huge THANKS to Brigitte Doellgast and Sine Buthelezi of the Goethe-Institut for providing us with the perfect venue, ensuring guests had snacks and drinks, and for making the evening a great success. We so appreciate their support.
Once the administrative portion of this second year in the project is finalised and the new contract signed with the National Arts Council for the final year of the project, FunDza will be turning its attention to KwaZulu-Natal. We look forward to pairing together more professional writers with aspirant mentee writers to make magic and create some new stories for FunDza.