SHORT story writer, playwright and award-winning novelist Nthikeng Mohlele (46) is back with a new heart-hitting book of short stories.
The book will leave you gushing, dazed and thinking about your fantasies for your boss in the office.
Nthikeng is best known for his best seller Small Things, published in 2013 and Micheal K, which was published in 2018. The books were hailed as the literary masterpieces.
Originally from Polokwane, Limpopo but grew up in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, Nthikeng is a Wits University graduate with a BA degree in dramatic art, publishing stories and African literature.
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He is a recipient of the University of Joburg Main Prize for South African Writing in English in 2016 for his book Pleasure and the K.Sello Duiker Memorial Prize at the SA Literary Award in 2017 for the same book. And he won the Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Best Fiction in 2022.
His most recent offering, A Little Light (2023), is a series of stories that describes forbidden love in the workplace. One of the stories from the book, performed by Hlengiwe Madlala and Zizi Peteni, speaks about two colleagues who find themselves conflicted by their adultery while they are in committed marital relationships.
Nthikeng recently moved from writing novels to writing short stories. His first stint at publishing short stories began with The Discovery Of Love (2021), which is a series of love stories presented through many lives – especially those of whom life has comes with a series of unfortunate events.
When asked why he decided to start writing short stories, Nthikeng said that short stories are challenging because you need to get to the point as clear and concisely as possible without putting in any "fluff" or any unnecessary details that may derail the story.
“I write short stories because they are hard to write.”
He said the new book's themes are sensitive nature, vivid bodies, politics, regrets and hope.
