12 Facts About Gcina Mhlophe

Gcina Mhlophe tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa, and helps to motivate children to read.

Nokugcina Elsie Mhlophe was born on 24 October 1958 in Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-Natal, to a Xhosa mother and a Zulu father.

Gcina Mhlophe started her working life as a domestic worker, and did not visit a library until she was 20 years old.

Gcina Mhlophe worked as a newsreader at the Press Trust and BBC Radio, then as a writer and a magazine for newly-literate people.

Gcina Mhlophe began to get a sense of the demand for stories while in Chicago in 1988.

Gcina Mhlophe performed at a library in a mostly-Black neighborhood, where an ever-growing audience kept inviting her back.

Still, Gcina Mhlophe only began to think of storytelling as a career after meeting an Imbongi, one of the legendary poets of African folklore, and after encouragement by Mannie Manim, the then-director of the Market Theatre, Johannesburg.

Gcina Mhlophe has appeared in theatres from Soweto to London, and much of her work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Swahili, and Japanese.

Gcina Mhlophe has travelled extensively in Africa and other parts of the world giving storytelling workshops.

Storytelling is a deeply traditional activity in South Africa, and Gcina Mhlophe is one of the few woman storytellers in a country dominated by males.

Gcina Mhlophe tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa.

Gcina Mhlophe currently serves as the patron of the ASSITEJ South Africa, the International Association for Theatre for Children and Young People.