Poet and novelist, born in Sophiatown, NE South Africa. An influential figure in the politics of culture in South Africa, he became one of the township poets of the 1970s, whose angry verse broke a decade of African creative silence. His first volume of verse, Yakhal inkomo (1972), was followed by four others, and in 1981 he published a novel, To Every Birth Its Blood. He lived in exile for much of the 1970s and 1980s, and after his return to South Africa in 1990 headed the Department of Art and Culture of the African National Congress.
Mongane Wally Serote (1944-) is a South African poet and writer.
He has served as chair of the parliamentary select committee for arts and culture, and is currently the CEO of Freedom Park, a national heritage site in Pretoria that is scheduled to open in early 2009.
Poetry
Yakhal'inkomo (1972) Tsetlo (1974) No baby must weep (1975) Behold Mama, Flowers (1978) The Night Keeps Winking (1982) A tough tale (1987) Third world express (1992) Come and Hope With Me (1994) Freedom Lament and Song (1997) History is the Home Address (2004)Novels
To every Birth its Blood (1981) Gods of Our Time (1999) Scatter the Ashes and Go (2002)Essays
On the Horizon (1990)See also: List of African writers, List of South African poets
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