New Releases by Gcina Mhlophe

Hi, Zoleka! friends call. But Zoleka has something on her mind. So she walks quietly with her mother and her little brother to church. Will she remember all the words of the verse she has to recite for the Palm Sunday service?

Mhlophe tells stories from African folklore.

Everywhere she went, Khethiwe heard the beautiful sounds of the imbira. She wished she, too, could play it. But the king said that in his land, no girl could play imbira. Then one day, when Khethiwe was swimming in her secret place, an imbira magically appeared out of the water. That day, Khethiwe''s life changed forever.

Gcina Mhlophe is a poet, playwright, performer and South Africa''s favorite storyteller. In this fascinating retrospective collection, she shares her personal journey through the social and political landscapes of the 1980s, with its recollected moments of struggle and transformation along the way. Written in a variety of styles and voices, ranging from anecdotal memory to historical moment to folklore tradition, these simply presented poems and stories are by turns funny, touching, chilling, thought-provoking and absorbing. Love Child is a collection for the new millennium generation. It is valuable not just for the deeply-felt personal and political insights it has to offer, but for the accessible ease with which it manages to capture the seminal moments of black South African history in the preserving amber of the author''s personal recollection.

Cambridge Reading Routes is a reading programme for the first seven years of schooling in South Africa.