Afronline – The Voice Of Africa

Hello all, I would like to introduce you to one of the hot African writers at the moment. Sebati Edward Mafate. His latest book, “Memories of Lotsane: Chronicles of an African Boarding School” is nothing short of mesmerizing, and definitely more than thrilling and inspirational.

I will be conducting a multi-part interview with him over the next few posts and it is my honor to converse with him and hopefully it will be your joy as well. Before I say a little about the book, let me first state that Sebati Mafate was born in Zambia and raised in Botswana and South Africa. In 1992 he won the Bishop Desmond Tutu and moved to Southern California where he earned a BS in Civil Engineering and a BA in Creative Writing. He lives in Pasadena with his wife Vivian Lorena and their children and continues to successfully straddle his talents between film-making, acting and writing. And now to my initial thoughts on his book. This is more of an introduction than a straight review.

I used to be, like most of my writer-friends, unforgivingly suspicious of memoirs – thinking that perhaps they are just fiction packaged to appear “real” for the markets. Why, with too many infamous cases like that of James Frey’s “Million Little Pieces.” Interestingly, I have since written a great deal of autobiographical material myself and read excellent language-bending works like “One Day I Will Write About This Place,” by the brilliant Binyavanga Wainaina.

I have since pondered on whether memory can be reconstituted without artistic storytelling, whether the line between fiction and autobiography is imaginary since memory is a performance. It was therefore with careful enthusiasm and open-mindedness that I approached “Memories Of Lotsane: The Chronicles Of An African Boarding School” by the gifted Sebati Edward Mafate. And after having read the book let me say that here is a writer whose memory is sharp as a razor and whose laughter and intelligence seem to infuse every word. Effortlessly.

The book gripped me. It plastered a wide smile on my face and pushed out bitter tears out of my eyes at certain junctures as this masterful writer chronicled the brotherhood between him and his dormitory-mates at Lotsane Secondary School in Botswana, and their teenage loves and heartbreaks with the girls. “Memories of Lotsane” is set between 1985 and 1987 and re-enacts, through graceful language, the exciting gumbo of boarding students students from all over Botswana making for a refreshingly unique sense of humor.

There is always something going on in the dormitory. Someone is always re-telling a story, dramatically, and someone is always falling in love if not practicing karate chops. The book is a feast for the mind. Having gone through boarding school myself, I could totally relate to the sense in which boarding school – public or private, in whatever country – always seems like a fun social experiment, a never-ending spectacle for an environment:

“But then again, girls liked breakdancers. And desperate moments called for desperate measures. I had long ago spotted Alice in the audience like I always did for some reason. I knew exactly where she was seated with her friends, and if I performed she would most certainly see me.”(Memories of Lotsane;74)

This is in many ways a coming-of-age tale and Mafate’s writing bursts with such vitality, almost an urgent thrill, that you will not be able to put this book down. His previous books include “When The Cobra Strikes” which was adapted into a Hollywood film “Black Cobra” which came out on DVD last month.

Please join me as I converse with Sebati Edward Mafate over the next posts here on Black Looks. The book is available at barnesandnobles.com as well as amazon.com

By Sokari – Black Looks