Gcina Mhlophe


Gcina Mhlophe is a South African storyteller, writer, playwright, and actress. In 2016, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women. She tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa, and also helps to motivate children to read.

Early life

Nokugcina Elsie Mhlophe was born on 24 October 1958 in Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-Natal, to a Xhosa mother and a Zulu father. Gcina's father worked at an oil company in Jacobs, South Durban basin, while her mother worked as a domestic worker. Born out of wedlock, she was separated from her mother at the age of 2, and went to live with her father, who was married with 8 children.
She started her working life as a domestic worker, and did not visit a library until she was 20 years old.

Career

Mhlophe worked as a newsreader at the Press Trust and BBC Radio. From 1982-1983, she was a writer for the "Learn and Teach" magazine.
She began to get a sense of the demand for stories while in Chicago in 1988. She performed at a library in a mostly-Black neighborhood, where an ever-growing audience kept inviting her back. Still, Mhlophe only began to think of storytelling as a career after meeting an Imbongi, one of the legendary poets of African folklore, and after encouragement by Mannie Manim, the then-director of the Market Theatre, Johannesburg. From 1989 to 1990, she was resident director at the Market Theatre.
Mhlophe has appeared in theatres from Soweto to London, and much of her work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Swahili, and Japanese. She has travelled extensively in Africa and other parts of the world giving storytelling workshops.
Mhlophe's stories meld folklore, information, current affairs, song, and idiom. Storytelling is a deeply traditional activity in South Africa, and Mhlophe is one of the few woman storytellers in a country dominated by males. She does her work through charismatic performances, working to preserve storytelling as a means of keeping history alive and encouraging South African children to read. She tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa.
Her writing has appeared in collections including A Land Apart: A South African Reader, Daughters of Africa and Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region.

Other activities

Mhlophe mentors' young people, developing young talent to carry forward the work of storytelling through the Zanendaba Initiative. This initiative, established in 2002, is a collaboration with the Market Theatre and READ, a national literacy organization.
She currently serves as the patron of the ASSITEJ South Africa, the International Association for Theatre for Children and Young People.
She runs a performance space called "The Storytelling Tree" in Durban.
She also works as a motivational speaker.

Recognition and awards

From 2019, Mhlophe's birthday, 24 October, is recognized as National Storytelling Day in South Africa.
, Mhlophe has been awarded honorary doctorates from seven universities across the world. These include:
Other recognition of her work includes:

Selected performances

Documentary appearances

  • Acted and narrated in Travelling Songs
  • 1990, performed poetry in Songololo: Voices of Change
  • 1993, The Travelling Song
  • Appeared in Literacy Alive
  • Appeared in ''Art Works''

Recordings

Mhlophe wrote music for her SABC TV series Gcina & Friends
  • 1993, Music for Little People
  • 1993, reader voice Not so fast, Songololo, Weston Woods, Weston CT, Scholastic
  • 1994, The Gift of the Tortoise
  • 2002, Fudukazi's Magic screened in Durban at the African Union Film Festival

Collaborations

What inspired her in writing

  • Profile and podcast