The Madonna of Excelsior

A generous, patient, wry and intelligent voice... that] suggests not just a writer who can seduce us through beautiful language and unfailing humor. We also encounter a writer who has the power to shock and frighten us, to astound and anger and unsettle us...In short, his is a voice for which one should feel not only affection but admiration. --Neil Gordon, New York Times Book Review

Selection, Summer Reading, New York Times Book Review

In 1971, nineteen citizens of Excelsior in South Africa's white-ruled Free State were charged with breaking apartheid's Immorality Act, which forbade sex between blacks and whites. Taking this case as raw material for his alchemic imagination, Zakes Mda tells the story of one irrepressible fallen madonna, Niki, and her family, at the heart of the scandal.

Author: Zakes Mda, Mda Zakes
Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
Published: 03/01/2005
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780312423827

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 04/17/2005 pg. 28

About the Author

Zakes Mda has received every major South African prize for his work. Born in 1948, he has been a visiting professor at Yale and the University of Vermont. He is now a dramaturg at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, and a Professor in the Creative Writing Department at Ohio University.