Sabata-Mpho Mokae Quotes
South Africa
Sabata-Mpho Mokae is an academic, novelist and translator from South Africa who writes in Setswana and English.
- South Africa
- Academics
- Novelists
- Translators
Random Sabata-Mpho Mokae quote
23 quotes
My best characters are very bad people, corrupt people, perverts, charlatans.
The world is one village with diverse people living in it. The best way to know others is to read about them
Writing in a language that the apartheid regime marginalised is showing apartheid a middle finger. But it’s also about cultural pride and the dignity of a people.
My generation of writers speak truth to power, travel the world and find inspiration for creativity wherever they go
A culture carries values, indigenous knowledge and history. Making people forget their language means making them forget all those things
Writers are witnesses to the truth. Know your truth and be truthful to it in your art
You preserve the language, firstly, and your use of language is richer and you express yourself better
Write the books that you’d like to read; that’s the only way you can be sure others will read them
Once I have a group of characters sorted out, the book writes itself
It's on that basis that I tell my people who cannot read my novels, "It's the system, not you. Don't be hard on yourself
My other works are inspired by the realities of life in the post-apartheid South Africa; our new struggles and even our aspirations
As a writer the book is being dictated to me, I have the story and then I simply become a typist
When I write in Setswana, I don’t have the burden of translating my work before it gets to paper
I don’t want to confine myself to one genre even though I feel comfortable as a fiction writer
My least favourite word is "selfie". I think it's lazy attempt at creating a new word
I write very little poetry, because I believe poetry is one of the most complicated and difficult forms of literary expression
I don't believe in writer's block. When I stare at a computer screen it's usually because I'm tired or I'm plotting my characters' next move
I believe that you write biographies when you want to write about people you love and adore. You write novels when you want to write about people you hate
In the village, there are not many resources. There’s not much to do. So, you have to look for something to do that doesn’t cost a lot of money
With the history that Africa has – of deprivation, slavery, colonialism, apartheid – quality writing that asserts Africa's place in the world or introduces Africa to the world is appealing