RES EARCH N EW S BR I E FS
A tale of two books:
Writer takes a journey from international reporting to memoir
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ournalist Maggie Messitt moved to a South African village in 2003 to write, but she soon found herself running a women’s writing school and publishing a community newspaper, a pilot program to train rural reporters. After immersing herself in the lives of rural post-apartheid citizens, she realized she had something significant to share with readers far outside of the newly democratized nation’s borders. “I want people to see the complexity of living in rural South Africa,” she says about her debut book of narrative nonfiction. “Most of what tourists experience—in person or in literature—takes place inside urban townships. The rural communities have their own unique stories to tell.” Messitt’s new book, The Rainy Season: Three Lives in the New South Africa, follows the stories of three people in the rural northeastern community of Rooiboklaagte—an elderly tapestry weaver, a traditional healer and illegal bar owner, and a high school student. Their personal stories offer a window through which we can look at the bigger issues citizens are navigating post-apartheid, such as unemployment, welfare, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, differences in rural and urban life, and gender and racial issues, Messitt says.
Maggie Messitt’s new book looks at South Africa post-apartheid; her next will make a more personal exploration of family matters.
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PHOTO: ZAK KELLEY